Women

From De Beauvoir: "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman."
And, Woolf: “I was a woman. This was the turf; there was the path. Only the Fellows and Scholars are allowed here; the gravel is the place for me. Such thoughts were the work of a moment. As I regained the path the arms of the Beadle sank, his face assumed its usual repose, and though turf is better walking than gravel, no very great harm was done. The only charge I could bring against the Fellows and Scholars of whatever the college might happen to be was that in protection of their turf, which has been rolled for 300 years in succession they had sent my little fish into hiding.
What idea it had been that had sent me so audaciously trespassing I could not now remember.”
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The most obvious difference is in the length of the quotes, which is a result of the difference between the two authors respective writing style. Woolf chooses to make her point with a story; De Beauvoir with concise statements. Woolf’s character says, “I was a woman,” matter-of-factly, conceding to what she was conditioned to understand as “subjective,” to steal a word from De Beauvoir. But, the same character also had that little fish on the line, and it made waves, until she crossed the line. “Fellows and Scholars” were the only one’s allowed to step foot into such territory. It was not as if she couldn’t come up with a certain thought because she was a woman, she couldn’t go where she wanted with that thought, that “little fish,” because she was a woman. And, thusly, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”

The biggest difference that I found between the two texts is their tone and voice. De Beauvoir comes off as very direct and undisputable. There is an assurance in her tone that is filled with confidence. I don’t know if this is the demeanor of De Beauvoir herself or a rhetorical tool. Woolf is more engaging for me. She has an eloquence in her words that demonstrates that women can be great writers. But, she does it with an anecdote and a bit of irony. Woolf also seems to transcend (a word De Beauvoir uses often) feminism and engages in the idea of fiction itself, not limited as it pertains to just women.

“…and I thought of the organ booming in the chapel and of the shut doors of the library; and I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse perhaps to be locked in; and, thinking of the safety and prosperity of the one sex and of the poverty and insecurity of the other and of the effect of tradition and of the lack of tradition upon the mind of a writer.”

All I think Woolf is concerned with is the choice – not be locked in or locked out, but for all doors to be open, to walk in and out as anyone may please.

This is similar to De Beauvoir who feels a woman “prides herself on thinking, taking action, working, creating, on the same terms as men; instead of seeking to disparage them, she declares herself their equal." The problem that arises in my mind is that women have had to work just to get equality, while men have always had a pension to want to get ahead and an opportunity to do so.