A Room of One's Own: The Subjective Truth

The narrator of this piece claims that through all of her rambling she has only one opinion on the topic of woman and fiction (her essay topic): a women needs money and a private room to write good fiction. Of course to come to this conclusion she combs through many themes, one of which carries over from “The Mark on the Wall:” the subjective vs. objective truth. She continues to argue that people think subjectively, and that any objective analysis contains little truth because it is shaped solely by men. Early in “A Room of One’s Own” she points out that any controversial issue, which sex is, cannot hold any truth, rather “one can only show how one came to hold whatever opinion one does hold” (2093). It is because of this that the narrator chooses to write about woman and fiction through fiction as opposed to fact. It is through this line of thought that the narrator eventually reaches one of her most important points: that women should write what they want to write with little worry of judgment. An objective judgment of a women’s writing by a man is nearly impossible, therefore to worry what others think of your writing is “the most abject treachery” (2147). Woman need to understand that the measuring stick and the game of praise and blame are futile efforts when one simply writes what they wish.