Read the passage from a room of one’s own.

her mind must have been strained and her vitality lowered by the need of opposing this, of disproving that. for here again we come within range of that very interesting and obscure masculine complex which has had so much influence upon the woman's movement; that deep-seated desire, not so much that she shall be inferior as that he shall be superior, which plants him wherever one looks, not only in front of the arts, but barring the way to politics too, even when the risk to himself seems infinitesimal and the suppliant humble and devoted.

how does the rhetorical technique used in the underlined text best develop the author’s ideas?

the author’s use of overstatement exaggerates a well-known fact to emphasize men’s perceived superiority.

the author’s use of irony emphasizes that men’s desire to be superior is not an obscure or particularly interesting fact.

the author’s use of metaphor makes a creative and colorful comparison to emphasize the idea that men want to be superior.

the author’s use of allusion emphasizes that men’s desire to be superior is similar to women’s desire to be part of the women’s movement.

The correct option is the second one:The author's use of irony emphasizes that men's desire to be superior is not an obscure or particularly interesting fact.

Explanation:

A room for one’s own is an essay published by the English writer Virginia Woolf in September of 1929. The text is one of the most important and recognized from the feminist movement because of its consistent searching of women liberty and its reflexions about the men’s power.

In the passage that we have in this exercise, Virginia Woolf says that men have been always focused on being superior to the women and that the fact that women feel themselves more empowered and trying to open new spaces to develop their abilities make men feeling uncomfortable and not secure; and this is, according to Woolf, the reason of the constant men’s reluctance to open spaces to women. Thus, we can say that the correct answer is the second one: THE AUTHOR’S USE OF IRONY EMPHASIZES THAT MEN’S DESIRE TO BE SUPERIOR IS NOT AN OBSCURE OR PARTICULARLY INTERESTING FACT. The reason is related to what had been already said: according to the author this behaviour has been constant since always, not because women aren’t competent, but because men are afraid of losing their power.

The first option is not the correct one because Woolf is not exaggerating anything; on the contrary she’s just expressing how men act since always; third option cannot be considered right because she’s not using any creative and colourful metaphor to express her ideas, in fact she’s a serious and reliable author that follows more constantly scientific writing style than literary style; finally the last option is not operable to the question due to she’s not comparing men’s desire to be superior with the women’s movement.

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)