EngLit

Rogojan Mihaela · Trimis: 31/05/2011 18:58 Titlul subiectului: Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Personally can't say I liked the book until I started noticing some small things that make you think and really make you get into reading it with pleasure. Here are some questions to start the discussion on the book. If you have any other questions please post them here.

1. How was Orlando described as a young boy? Was he a usual 15 y.o. boy or did he have some special features which made him stand out?

2. Who was Sasha and what was her relationship with Orlando? Do you think she has something to do with Orlando's later years development?

3. Where the clock strokes representative for Sasha's betrayal? The way they rang in such a violent way. Was it ration or feeling that made him realize what has happened?

4. Did Orlando change after his betrayal by Sasha, and if so, how did he change?

5. What was the reason for Orlando to ask to be made an ambassador?
6. How was his time as an ambassador spent? Did he enjoy it or was it a burden for him?

7. Why do you think he transformed in a woman at around 30 y.o.? How was his reaction to the change?

8. Do you think he wanted in the subconscious to transform into a woman or was it something he couldn't help.

9. Have you ever heard of Freud's theory about the two selves that are in an individual's personality? (he discusses this in the work entitled Femininity, 1933)

10. What role do you think the three spirit sisters that visit Orlando play?

"'It has not always been so! But man want us no longer; the woman detest us. We go; we go! I (Purity says this) to the hen roost. I (Chastity says this) to the still unravished heights of Surrey. I (Modesty says this) to any cosy nook where there are ivy and curtains in plenty'"(p.131)

11. Why did thew gipsies decide to kill Orlando? Did Orlando herself or the gipsies bothered about the differences in sex while traveling together?

12. How and when does Orlando become conscious about her advantages and disadvantages as a woman? Please select two quotes to display those and sustain your opinion.

13. What does she find out after returning to England? Were all her properties without change?

14. What does she discover when reuniting with Archduchess Harriet Griselda of Roumania?

15. What does the darkening of the landscape represent?

"A turbulent welter of cloud covered the city. All was darkness; all was doubt; all was confusion."(p. 216)

16. Why did Orlando start thinking about marriage and started noticing couples linked together like in a spell.

" 'Whom', she asked, casting her eyes upon the revolving clouds, clasping her hands as she knelt on the window-sill, and looking the very image of appealing womanhood as she did so, 'can I lean upon?' Her words formed themselves, her hands clasped themselves, involuntary, just as her pen had written of it's own accord."(p. 235)

17. Who does she end up marrying and what was the pace of the meeting and marrying? Do you believe it has anything to do with the pace of the new century?

18. What changes took place after marrying to Ship Captain Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, Esquire? What happened in her private life and also in her advancement as a writer.

19. Do you think her career had anything to do with the marriage or was it just coincidental?

20. While in the lift, why do you think the present scenery overlapped with that of the past?

21. Do you think that the return to the oak tree and the return of Shel in the last scene represents something? How about the oak tree with it's massive body and sturdiness over the centuries?

22. Why do you think Virginia offers us pictures of Orlando? Does it have anything to do with her friend Vita Sackville-West?

23. How much do you think her friend Vita was the influence for Orlando's life?

24. How is the narrative in the novel? Uniliniar or does it go back and fro'?

25. If you would have to choose how time is measured in Orlando would you pick:
a) measured as it's experienced
b) Measured by distinct, evenly spaced 'moments'

Now a few extra tasks:

Please give a quote where the parts of the man and the woman are represented in Orlando.

Given these 2 pictures of Orlando as a female and as a male try to identify some differences in the way they pose and argument why would the poses be different. (Sorry for the quality, I'll try to make better ones)

Orlando by Virginia Woolf Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Orlando by Virginia Woolf Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Mihaela Rogojan & Adelina Oros
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[url=http://rogomisha.blogspot.com/]My literary creations[/url]

larisapop · Trimis: 01/06/2011 13:41 Titlul subiectului: 1

Even from the begining of the book, Orlando is described in a very detailed manner. He is presented like a beautiful boy, with red cheecks covered with "peach down", his hair is dark contrasting with his white theeth and red lips. His body is perfect and his shoulders are in a good position. In all this description we can notice that the characteristics of this boy are rather those of a woman than of a man. When I started reading this book and I found about his cheecks covered with peach down I thought: "well, this boy must be very young because he still has some characteristics of a woman". And I said this before even knowing what this story is all about.
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larisapop · Trimis: 01/06/2011 13:51 Titlul subiectului: 2

