Virginia Woolf’s Three Guineas is organized as a letter responding to a white educated man who wrote to her asking her to join the anti-war effort. Woolf was taken aback by receiving this letter as this was a man asking a woman— her— opinion on war. She delays her response because she feels her lack of structured education, experience and access to the public life would prevent her from sending him a response that he would be able to easily understand as an educated man. Three Guineas displays Woolf’s uncertainty of leaving the private sphere to help the anti-war efforts and her reluctance to become a part of the public sphere and all that it comes with. As she writes her response, she also addresses two other letters sent to her. One is a request for a donation for a woman’s college and the other a request for a donation for an organization that helps women “enter the professions” (181). She wants to ensure girls who receive an education do not turn…show more content… Throughout the time, she has considered answers, but they would all involve very lengthy explanations that might get misunderstood. Even after trying to explain, he would not be able to understand her since he has very different experiences and role in society. She is saying that he has more privileges and that fact prevents him from fully understanding her point as she bases her opinions through her experience and perception as a daughter of an educated man. But since it is so out of the ordinary that a man asks a woman her opinion on something like this, she will do her best to respond. She provides an imagined description of the man who wrote to her: a thinning, gray haired, lawyer, prosperous, a family man, a good person, and well educated. She admits they are both from the educated class, having the same accents, manners, and conversational
