One Must Stand Before One Can Fly

"He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying" - Friedrich Nietzsche

Woolf supports the argument made in the previous quote through her postulation of Shakespeare's sister's lifestyle. She states that although others credit women's inability to write works of a comparable caliber to those of W. Shakespeare as their intrinsic lack of intelligence to do such, she believes it was rather due to a lack of access to education offered to women. The issue this poses is that if women never had access, who is to say that they wouldn't have contributed great works of literature had they been recruited to write or read? Or quantify? Or calculate?

As Nietzsche declares, 'one cannot fly into flying'. There must be basis for the growth of an individual and the issue in the 19th century was many women were avoided the opportunity to go to school, at least past grade school. Thus, women in general lacked the ability to, for the sake of the metaphor, "stand" alone for they had never been pushed to do so. I think Nietzche's statement also nicely ties into The Awakening based on the bird motif and Edna's identification with them throughout the novel. We see Edna watching the birds flutter into the distance, seemingly effortless, and understand her feeling of confinement as she remains in the same position. Nietzche's theme is also overwhelming present in the novel as we read about Edna's internal struggles to fully break gender conventions after she "awakens" and realizes the absurdity of gender roles.

Not only does Woolf and Nietzsche's argument play a role in our novel, but it is also applicable to daily happenings in the world. Namely, girls' education. In developing countries around the world, limited women are provided the opportunity to seek an education comparable to that of their male counterparts. In fact, some countries directly condemn the education of women. Terrorist groups, like Boko Haram, target women who pursue an education. And their argument prevails "Women are naturally not as intelligent, so why seek an education? They will only hinder our community by becoming educated because they will not be taking care of our children.

The issue at hand is this statement has been declared from a bias point of view in which women cannot achieve the basis of education in order to prove their importance as educated individuals in the community. Without leveling the playing field, we will continue to discredit the oppressed races, gender, ethnicities, and /or identifications of self. Genius doesn't come by itself; it is bred and later inspired by others. It is an achievement of oneself through the help of others.