Sunday, March 25, 2012
Voyage in the Dark- Meagan Niles
One theme I noticed in this week’s reading of Voyage in the Dark is discrimination of women. I think this became evident throughout Anna’s relationship with Walter, and also in Germaine’s relationship with Vincent. When both couples are at dinner, Germaine begins lecturing Vincent about his behavior. “Well, that’s the way you look sometimes, Vincent. Scorn and loathing of the female- a very common expression in this country,” (81). This quote expressions how both men act superior to the women they date. It seems as if Germaine is used to seeing his type of behavior from all men in England. One of example of this occurs when Vincent calls Anna a “child” or describes her as “infantile” when he addresses her. I’m not sure if Vincent refuses to take her seriously only because of her age, or because she is a woman. Another example occurs when Walter and Anna talk about Germaine later that evening. Walter describes her as “old” even though she is younger than Vincent. When Anna protests, he claims, “that is old for a woman,” (87). This quote bothered me because it implies that women have some kind of expiration date which says they are no longer considered beautiful or datable to men. This is definitely a double standard in the book because Walter is “nearly twenty years older” than Anna. I’m excited to see if the gender roles change or stay the same in the last section of the book.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree entirely with your post, I was repulsed by Walter's treatment of Anna, and even furthermore that she continued to form a stronger attachment to someone that treated her as if she were so inferior to himself. I was angered that Walter continued to treat Anna as if she was incapable of giving him anything worth his while, though she gave to him the most precious gift a woman has to give, her virginity. Furthermore, I was angered by Vincent's letter to Anna, ending the silence that Walter had been giving her but also her relationship with Walter. What were your feeling as to Rhy's use of the letter to portray the insensitivity and cowardliness of Walter? Also, men in general throughout this text.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. I was angered by the double standard depicted in the story. For women, they are the objects of men, reaching a peak in their beauty and desirability and then considered useless afterwards. For women like Anna, they are forced to find a new way to sustain themselves once the only object at their disposal is deemed useless. For men like Walter, they will always be considered desirable so long as they have the money to support their endeavors.
ReplyDelete