Gender and Power Dynamic in The Lover by Marguerite Duras - Essay Example

Gender and Power Dynamic in “The Lover" by Marguerite Duras “The Lover" by Marguerite Duras is an autobiographical novel that recounts the author’s experience in the French Indochina before moving back to France in her later life. “The Lover” focuses on the narration of a girl whose family that includes her mother and two brothers sinks into poverty after the death of her father and poor investment by her mother. The girl has a romantic affair with an older Chinese man but this is not the only focus of the novel as the narrator explores her journey through life first in France Indochina then in France. The narrator also highlights what happens to her family members through the years while also presenting her rocky relationship with her mother, which is a blend of both love and hate as time progresses. This essay explores the gender and power dynamic in “The Lover" by Marguerite Duras revealed through the emotions and experiences of the narrator as she interacts with others surrounding her both in France Indochina and France. Power dynamics in “The Love” can be explored in the context of the social and economic status that the narrator’s family occupy as members of the colonizer’s race. Although the French were the colonizers in “The Lover”, poverty in the narrator’s family makes them to be more racially and economically proximate to the peasant locals than to the fellow Europeans. The narrator and her family relate more to the experiences of the poor locals which threatens their enjoyment of the privileges that comes with being European. To ensure they preserve their supremacy as members of the European society, the narrator’s mother attempts to form associations with the people from the European community. The family sinks into poverty because of the death of the father and poor investment in an unproductive parcel of land by the narrator’s mother resulting in their alienation from other Europeans. The narrator’s family attempts to re-establish its racial supremacy by strictly following the conventions of European colonial household where for instance the narrator recalls: “We were white children, we were ashamed, we sold our furniture, but we weren’t hungry, we had a houseboy and we ate. Sometimes, admittedly, we ate garbage – storks, baby crocodiles – but the garbage was cooked and served by a houseboy, and sometimes we refused it, too, we indulged in the luxury of declining to eat” (Duras 67). Consequently, the family is held back from the privileges of being members of the European bourgeois by poverty, which makes it virtually impossible to socially engage with the rest of the white society. Further, the family exercises its authority over the narrator by encouraging her to continue her relationship with her lover due to the financial benefit that comes with the affair. Although the mother served in the French government as a head mistress, her income could not sustain the family having already exhausted what her husband had left behind. The mother sees this money as her passport out of poverty although she pretends not to approve her daughter’s relationship with the Chinese man. The family does not openly acknowledge the physical relation the narrator has with her Chinese lover, but they know their financial wellbeing depends on it. The narrator recounts how her brothers never talked to her lover choosing to ignore his presence, which makes her not to speak to him in their presence (Duras 51). The behaviour exhibited by the elder brother towards other members of the family represents a masculine domination and exercise of supremacy. The narrator’s elder brother takes advantage of the absence of their father to rule over the family. The mother who continues to support him condones the violence and ruthless actions of the brother. The brother portrays his masculinity by demanding to be served by the rest in the family. This is demonstrated by the fact that he has never considered getting employed to earn a living but steals from the mother and servants in addition to demanding as much money as possible from the Chinese man through the narrator in order to finance his opium addiction. The behaviour displayed by the narrator’s elder brother mirrors that of colonizers who defend their control over the land and institutions through repressive rules because of the fear that his dominance might be challenged. A significant factor in the discussion of gender relations and power dynamics in “The Lover” concerns the notion of crossing boundaries that is exhibited both literally and figuratively. The narrator begins her journey that will see her cross racial and social boundaries in addition to the boundary from childhood to adulthood when she crosses the ferry. When the narrator steps onto the ferry, she is still a fifteen year old innocent girl whose responsibility in life is to attend school. However, she gets to the other side a different person having met her Chinese lover. The incidence also has implications on the social status of the narrator who on reaching the other side of the water is chauffeured in a limousine, which indicates her transition from poverty into a life of wealth (Duras 20). The love affair that develops between the narrator and her Chinese lover represents the ultimate violation of the conventions that relates to white colonial femininity. The white females were not supposed to form such relations with non-whites since it had the potential of ruining the fixed identity of whiteness. Therefore, this crossing of boundary by the narrator was met by scrutiny from the European who watched every movement she made especially since the narrator notes “everything gets known” in Saigon (Duras 93).The narrator notes how the society monitored every movement she made as she went “to have her body caressed by a filthy Chinese millionaire’ (Duras 88–89). Consequently, the body of the narrator becomes an object of the disciplinary gaze from men who pretend they do not approve of her relationship with her Chinese lover. Further, the narrator’s feminine body becomes an object of male desire especially from those in the streets and her mother’ friend who ask her to visit them when their wives are away (Duras 17). The narrator is aware of the male gaze but she also sees them and refuses to be a passive object of their desire by not falling into their trap. Further crossing of boundaries is evident in the way the narrator dresses in both male and female attire which can be understood as crossing the boundary that determines what is masculine and that which is feminine. On the ferry, the narrator has a man’s belt and fedora hat that contradicts her feminine dress and shoes indicating her gender-troubled nature (Duras16). The narrator composes a libidinal image of herself with great self-awareness as exhibited from the control she exercises over her Chinese lover. The desires she has for the Chinese man is what drives the narrator to overcome the racial segregation and gender identities that society had put in place to ensure conformity to gender ideals and preservation of the white supremacy. Instead of being limited by the racial limitations that controls sexual relationships, the narrator defines her own path and constructs her social image to suit her own desires. The narrator’s reaction to the advances made by the Chinese lover also represents a rebellion against the set gender roles. The narrator overturns the conventional role of female objectification to such extent that the subject and object positions are no longer clear. Gender and power balance can also be explored in terms of the concept of libidinal economy. In “The Lover”, the narrator presents the body of her Chinese lover as soft and that the only thing masculine about it is his phallus. The narrator feminizes her lover’s body by letting the reader perceive his thin, hairless and vulnerable body that lacks strength and muscle (Duras 38). As the heir to estates worth millions, the Chinese lover is supposed to be masculine and assertive in handling the narrator, but, he is presented as weak and lacks the authority that society assigns to the male gender. This is evident when he is unable to initiate intercourse with the narrator for the first time and she has to undress and lead him to fulfil the narrator’s desire. From the foregoing discussion of gender and power dynamics in Duras’ "The Lover", the author presents the narrator as a woman who has managed to break the social, racial and economical segregation that limited sexual relations in her society. Coming from European background, the narrator was expected to form sexual relationships with fellow whites due to what was seen as their superior class. However, poverty has made the family vulnerable making it impossible to claim superiority over non-European races. However, this makes it possible for the narrator to form a sexual relationship with her Chinese lover as she seeks to gain financially. Despite his racial background, the Chinese lover is expected to be superior to the narrator due to his economic status. The narrator uses her lover’s sexual attraction to overturn her lovers’ supremacy over her by dictate the pace of their affair. This made possible by the feminine characteristics that the lover exhibits and which puts the narrator in control their relationship. Work Cited Duras, Marguerite. The Lover, New York: Pantheon Books, 1984. Print. Read More