Way we see the imbalance of power in the novels' representations of gender, despite their different historical contexts and narrators. This similarity demonstrates the widespread nature of these inequities, some of which continue to exist today. Disgrace by J.M Coetzee and Voyage in the Dark by Jean Rhys present the lack of respect women seem to have in society as seen by the actions the male characters take towards the females as well as illustrating the stereotypes our society hold towards women and men alike.
Through the situations that rises and through it's words, Voyage in the Dark brought out the stereotypes and the prejudices a woman has long had to deal with. The story is narrated by Anna, a vulnerable naive eighteen year old Caribbean immigrant who is brought to England by her step mother; Hester to begin a new life. When Hester stops sending the money Anna needs to live sufficiently, she becomes a chorus girl. Her story entails her meeting the wrong type of people like Walter, a man of status who ends up financially supporting her until he breaks up with her through his cousin. Towards the end of the novel she meets other women like herself and ends up becoming a prostitute, a profession that is frowned upon in society. The novel shows that women are held to a spectrum that dictates how much respect they have in society.
Anna is no exception, in the beginning she was a virgin, a social construct that says if a women were to lose it before her wedding day you also lose the respect people have of you, they see you as impure, dirty, a whore even. Anna states that, “… he started talking about my being a virgin…”(Rhys 36) This exemplifies how men like Walter put women who are virgins on a pedestal, but the minute it's gone they lose respect for them because not a long period of time passes before he decides to break up with her. Of course this is part of a double edged sword because at the same time if you are a virgin and you don't put out you will be thought of as a tease. Laurie Gaynor, someone Anna knew even ridicules her. Anna recalls the time that Laurie stated , “The virgin, she calls me, or sometimes the silly cow, “(Rhys 16). Anna is stuck because when she is innocent she is looked down upon but if she sleeps with men she is looked down upon as well. Men aren't held to the same standard as women. In fact it's the opposite. Men are expected to lose their virginity as soon as possible. No one ever questions the men who sleep with prostitutes just the prostitutes who sleep with the men. Which does not make sense because if the men paying for sex were not there, prostitution would not be known as “the oldest profession in the world”.
It doesn't help that the women in the book and even in real life have the habit of instead of boosting one another up they constantly are putting one another down. There are various instances where Anna is undervalued and disrespected. Take for instance the landlady who instead of opening her arms to new business she automatically looks at Anna and Maudie -a friend of Annas- and says “No, I don’t let to professionals.” (Rhys 8) Only after some convincing does she let them in. Anna later on in the book even has to hide the money she earns from the landlady so she wouldn't be able to get kicked out,“When I heard the landlady coming back I put the money under my pillow.” (Rhys 26) What does it matter how she got the money as long as she is paying her bills on time. In the story the landlady constantly is berating Anna and her friend but doesn't say anything at all to the men when they are there. Later on it's mentioned by Maudie that a man stated, “have you ever thought that a girl’s clothes cost more than the girl inside them?”(Rhys 45) Maudie agrees. This exposes the planted seed society has placed in the brains of some women who agree with the idea that belittling themselves is normal and that men are allowed to do the same to them. Another example of women changing themselves for others would be when Anna thinks to herself when she is with Walter, “Soon he'll come in again and kiss me, but differently. He'll be different and so I'll be different. It'll be different. I thought, 'It'll be different, different. It must be different.” (Rhys 56) This is emphasizing how toxic it is to place the idea of needing a man in your life because in the mindset of Anna and some women alike, when they are starting a new relationship they stay because they think being with a man would enhance their way of living, when in reality they don't need a man to do the things they want to do.
Another aspect that Voyage in the Dark seems to touch upon is the power imbalance women and men have.Vincent- walters cousin-is constantly referring to Anna as a child.“Well, how’s the child? How’s my infantile Anna? (Rhys 80). This shows a power imbalance because Anna is only a couple years younger then Vincent so there is no reason for him to call her a child. Also take for example when Walter was paying Anna for her services she goes up to him and kisses his hand. Walter tells her “ Don't…It's I who ought to kiss your hand.” (Rhys 38) This lays bare what role a women and a man should play in terms of being in a relationship. Through societies lense the action of a woman kissing a man hands emasculates a man because typically it's males who tend to kiss the hand of a lady so by telling her to stop he is seen to regain his position of power over her. So by this logic, when a woman does something that is deemed masculine it is looked down upon because women are expected to be weak,fragile and submissive.