Sasha was a princess in Moscow. She and Orlando meet while skating. At first Orlando is not sure if she is a woman or a man, but while approaching he finds she is a woman and they start to talk. Eventually they become lovers, but Sasha leaves one night with a russian ship when actually they had to run together. I believe she had a great influence on Orlando because she was his first love. She awakened the desire for love inside Orlando and this hold his/her entire life.
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You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you've got something to say.

larisapop · Trimis: 01/06/2011 13:58 Titlul subiectului: 3

Yes, I believe the clock strokes were representative and when I say this I think at the situation in which Orlando was, and that of being abandoned. In his mind must have come the images of Sasha with the russian man, and he made the conection understanding what might have happened since Sasha was not coming. He easily understood that she left and very probably with that man. Before the clock stroking he had hope that she will make her appearance. But when he heard the clock, he lost his hope and patience and went on shore in time to see a russian ship leaving, fact that strenghtened his doubts.
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You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you've got something to say.

larisapop · Trimis: 01/06/2011 14:27 Titlul subiectului: 4

If with Sasha's help Orlando was full of live and in love, after her betrail, he closed inside of him and spent his time questioning about life in the company of his dogs. He is fed up with books, with love and at one point he burns a great part of his books. He feels betrayed and has no trust in these two anymore.
_________________
You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you've got something to say.

larisapop · Trimis: 01/06/2011 14:32 Titlul subiectului: 5

When Orlando meets the Romanian archduchess named Harriet, he feels like having a passion for her, but he was very confused. In order not to make any mistake and hurt someone with this relationship, he asks King Charles to send him as Ambasador in Constantinopole.
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You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you've got something to say.

Titiana Tomoiaga · Dunker Data inscrierii: 12/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 17

regarding the sixth question I wouldn't say Orlando was happy while he was ambassador. He was highly regarded, he would know a lot of people but the way this people spent their lives was unsatisfactory as far as Orlando was regarded. We are told that he would visit one of his friend and they would talk and have coffee, but in fact the visits they would pay each otherwould consist of a tour of the house they would move from one room to another untill they have seen all the house, more over they wouldn't have no a sip o any drink or food. This is how Orlando spent his time.

Titiana Tomoiaga · Dunker Data inscrierii: 12/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 17

The gipsies decided to kill Orlado when they realised the fact that he was more interested in contenplating the nature then they belive she is suffering of the desease called love of nature, she also begin to see the changes that existed between her and those who she lived with, she realised she wasn't living the life she would want and sha also began to write in her manuscript. as far as the differences between sexes are regarded I didn't noticed any the Gipsies would act with Orlando as one of them, they show her affection and protection as far as she could pretend to be one of them and behave like them.

Titiana Tomoiaga · Dunker Data inscrierii: 12/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 17

After she returns to England she finds a lot of things changed, she has to wait for the court to decide whether she is the owner of her one proprieties. But what I found very interesting as well is the fact that no one seems to be very impressed that Orlando is not a man anymore but a woman, I was expecting to be expeled from the British society, she used to live in, in fact the new Orlando is seen with more curiosity, she becomes a wanted company.

Titiana Tomoiaga · Dunker Data inscrierii: 12/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 17

Orlando finds out, after returning to Englad, that the archduches is in fact a man, he is in love with her and he propose her to marry him, declaring that he loved her even when she was a man, but Orlando considers him too boring and she makes fun of him; she cheats at playing cards in the hope he would realise this fact and he wouldn't consider anymore that he loves her, she even puts a frog in his shirt, until he is convinced that they don't belong to eachother and leaves Orlando alone.

