The Lover: Final Thoughts

For the most part, my prediction for the outcome of The Lover was quite accurate and the New York Times interview definitely prepared me for the novel. It wasn't just a romance novel, but more of a dark perspective on love intensified by socio-cultural difference and twisted madness. In my opinion, out of all the novels I've read so far in my life, The Lover is undoubtedly unprecedented. After completing 117 pages of intimate suspense, my final conclusion of the novel is that The Lover was written only for the sake of the narrator's need to tell her story through her memory recall of her life in an emotional and intimate perspective.

The style of narration is extremely unique because she switches from first-person to third-person and later on in the novel the narrator also alternates to second-person because of the involvement of more minor characters as the plot develops. Speaking of the plot, it doesn't flow in a linear motion with chronological events but it's more of an interweaving plot where the narrator would bring up one event and then proceed to the future or sometimes go back to the past and then recalls that one event back again later on in the novel. Juliana had mentioned in our recent class discussions on the novel that it represents the fluctuation of events, representing the undulating motion of different bodies of water which the narrator frequently makes reference to.

In my opinion, the undulating and interweaving motion of the plot also represents the process of the narrator's memory recall. In the beginning of the novel, she emphasized the image of the Mekong River and I feel like the whole plot eventually unfolds around the Mekong River because that was the most significant part of the narrator's life. The narrator met her Chinese lover at that river and also describes her emotional departure from the Chinese man which he described as "a betrayal". At the same time, it's also worth noting that numerous minor characters were mentioned in random scenes of the novel and I think they all contributed to the overall theme of madness and tragedy in dynamic love relationships. Overall, the novel definitely gave me an impression of "M-A-D-N-E-S-S" in bold letters.

Departure (to the end): Pages 105-117

http://www.frenchlines.com/flpix/bypass/fl00A012_s.jpg

Departure in the The Lover

The unfortunate thing about novels is, they always come to an end whether you like it or not.  As I was approaching the end of The Lover, I wasn't really looking forward to the last page because I was expecting to be disappointed by Duras' lack of clarity and intent in the novel (in my opinion). However, I actually sort of smiled at the ending because it gave me that little piece of closure that I was seeking for in The Lover. (I don't want to spoil it for anyone so I'll just leave the ending as it is.)

From the beginning of the book, I was intrigued by the narrator's close connection with the river and the the ocean. She seems to think that the river possesses this calm, serene power which ultimately gives her some kind of spiritual inner peace. However, once again the narrator offers a contradiction to the calm and the serene river by describing her unwanted departure from Indochina. What I found strange was how being on the voyage was her mother's "happiest days of her life" because the twenty four day voyage was temporary, but it indicates her mother's tendency to fall in love with fleeting moments.
"The voyage lasted twenty-four days ....For our mother those trips, together with our infancy, were always what she called, "the happiest days of her life." (108)
As someone who was not of the white upper class, they had the opportunity to experience fleeting luxury and the reality of wealthy upperclassmen.

"Departures. They were always the same. Always the first departures over the sea. People have always left the land in the same sorrow and despair.......People were used to those slow human speeds on both land and sea, to those delays, those waitings on the wind or fair weather, to those expectation of shipwreck, sun, and death."  (108-109)

I think I've noticed a pattern in Duras' novel of she always attempts to generalize happiness and despair but at the same time emphasizes how she is alienated and how others will never be able to comprehend to a state of mind. Through the description of departures, she's somehow romanticizing it just as how most of us would feel when we're departing from our loved ones. The phrase "shipwreck, sun, and death" struck me as the opposite of the dark nights but also reminiscent of the shipwreck and death she expresses when engaging in an intimate relationship with the Chinese man. No matter what situation the narrator speaks of, it is always linked back to death, just as how all human beings will inevitably meet death. Her experience of departure is unique because she is weeping for a Chinese man, a man inferior to her status and she knows she isn't supposed to feel all those generalized and romanticized emotions for someone lower than her, someone who is undeserving. (But we all know by now that she actually does love the Chinese man more than she actually thought she did)
"She'd wept without letting anyone see her tears, because he was Chinese and one oughtn't to weep for that kind of lover." (111)

Marriage and the Mother-Daughter Rivalry: Pages 86-104

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. 

"You know it's all over, don't you? That you'll never be able, now, to get married here in the colony?

"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.

"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.

Painting on Silk by Vietnamese Artist Mai Trung Thu
 (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.

Helene Lagonelle: Pages 69-85

After having read insightful posts by Meghan and Juliana on this reading section, I've definitely noticed the increasing contradiction and ambiguity in The Lover and also a disturbing and complex definition of desire. So far in the novel, desire has been portrayed through the narrator's love for her younger older brother, her relationship with the Chinese man, and now the narrator introduces her desire for Helene Lagonelle. Having mentioned Helene a few times in the novel without particularly addressing her significance, it was expected that Duras will re-introduce the character into the novel to finally clarify her significance in The Lover.

