Humor: A Weapon Against Societal Norms

How Virginia Woolf takes all of British culture to task using sarcasm and comedic exaggeration.

Using humor to level cultural critiques is nothing new. I imagine our oldest ancestors used sarcasm and exaggeration to criticize whoever gloated about inventing fire.

But Virginia Woolf uses humor to take down British norms of the time so well that it’s worth looking at her short story “A Society,” published in 1920.

The Story Itself

The story centers ar…