Nicolae Roxana · Rookie Data inscrierii: 10/Iun/2011 Mesaje: 6

6. The whole time he was an ambassador, Orlando visited various important figures having coffee, smoking hookah which were only symbols of a ceremony because the coffee cup was empty and there was no tobacco in the hookah, the reason being that he had to repeat this ceremony a couple of times a day. He wasn't showing any signs of enjoyment or dread, so I don't think he had any strong feelings regarding this.
7. I personally believe that he was searching a way out of his duties and he had the desire to start a new part of his life. Orlando was calm about the change thinking only his sex changed.
8. I think he wanted it at some degree, be it conscious or not, but also I don't think he had a choice in it.
9. Freud's theory was that a women reaches a fixing of her feminine character.
10. I think there those three sisters ( Lady of Purity, Lady of Chastity, Lady of Modesty), symbolize three virtues that try to stop his transformation in a woman. It also said, that they were that descendants of the three witches in Macbeth ( 'Unsex me here' ).
11. The gypsies wanted to kill Orlando because he was to different from them, he believed in the beauty of nature and her education was that of England civilization. They didn't bother about the sex she was especially since there wasn't much of difference between the woman and the man in their tribe.

Now about the extra task regarding the two pictures shown, there is a quote which describes the difference between the way Orlando is positioned:

Adelinne · Diver Data inscrierii: 11/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 62

The part in the book which draw my attention is Orlando’s sudden change, when “he” woke up as a woman. I think that the 3 ladies: lady of Chastity, Purity and Modesty, are the narrators way of describing Orlando’s daydreaming, hypnotic, semiconscious state. The trumpeters of Truth is the narrators way of describing her sudden waking from the “deep sleep”. I think that the trumpeters of Truth acts like a wake up call for her. Of course this is a metaphoric scene, but this is the way I would decode it.
I also liked the fact that the qualities that defines a person are more important for Orlando, than gender.
The funny part is when Orlando is switching genders, and begins wearing male female clothes, depending which is more appropriate for the occasion or for the moment.
The poem which she was writing was like a bibliography of her life, because I think that it represented perfectly all the changes she went thru. She starts the poem when she was younger, she still writes in it when she is more mature, finish it when she is finally a “woman”. It is sometimes satiric, she start writing even romantic passages in it, it is also gloomy, depending on her mood, or circumstances that she faced. It is somehow very surprising that she realizes that after all those changes and experiences she went thru, she is still the same person , and that she always has been in a way or another.

Izabella Strimb

Adyna · Plunger Data inscrierii: 10/Dec/2009 Mesaje: 28

Vita Sackville West was Virginia Woolf's friend which behavior and temperament was a possible model for Orlando .
Since the novel eas dedicated to Vita Sackville West I think that this played an important role not only in novel 'Orlando"(whose behavior is similar to that of the Vita) but also in Virginia Woolf's life.

Corjuc Romina

Unguras Flavia · Dunker Data inscrierii: 13/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 20

At the end of chapter four, I found an important quote which marks the end of December 31, 1799 to January 1, 1800 which says:

Adyna · Plunger Data inscrierii: 10/Dec/2009 Mesaje: 28

Refering to the question number 22 of Mihaela I think that Virginia Woolf offers us so many pictures of Orlando because she is a woman and the feminity usually offers a lot of pictures and descriptiones of what she sees. Also we can mention the fact that through the Orlando's descriptions Virginia tries to describe not only phisical part of her friend Vita Sackville West but also she wants to describe his behavior and temperament.

Grad Florina

Reka Orban · Dunker Data inscrierii: 10/Dec/2009 Mesaje: 16

1 From the begining of the book, Orlando is described by the narrator: red cheeks, exquisite white teeth, an arrow-like nose, and dark hair fitted close to the head. He is extremely beautiful. Orlando is a poet, he goes out into nature, he loves nature. he even lies down on the ground, imagining himself a part of nature. The Queen Elizabeth I came to visit, and he is very imppressed by Orlando and takes him to her court. She finds him a deplin image of a noble gentelamn.
So in my opinion, Orlando has special features which made him stand out, and not look like a youg boy, but instead he looks like a youg man.

