I've noticed as I've progressed through The Lover, the novel actually becomes more ambiguous through the narrator's elaboration of previous events. It seems counter-intuitive that the more description that if offered, the more complicated it is to understand the novel, but I feel like it's the prevailing trend in The Lover. As I struggle to make sense of the significance of the love-hate relationship and mad love in The Lover, what struck as prominent in this reading section was an intriguing conversation between the girl and the mother on page 93.
"I say, I can get married anywhere, when I want to. My mother shakes her head. No. She says, Here everything gets known, here you can't, now. She looks at me and says some unforgettable things."
My first question was, what does the mother actually mean by "it's over"? It sounds dooming and the end of all hope of the girl, but the narrator's mother was trying to indicate how she'll never be able to marry anyone in the colony. This made me realize that marrying your daughter off to a well-to-do man in the colony was probably a family's priority, especially a white mother in a French colony. Taking into consideration that their father, the leader of the family, is deceased, her mother probably worries that her daughter will never get married and that would destroy all hope for the girl because that's the only future left for her daughter. It's clear that the narrator refuses to accept her mother's pessimism and stubbornly maintains the view that she can get married anywhere and anytime she wishes. It ultimately reveals the narrator's pride in her attraction and since she was the forbidden lover of a rich Chinese man, she's confident that she could marry anyone she wishes.
My first question was, what does the mother actually mean by "it's over"? It sounds dooming and the end of all hope of the girl, but the narrator's mother was trying to indicate how she'll never be able to marry anyone in the colony. This made me realize that marrying your daughter off to a well-to-do man in the colony was probably a family's priority, especially a white mother in a French colony. Taking into consideration that their father, the leader of the family, is deceased, her mother probably worries that her daughter will never get married and that would destroy all hope for the girl because that's the only future left for her daughter. It's clear that the narrator refuses to accept her mother's pessimism and stubbornly maintains the view that she can get married anywhere and anytime she wishes. It ultimately reveals the narrator's pride in her attraction and since she was the forbidden lover of a rich Chinese man, she's confident that she could marry anyone she wishes.
"I answer; Yes; they find me attractive in spite of everything. It's then she says, And also because of what you are yourself."
"She says, I wasn't like you, I found school much harder and I was very serious, I stayed like that too long, too late, I lost the taste for my own pleasure."
The next few lines of dialogue confused me a little because it contradicts the narrators' previous description of her mother towards her. We've previously discussed that the mother and the narrator's relationship sort of resemble a mother-daughter rivalry and that the daughter's attraction and desirability poses as a threat to her mother. In this dialogue, her mother acknowledges that men are not attracted to her only because of her looks, but also because of who she is (which is very broad and it could be interpreted in many different ways). The mother also admits that she spent most of her life pursuing school studies rather than seeking and satisfying in her pleasure. Does this mean that her mother is jealous of the pleasure her daughter experiences? Does it make her unhappy that her daughter is bestowed with more pleasure than she was ever given in her life? Perhaps this dialogue is revealing the competition between the mother and daughter for wealth and desire.
The next few lines of dialogue confused me a little because it contradicts the narrators' previous description of her mother towards her. We've previously discussed that the mother and the narrator's relationship sort of resemble a mother-daughter rivalry and that the daughter's attraction and desirability poses as a threat to her mother. In this dialogue, her mother acknowledges that men are not attracted to her only because of her looks, but also because of who she is (which is very broad and it could be interpreted in many different ways). The mother also admits that she spent most of her life pursuing school studies rather than seeking and satisfying in her pleasure. Does this mean that her mother is jealous of the pleasure her daughter experiences? Does it make her unhappy that her daughter is bestowed with more pleasure than she was ever given in her life? Perhaps this dialogue is revealing the competition between the mother and daughter for wealth and desire.
Painting on Silk by Vietnamese Artist Mai Trung Thu
(http://www.artistsandart.org/2010/08/painting-on-silk-by-vietnamese-artist.html)
(http://www.artistsandart.org/2010/08/painting-on-silk-by-vietnamese-artist.html)
Although the mother and daughter are white French individuals, in this reading section the Chinese man spoke of how the narrator resembled to him more as a native rather than the Parisian women he's met with before. This image portrays how the mother is taking pride in her daughter's attraction and her value for marriage.
I found this passage quite interesting as well because it's one of the few times where we get to hear any semblance of a normal conversation between mother and daughter. No intense love or hate marring their relationship, just something that becomes shared between them. It seems like a success that the mother reveals something about herself that we had not known about previously by herself and not, as much of the book does, through the narrator. Any jealousy between the two is then reduced and softened. We get a reason for why the mother would feel that way. It's because she hadn't experienced the type of life the daughter is experiencing and so is part jealous and part caring. wow. I don't no why but it just seems so nice for them to not be fighting or crying or ignoring each other.
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