Controlling Anna

As I said in class today, from what I have read of the story so far, it seems to me as though Anna has no motivations or will of her own, and that she lets others take advantage of her and push her around. While that point can be argued, what can’t be argued is that it seems as though everyone we have seen in the story has, at some point or another, pushed her around or tried to force their own desires upon her.

            We have her godmother, Hester, who decided that the best thing for her was to take her away from home and have her move to England, possibly so that she could get the money from their families estate all to herself. Her “Uncle Bo” then sends a letter declaring that her actions were outrageous, and states that only him and his family know what is best for her. At first this sounded like he genuinely cared about Anna’s welfare and had her best interests at heart. Until he brought up his demand that Hester return the money she had received from the sale of the property, meaning that it is possible (although I may just be assuming the worst of him), that he only wants Anna to come home so that he can get at that money for himself. Both of her landladies assumed that she is a whore believe they have the right to shout at her and demean her, and she is eventually kicked out of her second apartment, if not her first as well, which she lived in with her fellow chorus girl Maudie. Maudie isn’t immune to this either, though it seems to be much more benign in Maudie’s case, Maudie believes that she knows what is going on with Anna and her affair with Walter, and tries to give her advice when she doesn’t ask for it.

      And finally, we get to Walter himself. As it was said in class, even if Walter isn’t a straight out jerk, he is very condescending to her. While it is true that she is still only 18-19 when they begin their affair, he treats her like a child. He gives her money, he arranges for her to have singing lessons; he comes to her when she is sick, etc. Just like dear old Uncle Bo, at face value, these can all be taken as good intentions. But it almost feels as though he doesn’t want to help her, so much as control her, to have power over her. So, rather than actually caring for her as a person, he is taking care of what he may see as an object, or something he can use for his own pleasure.