In the novel, "The Lover" Marguerite Duras comes up with the story of a girl's struggle against the social barriers. The author ultimately has tried to uphold the girl's struggle from her own feminist angle. The novel deals with the struggle of a young French girl who ultimately overcomes her limits in a male dominated society. Indeed in the novel she is found to be in continuous struggle with the expectations of her society. This struggle of the protagonist to exceed the traditional borders that a male domination often imposes on its female counterpart epitomizes the author's feminist view. It is evident that Duras' protagonist shows strong characteristics of a modern woman who first becomes aware of the limits of her gender, race and poverty and continually struggle to overcome them. Yet the question whether Marguerite Duras is successful enough to uphold her protagonist as a fully competent counterpart against the male domination may engender some controversies.
Thematic Effectiveness of the Author's Feminism
Unquestionably Duras is successful enough to allow her protagonist to dominate the male partner. But in the first place, the question that arises here is whether the way or means that she manipulates in her domination is justified enough to rank the protagonist as a freewill individual agent. In other words, the question is whether the protagonist of the novel elevates herself to the level of individuality of Henric Ibsen's heroine, Nora or Bobbie Ann Mason's heroine Norma Jean. These heroines' individuality affirms their identity that is free of any concern with the male domination. They directly defy it. Both of Nora and Norma are found to leave the cocoon of her husband and choose to live individually and independently. On the other hand, Duras' protagonist manipulates her own weakness to exert her control over her male partner. She is aware of the fact that her Chinese lover is sexually infatuated with her and she allows him to be so. Thus she exerts influence over him. The problem within this approach of Duras' protagonist is that it is flawed within itself, because it ultimately fails to affirm individuality by totally defying the male domination. Rather it, in the first place, succumbs to the domination and earns control by giving what her male partner wants from. That is, the protagonist first becomes defeated by succumbing to the carnal hunger of her lover and then she gains control over him in return. Bacon refers to it in the following lines:
The weak man represents this rich, idealized life for the girl, over whom and which she has control. Duras' reversal of role in this time brings the protagonist to a new level of power and understanding. As the girl lies in bed in his studio, she dictates the sex, as she "draws him to her and starts to undress him" (Librarything).
Effectiveness of Duras' Unconventional Plot
Indeed on the structural level also, the author's motif is grossly overshadowed by the unconventional plot structure of the novel. Yet critics are of the opinion that the unconventionality of the plot structure of the novel necessarily reflect the defiance of the protagonist to comply with conventional and traditional expectations, as in this regard, Singh says, "While the protagonist defies conventional expectations, the author's plot structure reflect a similar unconventionality "(Singh). Without any classification into chapters and any maintenance of chronology, the plot of the novel is composed of spattered streams of consciousness. The whole novel is narrated, as if the stories of the protagonist are taking place in a psycho-intellectual and virtual realm. Such narrative technique allows the author to heighten the emotional exhaustion level of the novel. At the same time, the author can let her readers to read what is going on inside the mind of the protagonist, as Singh says in this regard, "The author's use of this stream of consciousness allows the reader (unique) insight into the mind of the protagonist as she reflect on her youth "(Singh). Also this narration technique in the first place allows the readers to examine the author's feminist angle both from within and outside. First throughout the progress of the novel the reader's self is merged into the feminine self of the protagonist and finds justification from her point of view. But as soon as the readers are outside the world of the protagonist, they become aware of the reality around them and then judge the protagonist's world putting it in contrast with reality around them.
The Protagonist's Challenge against Gender Stereotypes
Duras successfully puts forth the protagonist as a challenger against the gender stereotypes of the society. The protagonist fairly goes in conflicts with the expectation of the society from the feminine and the gender roles are also oft-repeatedly reversed throughout the whole novel. Because of being a member of the prestigious class of the society is expected to be modest and demure. Duras' protagonist shows unconventional independence in following the social codes of expectation. She appears to be scandalously immodest in her love affair. Duras often reverses the independence of her protagonist with that of the other women of pre-war French Indo-China period who are restricted by various social constraints. She describes those women as them who "Don't do anything" and "Dress for the sake of dressing" (19). Indeed Duras's protagonist is essentially a free will agent who is in continuous struggle to retrieve her identity and exert influence. Unlike the conventional women, she follows her heart and does whatever she wants and likes. She oft-repeatedly defies following the conventional codes of the society, as Bacon says, "She stands as an outcast of society literally due to her race, initially thinking that acclimation with the world is forbidden. These social limitations restrain the protagonist, preventing her from exploring the world on her own, and are augmented by the familial restraints "(Librarything). This existence of the protagonist's freewill is evident in her mother's speech. Once her mother comments that even she herself cannot control her own daughter from what she wants to do, as she says, "She's a child who's always been free, otherwise she'd run away, even I, her own mother can't do anything about it "(71). By doing so she defies the traditional role of a woman that the society expects from her.
Duras's protagonist is also found to be in struggle with her social status. Even though she comes from a poor family, she experiences a glamorous lifestyle by being doted upon by her lover. Throughout the relationship between Duras's protagonist and her lover, she appears to be more dominating and dictating than her lover. This female dominance rather reveals the author's feminist motif in the text, as in this regard, Singh says "Like the breaking of social barriers, the reversal of gender roles is a key hallmark of a feminist text. Throughout the novel, the girl takes the dominant role in the relationship; she dictates and manipulates her lover without any true feeling for him. " (Singh) In this dominating Duras's protagonist emerges as a more competent survivor in the struggle of life. From the very beginning of their relationship she is aware of the fact that she is inferior to him both financially and socially, as the narrator of the novel says, "From the first moment she knows more or less, knows he's at her mercy" ( 35). Therefore she must manipulate her lover's weakness at her own end. This feminine dominance reveals the protagonist of the novel more as a character who uses her physical appeal in order to achieve her own end, than a timid girl who devotes body in order to achieve love from her male partner.
In the novel "The Lover" Marguerite Duras attempts to uphold the story of a girl's struggle to transcend her social and gender limits. This attempt of the author rather presents the protagonist as a modern woman. Duras is, more or less, successful in upholding the protagonist as an individual being. Yet her approach to achieving individuality and overcoming social and gender barriers can be criticized.
Works Cited
Bacon, S. "Comment On The Lover", LibraryThing. March 23, 2010. Available at < http://www.librarything.com/work/28322 >
Duras, Marguerite, The Lover. London: Blackwell, 2008.
Singh, S. "Comment On The Lover", LibraryThing. March 23, 2010. Available at < http://www.librarything.com/work/28322 >
