"This is an important book, the critic assumes, because it deals with war. This is an insignificant book because it deals with the feelings of women in a drawing-room"

In this quote, Virginia Woolf is making a declaration about the method society values particular subjects over others. She is suggesting that war is seen as an essential topic, while the feelings of ladies in a drawing-room are viewed as insignificant. Woolf is likely making a statement about the patriarchal nature of society, and how it values subjects that are generally viewed as masculine, such as war, over subjects that are traditionally viewed as womanly, such as the sensations of women in a drawing-room. Woolf is likely trying to point out the inequality in the method society worths specific subjects, and how this inequality can cause the decline of topics that are seen as feminine. By making this declaration, Woolf is attempting to draw attention to the inequality in the method society values particular topics, and to encourage people to value all topics similarly.