Week 9- The Lover
“The Lover” by Marguerite Duras was a book I actually really liked. Although I had anticipated to hate this book just from the context given in class it really caught me by surprise. The narrator’s perspective of the story is what caught my attention. In today’s world if a story is written about an underage relationship we automatically feel it is exploitive, abusive, and naive but this book took a very different view. The narrator takes back control and tells us the story in a way that suggests she knows exactly what she is doing. Rather she is in the one in control.
“The Lover” is about the relationship between a schoolgirl and her older lover. This story unfolds as a 15-year-old and a half-year-old girl forms gets involved with an older man who approaches her in a limousine. She is so young that this would be a crime yet she accepts his invitation and they start to form a relationship. From this point onwards he picks her up from school and starts to romance her by taking her back to his apartment. The way this story is told suggests the girl is not as vulnerable and naive as we would assume. Being romanced by an older man we would think she is been taken advantage of and that he is some sort of manipulative predator. But the hierarchies in this relationship suggest otherwise. In a way, it may be quite the opposite. In the narrator’s view, it almost seems like she sees the older man as weak. Weak due to the fact that he is vulnerable by looking at her as he reveals what he desires. His father is responsible for his wealth and it is him who really has the power. The lover cannot stand up against his father but falls weak to his desires. In a sense, she frames the relationship to withdraw his masculinity when she states “he’s hairless, nothing masculine about him but his sex” (38) and mentions in the lecture she makes him the defenseless young girl. Furthermore, he is weak as he lacks control. Maybe this is why she doesn’t see male objectification as harmful as it was that, that got her in this position. In a way she uses him for his money, and time but also for the story. Something a man would do, isn’t it? The lover gives the narrator a story, something she can write about in her pursuit of becoming a writer.
Overall this book was so interesting. Filled with many complexities, I really enjoyed the narrators perspective. My question for this week is what did you think of this book’s narration? What did you think of the narrator’s perspective on this relationship?
Jasmeen, you make a good point of singling the ways in which the narrative voice makes the lover seem weak of less mature than she is. I wonder how much of this is reality and how much is perception from a distance or a coping mechanism to retell herself the story. It might not be, the narrator seems pretty certain of her standing in the story and I suppose the fact that the man calls her in the end is also a sign of his attachment being stronger than hers.
Thanks for your comment!
– Tesi