Something that I found interesting was the in-class free write. We were asked to reflect on a sentence on page 24: "...and what effect poverty has on the mind; and what effect wealth has on the mind." I found it hard to write about this sentence when asked to do so but, I had highlighted it as I was reading. I thought it would be important but couldn't figure out the meaning behind it. As I was thinking about it in class, all I could come up with was that it was somehow related to being locked in versus being locked out. I'm not exactly sure what made me think of this but I wrote that being locked in symbolized wealth while being locked out symbolized poverty. While the poverty side seemed easy to relate to Woolf I found it harder to make a connection with the wealthy side. Poverty, Woolf would say, had negative effects on the mind for women because it did not allow them the resources to think clearly and without interruptions. The poverty of women prevented them from having a room of their own. They were seen as caretakers so they were constantly being interrupted by one of their many children. I think being on the other extreme(wealth) could also be bad but was not sure how to connect that to Woolf. Any ideas? Is it just that because men had money they thought of themselves as superior and, therefore, thought it acceptable to keep women in a submissive role? This could have negative effects on their mind as this way of thinking could take over their life. What other ways would this effect the mind?
