Inspiration from Distractions

After reading "A Room of One's Own," I was thinking of "a room" as a physical room with a locked door where one could fully concentrate. However, I found a similarity between the piece we read from Sander's "Writing from the Center", and our current reading, "A Room of One's Own." "Writing from the Center" focuses on the idea that to be a good writer, one does not need to completely isolate oneself from society, a common trend among various writers. Writers, Sanders states, "long for the uncluttered space of mind, for the freedom to pursue one's imaginings without restraint from any other soul"(154). This sounds very similar to Woolf's argument that great writers need "a room of their own." Both Sander's and Woolf would agree that women have been deprived of this "room." In fact, Sanders says, "Women have had to tug harder and longer to open room of their own...for the freedom to pursue one's imaginings without restraint from any other soul, is neither male nor female"(154). Both Sanders and Woolf recognize the struggle for women to open up doors to fully explore their imagination.

Is a room of one's own, as described by Woolf, a tangible place or a mental escape? The "room" is physical in the sense that it is a place where the writer can go, but that does not necessarily mean a place in total isolation. By finding this place, one is able to mentally escape. Sander's found the room of his own at home, where he "made his home ground the ground of his imagination" (157). This is where he was inspired; for him, creativity stemmed from the people and surrondings of his past. Therefore, "the room of one's own," is a tangible place where someone is able to make "room" in their mind for creativity and inspiration; not necessarily a desolate island or a locked chamber, with no distractions.

In reaction to our class discussion, one does not need a physical room in order to write well; however, one needs a place where room can be made in the mind in order to write well. Perhaps women in the past did not feel as though they could be inspired or creative in their daily lives, and that if they had a room to call their own, ideas would more easily flow. However, it is the distractions in our lives which inspire us, and we should take advantage of our surrondings when searching for creativity, not attempt to escape them.