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My initial notes on the Sojourner Truth plate were gendered indeed: I saw the face on the left as distinctly masculine, though I could not figure out the tear, as "emotion" is stereotypically depicted as feminine. Both the face on the right and the middle face proved more difficult to gender. I figured that both were masks and, as such, could be disguising a person of either gender. Even knowing the artist's intended gender of all three faces, I still cannot rid the image of the left face as a male's; though I have figured out why. The curving line of black that separates the two side-facing faces from the center one acts as hair, especially where it comes down from the crown of the right face's head. Above the mask of the middle face is more black, which could represent hair, edged by a sort of crown. The left fact, however, does not have this same potential feature. If indeed the three faces are all versions of one woman, it leads me to question the significance of the black portions of the image.

The face in the center has an air of cleverness or confidence: it is as if the face knows something that the other two faces, looking off to the sides, do not know. We, as the viewers, have either the potentially difficult task of trying to figure out what the middle face knows, or the uncomfortable position of watching this face scheme behind the backs of the other two faces.

I have worked with Woolf's essays in the past as part of an independently-designed essay. As such, I did not have access to the expertise of an English professor or fellow students of English to help me determine her tone. So much of her writing seems mocking from the perspective of a 21st century reader—almost reminiscent of Swift's "A Modest Proposal." The way she refers to her gender and class as "educated men's daughters" or "sisters" of educated male contemporaries is so self-deprecating that it seems a joke. There are other areas of the text that also seem humorous: her frequent reminders about the shortness of time the (imaginary) addressees of her letters have, for example. So, I am wondering what those better acquainted with Woolf or with her time period believe is going on here. Is Woolf completely serious in these essays, or are they meant to have a humorous edge?