Virginia Woolf believes in the power of the imagination to liberate human beings from the shackles of their enslavement. Do you have a comment on this statement?
To liberate, is to set free from ‘enslavement’, as such what I will attempt to interpret what Virginia Woolf means by enslavement. I hypothesis that the Woolf’s idea of enslavement is taken from the cultural societal norms that presents itself to humanity. Through assimilation and subjugation, we as human individuals that live in a society can often suffer from its prevailing ailments, we are made to question are distinctive differences in a world filled with logical dispositions. Those unable to assimilate to the norm are considered defective, hopeless cogs to the intended blueprint of being a civilian. Many may feel comfort in a familiarity, fearing uniqueness. However, in consequence individuals that assimilate must subjugate their own differences, and those unable are treated to the greatest offence, solitary confinement.
This is best reflected in Woolf’s ‘Mrs. Dalloway’, where Septimus Wallen Smith is unable return to society as a broken cog that’s experienced the trauma of war. Leaving Septimus unable to feel, being suicidal, his wife seeks treatment by societies highly praised occupation doctor. The treatment proposed is not just ineffective, even furthering his suicidal tendencies, feeling further isolated. Woolf is perhaps suggesting that by following societal norms there is more harm than good.
Irregardless of what it is meant by enslavement, Virginia Woolf’s belief in the liberation, through the power of imagination, has valid plausibility. I’ve found the most literal interpretation of Virginia Woolf’s statement would be the activist Martin Luther King and his philosophy in pursuing the reformation of African American rights. For Luther King’s ‘dream’ to exist he must’ve first imagined a place where equality and proper opportunities were presented to those enslaved. Imagining such a prospective not only inspired King himself but many of those that followed him in protest, demanding change against the social norm. Indeed, Virginia Woolf’s belief of liberating enslavement through imagination is not a simple prospect to dismiss. As human history has proven time and time again, from those that have been enslaved, imagining liberation.
Martin Luther King, Jr
Dylan Versola 