SPACE AND GENDER IN WOOLF’S NIGHT AND DAY: THE SOCIOCULTURAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE DRAWING ROOM AS AN EMBLEM OF THE VICTORIAN GENDER ROLES

Abstract

This study delves into Virginia Woolf’s portrayal of the outside world for an understanding of the political and social realities of her time through the presentation of drawing room setting and drawing room party in her second novel Night and Day (1919). It is being argued that Woolf’s presentation of a particular space setting (drawing room) functions as an important factor for portrayal of gender based domestic politics in the start of the 20^th century. This study highlights Woolf’s critique of patriarchy and the incapacitating nature of the Victorian portrayals of femininity through the valid theories of space such as Lefebvre’s view about space to be a social product, thus authenticating Woolf’s identification as a feminist novelist as well as a feminist theorist working for revision of the conventional gender roles.