Critical Summary of Woolf's "Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid"

Virginia Woolf writes in “Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid” of the newly begun Second World War, which by 1941 had begun to wreak havoc upon England in a series of German air raids.  Woolf writes that the foundation for such a war is freedom, whether it be for or against it in some way, but through her wonderfully lofty writing that zips between war, feminism, and politics as swiftly as the fighter pilots themselves, she touches on a much deeper subject that lies much close to heart.  That subject is the idea of imprisonment, that no matter who somebody is or what society determines them to be- whether it is English or German, man or woman- nobody is truly free, and by nature of society, freedom is limited and is largely a product of the societal machine.  This idea of the machine is a reoccurring theme throughout the essay.  Woolf makes numerous references to pilots who are trapped within a machine, which metaphorically represents the way society places ideas and opinions in one’s head which strongly affect the way they live their life.  Woolf’s call to action is directed at women, who she says are in many ways left out of the war.  The war is fought between men, and the policies are designed by men, which leads her to ask what exactly a woman can do make her voice heard in the midst of a great war.  The answer to this question is ideas, that a woman must let her ideas be known so that society can break away from the machine that has driven it to such extremes.  Rather than blaming men for the atrocities that are happening, she also sees them (in reference to the young men who fight in the military) as victims of the machine as well, despite Woolf’s previous efforts of criminalizing men for they way women are treated in society.  Perhaps it is war that sparks Woolf into taking a new approach to a situation she has long been a part of, but regardless of these circumstances, Woolf takes this opportunity to not only protest the violent actions spreading across Europe, but also the social pressures that caused it.