It's+All+Greek+to+Me

Throughout the book, Virginia Woolf mentions Greece and the Greeks many times. I have found references as early as page 22, but we don't get a real discussion about it until page 27 where Virginia describes the Greek teacher. The Greek teacher: "Huxtable can't walk straight" and we get a full description on the next page. "The whole flesh on his face then fell into folds as if props were removed... what a procession tramps through the corridors of his brain, orderly, quick-stepping, and reinforced... gripping the arm of the chair, like a man holding fast because stranded...you might fancy that on a pillow of stone he lay triumphant" Later on, Jacob decides that he and Timmy "are the only people in the world who know what the Greeks meant," before he sees his girlfriend walking down Greek Street on the arm of another man. Later on, Jacob himself goes to Greece.

What is the significance of Greece? After all, Virginia is trying to fit everything into this story. She has no time to spend on one topic, so why does she choose Greece? Furthermore, why are the mentions of Greece located where they are? Any Ideas? 1201932600

At the time that this book was written, a major focus point of literature was Greek and classical writings. Unlike us today, Woolf did not have modernists to analyze, and many of the major works of the 19th century were too young to be regarded as classics. Greek works in general represented the upper-intellectual, college-level reading that Woolf's works represent today. Woolf focuses on Greece to emphasize Jacob's ties to the intellectual community; however, as we see in the book, everything in this community in not necessarily good or correct, which is reflected in Woolf's description of the Greek professor or Jacob's girlfriend walking with another man on Greek Street. Woolf is calling out the problems with the intellectual community of the day about how it is not challenging itself with new forms of material, something that she successfully changed through her works. 1201936926

I agree with DSu's and TRu's comments but also think that it may have had to do with her own perception of the intellectual world at the time. I remember her many frustrations with the colleges during her time in her book we read last year, __A Room of One's Own__. She could not go into the library and could not even attend college, yet she excelled at her writing. I was shocked to find out in class that she never actually even went to school yet still became such a successful writer. I think that this may have to do with her refrence to the Greek world because as DSu pointed out, it is an intellecutal society. Maybe she was trying to tie herself to this Greek life by tieing Jacob to it. Maybe she wanted to show er fellow authors of the intellectual power she had, even without going to school. This may just be a stretch, but I do believe that her refrences with Jacob and with Greece have to tie into her own personal intellectual beliefs. **PTr**

Another aspect of the Greek culture is its freedom and adventure. On 58, it says: "Jacob knew no more Greek than served him to stumble through a play. Of ancient history he knew nothing....[but] the whole sentiment of Athens was entire after his heart; free, venture-some, high-spirited..." This passage concentrates more on Jacob's want of freedom, whether it be with women or with travelling the world, and not on the intellectual aspect of Greek culture. Jacob's actions have indicated that he like variety with his women and that he likes to travel. I think that Jacob doesn't like to be stuck in the same rut in life, so that's why the Greeks facinate him. 1201970361

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