Anna’s Darkness

Abstract

The use of the ‘I narrator’ in Voyage in the Dark is, perhaps, a logical technical development. It may be seen to arise out of that tendency towards making such a close identification of the third-person narrative voice with the point of view of the main character, which we observed both in Quartet and After Leaving Mr Mackenzie. This particular narrative situation, however, demands that the complexities of Anna’s personality be conveyed through her own voice itself, without access to any alternative perspectives. These complexities emerge incidentally as her discourse develops; they are implied through the way in which she engages herself with the world and with the other people whom she meets. But that engagement is not a happy one, and in this chapter I should like to focus on the development of certain structures of meaning which suggest that her personality is at odds with the world in which she lives, and that a deep-seated sense of alienation and detachment, characterised by an increasing withdrawal into herself, blights her ability to relate to other people in a positive way. In this respect, Anna may be seen to differ radically from Marya who, as we have appreciated, is affected more by particular circumstances in her life than by her perception of the world. She also differs in a significant way from Julia whom we see at the advance of middle age and whose neurosis, therefore, may strike us as having been shaped by the personal experiences which she has collected over the years. With Anna, a younger ‘Rhys woman’ than either of her predecessors, there is a suggestion that it is her potential for a sense of personal isolation which lies at the root of her difficulties with developing positive human relationships.