Female Identity in Virginia Woolf, To The Lighthouse, Elizabeth Bowen, Heat of the Day and Iris Murdoch, Under the NetAfter reading Virginia Woolf, « To The Lighthouse,” readers are left with the disturbing reality of a woman’s role during this time period. The characters of Mrs. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe embody these humiliating roles. However, instead of completely giving in to male domination, they launched the women's resistance movement at the start of the First World War. Similarly, in Elizabeth Bowen's novel, “The Heat of the Day,” different female roles emerge from the characters that help present the change in women's identity and power. The two main female characters, Stella Rodney and Louie Lewis, among others in this time-honored World War II novel, hold working-class jobs. They are beginning to change the stereotypical ideas that women are just housewives and serve their “husbands”. These characters allow readers to clearly see that women are capable and deserve equality on the same level as men. This essentially sets the stage for other novels from this post-WWII era, such as Iris Murdoch's "Under the Net." In this novel, women begin to be respected for their position in the world. Men recognize their important value in society. This can be seen by the relationship between Jake Donaghue and Anna Quentin's characters. Victoria Glendinning further illustrates the correlation between these 20th century novels. She is a writer of contemporary fiction and biographer of Bowen, Rebecca West and Trollope, among others. Glendinning says: "She [Bowen] is a major writer... She is what happened after Bloomsbury... the link that connects Virginia Woolf to Iris Murdoch and Mrielk Spark." These highly regarded and respected authors show that women can and do hold power in our society. These authors send the message to readers that women, throughout time, have been and still are fully capable of thinking for themselves. They can hold their own without having to submit to male domination, whether by writing novels, raising a family, working in a factory, or pursuing a career as a singer. So, like all women, they deserve to be respected for their achievements and deserve equality. In reference to Virginia Woolf's novel, “At the Lighthouse”, she takes up the main female characters of Mme.