"I'd like to eat Helene Lagonelle's breasts as he eats mine in the room in the Chinese town where i go every night to increase my knowledge of God" (74)

I think the introduction of Helene Lagonelle transcends the idea of desire into something more than just attraction felt between two individuals. Duras ties her desire and obsession for Helene's body with the her idea of religious spirituality. Perhaps her connection of desire for Helene's body and her "knowledge of God" is to convey the significance of the purity of her desire for Helene--but that would pose as a contradiction because it's not the traditional form of a "pure desire". Another interesting aspect of her desire for Helene is that she compares it to the her desire/sexual interactions with the Chinese man. First of all, the Chinese man is a man and Helene is a teenage girl of her age. There are more similarities between Helene and the narrator than there is between the Chinese man and the narrator. The girl's desire for the Chinese man is on the basis of his opulence and upper-class luxury whilst the desire for Helene is her "heavenly" body and a pure overwhelming obsession. The girl's desire for the Helene definitely outweighs the desire for the Chinese man.

Due to how Duras explicitly describes her "worn-out desire" and obsession for Helene, it made me question whether The Lover is supposed to be about Helene rather than the Chinese man. In terms of love and desire, the girl definitely loves Helene more than the Chinese man but at the same relies on the Chinese man for wealth in order to increase her status as a white girl. However, there is another type of desire that hasn't been explicitly addressed in the novel, which is the girl's love for her younger older brother. She loves him in a way similar to how a mother tiger would protect her cubs from any danger or any predators (the older brother). It's almost like a triangle-relationship of desire involving different kinds of sexual attraction and levels of "pure" and celestial desire. Furthermore, all of these types of desire also involve the notion of surrendering to death. "It’s via Hélène Lagonelle’s body, through it, that the ultimate pleasure would pass from him to me.

A pleasure unto death.”

Dishonor, Fear & the Elite Class: Pages 56-69

In pages 56-69, the dilemma of the two lovers continue in the frequently alternating narration of The Lover. More specifically, there is more emphasis of dishonor and a continuation of fear in the relationship between the fifteen-year old girl and her Chinese lover. Her mother's suspicion and fear of her daughter's relationship was actually surprising to me because so far her mother has been portrayed as oblivious in her own despair and depression to even care for her family, let alone her daughter.  "She weeps for the disaster of her life, of her disgraced child. I weep with her. I lie....How could I, I say, with a Chinese how could I do that with a Chinese, so ugly, such a weakling?" (59)  Her mother has been described as "weeping" in numerous events in The Lover and it's almost expected of her, but the way that it's described as "the disaster of her life" draws references to the death of her father and the their poverty and monetary issues. In this quote, it does seem like her mother particularly cares for her only daughter, but at the same time looking down upon her as the "disgraced child", the dishonor of the family. The daughter herself agrees with the mother, calling the Chinese lover as ugly and a weakling, so does she blame this on herself or is she blaming it entirely on the Chinese lover?

There's an indication of the fleeting nature of happiness because in The Lover the plot is constantly shifting from temporary euphoria and back to the  long-term darkness and despair. "And everyone thinks, and so does she, that you can be happy here in this house suddenly transmogrified into a pond, a water meadow, a ford, a beach.....They suddenly stop laughing and go into the darkening garden." (62) The narrator (who may or may not be Duras) also recalls for the first time of the abundance of laughter she experienced in her childhood when with her brothers, but once again the memory recedes inevitably to a dark memory.
It is for a fact that the girl is always underestimating the Chinese lover. She thinks of him as an inferior in terms of race and also an inferior in terms of his fear of the superior. "Laughing" also appears again, but in a darker context as she laughs at the Chinese lover's fear, almost like she's belittling him for such a foolish fear."I go on lying. I laugh at his fear." (63)

Source: http://www.landofthebrave.info/images/izard-family-john-singleton-copley-1775.jpg

My view of the colonial upper class individuals

Duras begins to speak in more detail of the elite class in which she actually names these elite individuals (which is rare since very few random names have appeared in the novel). There are three different elite individuals introduced in section, all described with personality traits that haven't appeared in the novel; she speaks of them with higher respect and more positively than she does with previous characters in the novel.

 Marie-Claude Carpenter- "No one spoke about her when she wasn't there. I don't think anyone could have, because no one knew her." (65)  She admires her and regards highly of this mysterious quality she possesses, something which I think she wishes she had.

Betty Fernandez - "My memory of men is never lit up and illuminated like my memory of women." (66) She loves the way she dresses, nothing really fits her but at the same time she looks marvelous, it's reminiscent of her wearing the fedora and the gold lame shoes.