This type of ideology is also seen in the novel Disgrace. Which is the story of a man and like Voyage in the Dark it's held in the main character's perspective. By J.M Coetzee deciding to put the story in third person he is able to make the reader put themselves in the mind of David Lurie a misogynistic sexist men whose life goes wary when he makes the decision to sleep with one of his students. In this novel there are repeated events where the female characters act passively. At the party hosted by Petrus he makes a comment to Lucie saying he is “not anymore the dog-man”take (Coetzee 129) having full knowledge of Lucie's recent events. Nonetheless Lucie decides to take the comment he makes as a joke. The act of dismissing things to not start a commotion happens a little later on when David sees one of Lucie's rapists but tells David to not call the police that, “ it's not Petrus fault, if you call the police the evening will be destroyed for him not start a commotion” (Coetzee 133) The comment that Petrus makes shows how little he regards Lucie's feeling as well as how women in this novel dismiss certain things to not start problems. This happens again with Mr. and Mrs. Isaacs. Mr. Isaacs welcomes David Lurie to his home knowing well what has happened between him and his daughter Melanie. Clearly Ms.Isaacs doesn't approve of Lurie being in her home but when David meets Ms. Isaacs he mentions that, “she avoids his eye, but she does give the slightest of nods.” (Coetzee 168) he even goes on to say that she is “…obedient , a good wife and helpment.”(Coetzee 168). David Lurie still stays even after he sees that she is reluctant to welcome him into her home, which shows he has no regard for how women feel and it feeds into the trope that women are man's possession because she just does what her husband says and doesn't put up a fight even after it's obvious that she isn't comfortable with him in her home.
To give some more insight,when David returns to Lucie's hometown Petrus asks for Lucie's hand in marriage in return he will protect her. This gives evidence to the idea that in the life, some men think that women are incapable of doing things alone and gives into the idea that women aren't able to depend on themselves whether financially like Anna in Voyage in the Dark or like Lucie for protection. What is interesting about this proposal is Petrus tells David first of the arrangement between Lucie and him. Instead of asking Lucie first he asks David-the father- almost like he was asking for David's permission for her hand in marriage just like how back in the day they used to do this because women were considered to be the property of their fathers. This is not the first time where women are looked at as objects. Take for example Petrus wife, “ She takes Lucy hands but does not take his, nor does she meet his eyes” (Coetzee 129) and again when David asks her, “The baby- when are you having it.”(Coetzee 130) Petrus intervenes and answers for her not giving her the chance to answer for herself. There is a chance she didn't comprehend what Lurie was asking but that at the same time nothing was stopping Petrus from translating her so she could answer the question that way she is able to speak for herself. This shows that he thinks she isn't able to do anything for herself.
Petrus isn't the only one guilty of being a male chauvinist. David when he is trying to convince Melane to stay the night he tells her, “… a woman's beauty does not belong to her alone…” It is part of her bounty she brings into the world…she has a duty to share.”(Coetzee 16) This alone states that some men really believe that women are only on this earth to please and serve men. Davids action says millions on how men treat women in today's society and why women are constantly afraid of rejecting men. In the beginning when Soraya- the women David pays to have sex with him- does not want to continue her services he goes and hires a private detective and “within days he has her real name, her address, her telephone number.”(Coetzee 9). That's scary he could have just accepted Soraya's request and found someone else to fill his Thursday afternoons with instead he goes and stalks her. This isn't the only time he has done this. David takes advantage of his position in the University and looks at Melanie's records to find out where she lives and her phone number. An invasion of privacy. Some men can't take a hint and would go to lengths to get what they believe is theirs. Women are not property they are humans and should be seen as such because if women did the same thing she would be seen as a crazy stalker.
At the end of the day there has been tremendous progress in regards to gender inequality in today's society but novels such as Disgrace by J.M Coetzee and Voyage in the Dark by Jean Rhys, through the stories they decided to share to the world they were able to demonstrate how it is like to fall face to face with contradictions that tell women what they should and shouldn't be and amongst other things how women were not respected and were treated like the stereotypes society has placed upon them.