In About Love, filmmaker Archana Phadke offers a revealing portrait of her own family. Three generations of Phadkes live together in Mumbai, India’s financial center. A reasonably well-resourced family, they nevertheless are challenged by the contradictions of making a modern life within India’s Hindu and post-colonial nationalist structures that empower men while marginalizing women.

As Archana interviews her mother she is surprised to learn that the woman who raised her treasures time to be alone so that she can gather her thoughts and write. The writing gives her voice in a situation where she feels like no one listens to her.

This lesson offers students a chance to link and contrast Maneesha Phadke’s need to write with literary giant Virginia Woolf’s famous claim that in order to write, women need money and a room of one’s own (both of which have typically been denied by sexist cultures, laws, and customs). Teacher’s can guide students to explore as much or as little of the specific historical context for Woolf’s writing as suits curriculum needs. It will also be easy to add or skip research skills by assigning students to find information on Woolf or simply supplying the relevant background.

The point of introducing students to Woolf and Maneesha Phadke is to prime them for a metacognitive exercise in which they think about (and write about) their own writing. How do they carve out space and time to ponder their own thoughts, find their own voice, and express themselves? What can they learn from those who have gone before about the challenges, strategies, and rewards of finding ways to share their own voice?

A Note from Curriculum Creator, Dr. Faith Rogow

As educators, we often talk about the importance of students having voice—a chance to discover who they are and express themselves. But we rarely take time to guide them in practices that might help them do just that. Using the filmmaker’s mother, Maneesha, as both example and inspiration, this lesson gives students an opportunity to make an intentional plan that provides them time for reflection and creativity.

Subject Areas:

• English/Language Arts
• Modern Literature
• Women’s/Gender Studies
• Creative Writing

Grade Levels: 10-12

Objectives:

In this lesson, students will:

• Be introduced to the work of writer Virginia Woolf
• Understand Woolf’s comment that for women to write they need “money and a room of one’s own,” including how the comment applies to modern women
• Understand how carving out time to reflect is essential to having a public voice
• Make a plan for creating their own space to reflect and write

Materials

• Excerpt from Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own
• Film Clips from About Love and a way to screen them

Time Needed:

One 60-minute class period with homework and an option for students to share their writing.

Clip 1: Brainless (27:07 - 34:42, length: 7:35 minutes)

This clip gives a sense of the relationship between the filmmaker’s parents, Maneesha and Atul.

Maneesha is tasked with solving a silly problem and then criticized by her husband for the way she solves it. She complies to avoid argument, and both laughs and cries at the absurdity of the situation. Atul avoids taking responsibility and Maneesha, who is college-educated, is left feeling exhausted and “brainless.”

You’ll want to note for students that they aren’t seeing the entirety of the relationship. The film also shows scenes depicting loving parts of the marriage, but this scene is not atypical.

🏴PLEASE NOTE: In this clip, Atul swears twice. If this is a problem, do the lesson without showing this clip.

Clip 2: Time Alone (47:07 - 49:19, length: 2:12 minutes)

Maneesha describes how she carves out time for herself, despite all the distractions of family. This scene is the closest parallel to Virginia Woolf’s want of “a room of one’s own.”

Clip 3: Maneesha the Writer (1:12:50 - 1:21:05, length: 8:15 minutes)

We see three generations representing different possibilities for women’s lives. Maneesha shares the story she is writing.

The scene begins with a shot of the filmmaker’s grandmother. She is recently widowed—pay attention to how the film uses visuals to demonstrate her status. Then we see the marriage of the filmmaker’s brother—a couple full of young love and hope for the future (and equality?). Finally, we hear from Maneesha. This is the writing she shares:

Why do people fight? Loud noises and screaming scare me. I never understand what to do. Sometimes I don't even understand the problem.

There was this strange tension for a while and then everyone and everything went back to normal in the house. I went and sat at the edge of the well. Yet I could not understand how to deal with the chaos in my mind. My opinion is never asked. Most people think I can't speak. That's how little I talk. So, no one has ever questioned my silence.

Only I exist in my world. But there was always this other 'me' lurking around me amongst a web of relationships this 'me' creates. True to self, true to its relationship with self, echoing, "Yes, you are the best." That is the real me.

As I peek over my terrace, I watch this other me standing by the door calling out to me. I can see it, flying with the birds soaring above me. Two sides of me, one tied down, one set free.

Oh, what a beautiful butterfly! It's tiny, it's yellow. These tiny wings flapping, takes my breath away. Feels like the yellow is opening and closing around me, clearing the chaos in my mind. Is there a sound to these flapping wings? A sound I cannot hear I only have an understanding of the sounds I know.

Yet I know there is something beyond that, something I cannot hear, smell or see. But it's there —it's felt. Will I ever sense it? There is no relation between this butterfly and me, and still, it brings me happiness. Why do people behave differently? Will I ever find someone who will love me purely, a nameless love like Radha-Krishna?

Step 1: Reading “A Room of One’s Own”

Distribute the Virginia Woolf excerpt, either as a hard copy handout or online. Give students several minutes to read the text. Have them annotate or take notes as they read and direct them to spend more time with the last sentence. Ask them what, based on the passage, the last sentence is meant to communicate.

Step 2: Discussing “A Room of One’s Own”

Briefly discuss the meanings of Woolf’s “a room of one’s own” comment.