Ramon Fernandez -"He spoke with a knowledge that's almost completely forgotten, and of which almost nothing completely verifiable can survive. He offered opinion rather than information. He spoke about Balzac as he might have done about himself, as if he himself had once tried to be Balzac." (67-68) This is more of a criticism of his intellectual thinking and I think Duras is trying to convey of how she dislikes the concrete black and white knowledge that people speak highly of when discussing classic literary writers.

Love is an Illness: Pages 39-55

In the next section of the The Lover, the theme of wealth and race continues to dominate the plot, but Duras gives greater insight into the emotional part of her relationships with her lover and her family. I think that Duras may have the intent to draw the connection between her relationship with the lover and the relationship with her family, they're both destructive and highly complex. It's safe to say that there's absolutely nothing that could be considered as "normal" in her novel.

Source: http://artoferickuns.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/marguerite-duras.jpg

This destructive portrayal of love is not only mentally unstable, but physically destroys both the individuals like an illness and I predict that we'll see the two lovers eventually disintegrate due to the unhealthy nature of their love. The Chinese lover admits that love is always terrible and of course the pessimistic Duras feels the same way about that too.

"He smiles. Says, Whether people love one another or not, it's always terrible....I say he's wrong...I feel a sadness I expected and which comes only from myself." (44) However, from this quote, Duras explains that she attributes all the negative aspects of love due to her sadness, she places all the blame on her. This profound sadness is definitely linked to the despair and depression felt by her mother which Duras emphasizes that her mother was the root of all her sadness (and her brother's as well).

In pages 39-55, the lover himself is revealed to us through his interactions (or more like lack of interaction) with her family. "...it's as if her were invisible to them, as if for them he weren't solid enough to be perceived, seen or heard. This is because he adores me, but it's taken for granted I don't love him, that I'm him for the money, that I can't love him, it's impossible.....This because he's a Chinese, because he's not a white man." (51) The differences between their race and also the differences in wealth and poverty prove to outweigh the factors of their emotional love they feel for each other. This is probably because it is not genuine heart to heart love, mostly love based on the desire of wealth and superficial ideals. It's also interesting how towards the end of this section, Duras begins discussing about her love for her mother and how they each loved in a different way. There is not just one way of loving someone, but different approaches and differing consequences of love. "....we, different as we all three were from one another, all three loved her in the same way." (55)

Power Dynamics & Social Status: Pages 28-38

During the next ten pages of the novel, I find that The Lover invokes more tension and emotion encumbered by the narrator. I believe that Duras becomes more intimate with the reader and her narration of the novel is more of a personal reflection of her life. It's worth noting that the theme of death also becomes more prominent in The Lover as she mentions the death of her father and her mother's father. The theme of death involved the omen of birds and her mother's prediction of death which was an admiration for Duras and her brothers. "Both of them died on the day and at the time of the bird or the image...no doubt, our admiration for our mother's knowledge, about everything, including all that had to with death."  (32) Perhaps the deaths occurring in their family foreshadows greater darkness and ill-fated events in Duras (and her love life?)

Proceeding to the introduction of the Chinese man which I assume is the lover which the novel is named after, there's is also an exploration of power dynamics in conjunction with social class and wealth. The author's depiction of the Chinese man whom she eventually makes love with was very unique in the way she emphasized the difference of race which she describes him as being "at her mercy." It's obvious there's somewhat racial tensions and a manipulation of racial differences by Duras to gain at her own advantage. "His hand is trembling. There's the difference of race, he's not white, he has to get better of it, that's why he's trembling." (32) Again, it's striking how she focuses on the weakness of others and portraying people mostly in a negative light. I don't think I would like to befriend people like Duras who is constantly critical of people's behavior and race rather than embracing differences.

Source: http://25.media.tumblr.com/b53468a649f3f94a67b345e9c4ed5c5d/tumblr_my61slgrUX1rs1gaeo2_r1_250.jpg

Her interaction with the Chinese man also raised red flags for me and it certainly reminded me of The Reader because of the unhealthy relationship pursued by both individuals. However, Duras doesn't exhibit any love or infatuation for the Chinese man like Michael had felt for Hanna, she was simply attracted to him for his wealth and all the opportunities she can gain from him. She even admits that the Chinese man's "madness" for her wasn't exactly love, just what I would interpret as attraction based on her beauty."She doesn't feel anything in particular, no hate, no repugnance either, so probably it's already desire. But she doesn't know it......It's as if this must be not only what she expects, but also what had to happen especially to her." (36)

However, their relationship is not completely founded on superficiality, but also how they both share the feeling of loneliness and abandonment...and that somehow they can complete each other but Duras realizes that he will never understand her."Suddenly, all at once, she knows, knows that he doesn't understand her, that he will never will, that he lacks the power to understand such perverseness....It's up to her to know. And she does.....She was attracted to him. It depended on her alone. (37) I definitely prefer the more contemplative and human psyche part of Duras's personality.