Jacob's Room

Jacob’s Room (1922) is a novel by Virginia Woolf. The novel is considered to be Woolf’s first experimental novel and a landmark in Modernist literature, notable for its fragmented narrative structure and indirect characterization. Through shifting perspectives and lyrical prose, Woolf reconstructs the life of a young English man named Jacob Flanders in the early 20th century. The novel explores The Ineffability of Individual Identity, Navigating Social Norms in a Changing World, and The Complexities of Education and Social Mobility. 

This guide uses the 2013 Harper Press edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of antigay bias and death.

Plot Summary

The novel begins in the titular Jacob’s childhood and follows him through college at Cambridge and into adulthood. At the opening of the book, Jacob Flanders is a young boy visiting a seaside town while on vacation from his native Scarborough. He travels with his widowed mother and two brothers. Jacob’s mother, Betty Flanders, has taken her three boys to Cornwall in the wake of their father’s death. She watches her sons play on the beach and frolic in the ocean as she mourns the loss of her husband, Seabrook Flanders.

Betty and her sons return home, where she receives regular visits from her friend and neighbor, Captain Barfoot. The relationship between Betty and Captain Barfoot is unclear. At first, it seems as though he is courting her, although Betty is recently widowed and Captain Barfoot is married. Betty also receives a love letter from local clergyman, Andrew Lloyd. However, she rejects Mr. Lloyd’s advances as she is still grieving her husband’s death. The clergyman is just one of many men in the town who have proposed marriage to Betty. She has turned them all down. Captain Barfoot shows a letter to Betty: The letter confirms that her son Jacob will be able to attend the prestigious Cambridge University.



The novel jumps ahead to the year 1906. By this time, Jacob has begun his studies at the University of Cambridge. This is the first time he is living away from his family home. While at Cambridge, Jacob studies literature and meets some fellow students, Timothy Durrant and Richard Bonamy. They become his close friends, though they often do not seem to know him that well. Although Jacob, Durrant, and Bonamy are all from relatively comfortable families, Jacob’s upbringing seems to be much more rural and modest than that of his friends. While on a vacation from school, Jacob and Durrant sail around the coast of Cornwall to the Scilly Isles, where Durrant’s family is from. There, Jacob meets Mrs. Durrant and Timothy’s sister, Clara Durrant, both of whom seem to take an immediate liking to Jacob. Though he is exhausted, he makes polite conversation at the dinner party. He promises to keep in touch with Clara as he makes his excuses to return to London.

After Jacob graduates from Cambridge, he decides not to return to Scarborough with his family. Instead, he decides to move to London to live on his own. After arriving in London, Jacob seems rather listless, declining to pursue a steady profession or form of employment, as he has no financial incentive to do so. He lacks any clear idea of what he wants to do in his life. He loves literature and offers a literary essay to magazines, but they turn him down. He spends most of his time continuing his studies independently, reading, and attending events in the city.

Jacob often visits the reading room in the British Museum, contemplating the mysteries of the past. He reads books on topics such as the Byzantine Empire, looking for clues as to what he should do with his life. Like many young men his age, he reveres the culture and philosophy of Ancient Greece. Like his peers, he hopes that in studying their ancient messages he will gain some kind of clarity.

Jacob soon develops a romantic relationship with Florinda, a beautiful but uninteresting girl. Jacob and Florinda are from different worlds, as she is uneducated and has a wild temperament. Still, something about her attracts Jacob and they become involved in a sexual relationship. She tries to please him by reading the books that he mentions, though she often struggles to understand exactly why Jacob likes these books so much. As well as Florinda, there are other women in Jacob’s life. By this time, Clara Durrant has also moved to London. Jacob is also acquainted with a young woman named Fanny Elmer, a part-time model. These women often seem attracted to Jacob, though he fails to register their romantic interest.

Clara also moved to London after completing her studies. She is now working in a tearoom. She makes several attempts to get closer to Jacob, but to no avail. Fanny attempts to become closer to Jacob by reading his favorite books, but Jacob ends up leaving London after deciding to take a tour of Continental Europe. He plans to visit the ruins of the ancient cultures that he reveres so much. Jacob sets off on his first-ever trip abroad at the age of 26. He first heads to Paris and then to Greece. While in Paris, he spends time with his friends, Cruttendon and Mallison. Through these friends, Jacob is introduced to a woman named Jinny Carslake. Though he writes often to his mother, as she waits expectantly for all his letters, he leaves out many details about his adventures. After Paris, he travels to Italy and then Greece.

Jacob is drawn to Greece as he finds that he has become quite weary of modern life and feels that this would be remedied by spending some time visiting the ancient Greek ruins. During his time in Greece, Jacob writes letters to his friend Richard Bonamy, proclaiming what a wonderful place it is and how much he is enjoying his visit. In London, Clara speaks to Bonamy and admits to him that she has always been in love with Jacob. The persistence of her love annoys Bonamy.

After much time exploring and sightseeing on his own, Jacob becomes distracted from his virtuous pursuits after meeting Sandra Wentworth Williams. Sandra is a married Englishwoman who is touring Greece with her husband, Evan Williams. Though they have recently married, Sandra is bored. They spend their days together and Jacob realizes that he is falling in love with Sandra. When he travels to Athens, he runs into her again. He takes a moonlit walk with Sandra around the Acropolis. She mentions that she and her husband plan to visit Constantinople, and Jacob decides to follow after them.

After extensive touring in Greece, Jacob eventually returns to London. Now tanned and lean, he speaks excitedly of his journey to his friends. However, he remains lovesick at the thought of Sandra Williams. His feelings of alienation and purposelessness soon overtake him once more, so that he is left sketching images of the Greek ruins in the dust in a corner of Hyde Park.

When World War I breaks out in Europe, Jacob enlists in the British army and is killed in combat. The period in which he enlists and is killed is not portrayed in the novel. Instead, the novel ends with a scene of Betty Flanders and Richard Bonamy clearing out Jacob’s London apartment in the wake of his death. Betty asks Jacob’s old friend what she should do with the shoes of her deceased son.