Ask your students what is required to support sustained creative practices (or a similar question about leisure, writing, etc.). The goal is to prompt them to make connections between having money and having time to write. Also invite them to explore what Woolf meant by “a room of one’s own” and why that would have been important to her as a writer. Ask students why having a “room of one’s own” may be different for women than for men.

Finally, dedicate some time for analyzing the last part of the sentence: “...the great problem of the true nature of woman and the true nature of fiction.” Ask students: What do you think “the great problem” is?

Optional: If students don’t offer examples on their own, you might want to fill in with some of Woolf’s evidence (noting that the essay was written in 1928 in England, and that Woolf is white). For example, if men could retreat to their homes to find respite, Woolf argues that women didn’t have this option because home was not a place to rest; rather, it was a place of unending work (caring for children or ailing relatives, cooking, cleaning, sewing, etc.)

Woolf, also notes the ongoing legacy of historical practices, citing this excerpt from Trevelyan’sA History of England : “Wife beating as a recognized right of man and was practiced without shame by high as well as low…Similarly, the daughter who refused to marry the gentleman of her parents’ choice was liable to be locked up, beaten and flung about the room, without any shock being inflicted on public opinion. Marriage was not an affair of personal affection, but of family avarice…”

Woolf further notes that until the mid-1800s, women were not permitted to own property, making them dependent on men. And the lack of reliable birth control meant that some women were constantly pregnant and consumed with caring for children.

Alternatively, if time allows, you could offer an opportunity for students to practice research skills by assigning them to find out who Virginia Woolf was and what the historical situation was for white women in England when she wrote the essay.

Ultimately, the goal is to encourage your students to perform a class and gender analysis, and to identify the structures, systems, and ways of being that make it more difficult for women and working class people to participate in the ‘creative class.’

Step 3: Viewing the Film Clips and Applying Woolf’s Observations to a Modern Life

a) Review the main points of the discussion of the need for “a room of one’s own” and invite students to see how they apply to a modern family.

b) Introduce About Love, explaining to students that they will see clips from a documentary that filmmaker Archana Phadke made about her family in Mumbai, India in 2015-2017. Remind them that they aren’t seeing the entire story of the family, but only selected moments.

c) Play each clip. As time allows, pause after each clip so students can react to what they see and comment on how it illustrates or contradicts Woolf’s assertions about writing. Invite them to pay special attention to the strategies that Maneesha uses to give herself time to think and write.

Step 4: Student Brainstorming about Creating Their Own Time & Space to Write

Use the remaining class time for students, in pairs or small groups, to imagine what they would write about if they had the time, space, and security to do so. Once they have an idea about what they would want to write, invite them to brainstorm strategies about how they could create the time and space they need to actually write. Invite them to think through the details. Would they need a computer or would they use a pen & paper? Where could they go to concentrate? Where could they go for inspiration?

Step 5: Assignment

Have students create a plan for themselves. The goal is for each student to intentionally carve out 10-15 minutes per day where they can be undisturbed as they think, reflect, and write.

They should write a plan that provides details of how they would go about creating this solitary space to think and create. Additionally, have them include what they would like to write about on their first day in their own personal “room of one’s own.”

[Optional] Step 6: Sharing
Offer class time or an online platform for students to share their plans, implement them, and report back on how it went. Invite them to reflect on the difference between writing for oneself and writing for an audience, writing that has been assigned compared to writing about whatever one chooses, and writing fiction compared with writing other types of texts.

Teachers! You may even consider building in five minutes at the beginning and end of your class periods to allow students some time to reflect and write in their journals. This way you can support their strategizing and planning.

EXTENSIONS

Have students make their own films about their families. What types of scenes do they think would be most important to capture?

Compare Maneesha’s desire for quiet, alone time with the ideas of Henry David Thoreau.

Explore in greater depth how differences in age, socioeconomic class, culture, and gender influence one’s capacity to write.

Review the story that Maneesha shares and study the history of Radha-Krishna stories.

Resources

Check POV’s discussion guide for About Love for additional questions and for background information on women in India and Hinduism, as well as Radha-Krishna stories.

India Together
A page dedicated to women and women’s issues, this online news organization provides articles on daily issues confronting women in India.

Feminism in India
A site by and for young Indian women that is designed to educate and amplify the voices of women and marginalized communities using tools of art, media, culture, technology and community. A good site to get a feel for popular culture issues in India, including writing by Indian women.

HinduWebsite.com
The site features explanations of Hinduism and other religions common to India, including a very general description of the role of women in Hinduism. For additional information on how the religion approaches gender, seehttps://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/h_gender.asp. Note, this is an ad-supported website and may not work properly for people using ad-blocking software.

Standards

Please list Common Core Standards that this lesson addresses. Here is an example for formatting purposes.

SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

SL.11-12.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.

SL.11-12.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating a command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

W.9-10.4,11-12.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience.

W.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization and analysis of content.

RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.

R.7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

Writer

Faith Rogow
Faith Rogow, Ph.D. is a media literacy education specialist at InsightersEducation.com. She has authored media literacy textbooks and written discussion guides and lesson plans for nearly 300 independent films, specializing in topics related to equity and social justice.

Lesson Plan Producers, POV

Chrissy Griesmer
POV Engage Intern

Courtney Cook
Education Manager

Thanks to those who reviewed this resource:

Rachel Friedland
POV, Senior Associate, Programs & Engagement

The creation of POV’s Education Resources is made possible by the generous support of the Open Society Foundation.