First of all, one of Maudie's claims only on the fourth page of the book struck me. Rhys writes, "I bet you a man writing a book about a tart tells a lot of lies one way and another. Besides, all books are like that -- just somebody stuffing you up" (10). I'm always intrigued when authors place commentary about books and authors within their own work, especially when it's negative. What do you all think about this comment? Can we trust what Rhys tells us in the book--since Maudie points out that perhaps they only tell "lies"? What is she poking fun of here? It is perhaps only men who write books, making her own book, Voyage in the Dark, valid?
After this, there were several assumptions/stereotypes made about women that stuck out to me as well. For instance, Mr. Jones says, "You girls only have two ages. You're eighteen and so of course your friend's twenty-two" (13). This carries implications that perhaps girls lie about their ages. And next, on page 17: "No fascination without curves. Ladies, realize your charms." I'll just point out one more. Our narrator thinks, "Everything makes you want pretty clothes like hell. People laugh at girls who are badly dressed" (25). This also brings up something else interesting--the use of second person.
In the quotes I've listed above, Rhys makes several implications here, and I believe she pokes fun at the ridiculousness of it all by pushing her characters to the extreme. She shows the absurdity of what is expected of women by their behavior and particularly their appearance. What do you all think? I guess in this post I'm bringing up several things here to initiate our discussion about this book and our reaction to its beginning. Just making some simple observations and am curious to know where our discussion leads us.
Careful not to confuse the author's voice with her characters'. In fact, I would take the author's tone towards Maudie to be mainly negative and undermining. For instance, Maudie's ridiculous habit of claiming prescience (pp 44, "I always knew you'd get off with somebody with money", pp 47, "I thought there was something about this place that gave me the pip; I'm awfully sensitive like that."), or her rather pathetic comments about Vivian Roberts, which prefigures Anna and Walter's relationship.
ReplyDeleteIn general, I believe the novel is very interested in elucidating less-visible power differentials, and so the rather explicit and frequent comments which reduce women to their age, appearance, and sexual availability clearly signal their lack of power in a society where they are treated as a commodity -- indeed, "much cheaper than things."