2.Sasha is a Russian princess, who travels by ship in England. she doesn`t know English, but her fluency in French allows her to speak freely with Orlando. Orlando is very atracted by Sasha, and she is the first female who awaken in Orlando a feeling of despair. this woman will have an important effect on Orlando`s character. Orlando can never be sure what she is thinking, and she feels especially vulnerable when Sasha speaks to the sailor in Russian. He became jealous, when he realizes that she maybe is just playing with him.
aS the novel moves forward and Orlando matures, he is able to udnerstand Sasha, after Orlando became a female.
Sasha was the first real experience with love that Orland had, but that wasn`t true love, just a desire to be with someone that you cannot. So, as in everybody`s life, the first love will always mark your other experiences.

11. The gypsys, or especially one of the gypses, tried to kill Orlando, because he had other opinions, and other beliefs about life than they had. Orlando begins to notice large differences between the gypsies and herself. When she tells them of the enormous house in which she was born and of her ancestral lineage that is 500 years old, she senses their unease. Rustum, the oldest man of the tribe, takes her aside and tells her not to be ashamed of her background. Orlando realizes then that 500 years of lineage is nothing to these people whose ancestors helped build the pyramids. Her enormou house is nothing for the gypses, because the building is not important for them, they always moved, the don`t need any bedrooms to be happy.

Reka Orban · Dunker Data inscrierii: 10/Dec/2009 Mesaje: 16

11. The gypsys, or especially one of the gypses, tried to kill Orlando, because he had other opinions, and other beliefs about life than they had. Orlando begins to notice large differences between the gypsies and herself. When she tells them of the enormous house in which she was born and of her ancestral lineage that is 500 years old, she senses their unease. Rustum, the oldest man of the tribe, takes her aside and tells her not to be ashamed of her background. Orlando realizes then that 500 years of lineage is nothing to these people whose ancestors helped build the pyramids. Her enormou house is nothing for the gypses, because the building is not important for them, they always moved, the don`t need any bedrooms to be happy.
Orlando loved nature, the sunset, while they valued a flock of goats. she is very upset that she and the gypsies have such different values, and after realizing that she wants to go home.

dana.tabacariu · Plunger Data inscrierii: 10/Iun/2011 Mesaje: 25

Another question: What does the theme of writing and passing of time tell us in this book?
Since this a semi-biographical novel, Virginia Woolf's style becomes attune with her mature and unique approach to narration only when she comes to terms with her own gender.
In her youth she feels trapped in her own skin and the desire to express freely can only be remedied through writing. The duality of gender signifies in fact that the freedom of expression is not through one's eyes but through one's open heart, and that point of view clearly appears as time says its piece.

alexa_iliescu · Trimis: 15/06/2011 13:14 Titlul subiectului:

Ticala Ioana · Diver Data inscrierii: 11/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 56

Orlando is a story about a man named Orlando,born in England who has a double personality one of a woman and one of a man.He is falling in love with Sasha who was a peincess.He was metamorphosed into a woman with the same personality and the same intelectual only her\his appereance had changed.Orlando started to wear female clothes and he\she started acting like a woman,now she\he sees the major difference between a woman and a man.Orlando has lots of experiences during his\her life and this experiences helped him\her to become the person who is now on this moment.After Orlando will be mature and she\he will reach the middle-age,Orlando will discover that she\he will find what she\he had looking for love and life.

Florina Grad · Dunker Data inscrierii: 10/Feb/2010 Mesaje: 20

Virginia Woolf has a beautiful feminine vision and power of imagination which is materialized in her writings. A good example is 'Orlando' which present the main character, Orlando, like a woman in the middle of the story. This transformation make me at first to ask myself why the authoress choose this kind of plot and why things take another turn in the middle of story when nobody think at that kind of transformation. In my opinion this book is more about the difference between the genders and put in the light how differ men from women and why. In fact differences weren't only about the clothes, were also regarding to society which looks differently a man beside a woman, even both of them have almost the same feelings and desires. In this book, Virginia Woolf wants to show that not only women can be sensible, delicate but also men. Or can happen inverse, a woman can action with much more force in every thing she do, like a man. I think that Virginia Woolf realized a good parallel between the genders with this book.

Buzila Ioana

Adelinne · Diver Data inscrierii: 11/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 62

While reading this book I had a lot of questions: was Orlando really a woman or a man? Did Orlando feel more like a man or more like a woman? What was the importance of society that time? Orlando was more than a man/woman, s/he was capable of being himself/herself, of letting her/his man part/woman part be discovered.