Occasionally she flees Calcutta for the comfort and company, of her lovers, with whom she is identified by music, which is a link her to her past. Its is her occasional fleeing that depicts her as an elusive character. It is her despondency and helplessness in the face of Calcutta that is doubled by her inability to experience an absolute love, one that appears dissatisfying and lacking. This is evident at the consular reception, when the Vice-Consul fully aware of these lacking approaches her, at which she withdraws fully aware of the admirers that surround her. Through this action Anne-Marie gives the impression of being unable and resistant in herself to attach herself to a fixed body, in this case her husband. Anne-Marie appearing discontent and lacking in her relationship with her Husband appears to be longing for something or someone else.
The impossibility of absolute love is made to reverberate, with this notion of lacking. The beggar-girl is alienated, having been exiled by her mother and considered mad by society. Similarly Anne-Marie Stretter is detached, whether voluntarily or not, from those around her; she is consumed with unfulfilled desire and seeks consolation in death. The Vice-Consul is too a social misfit of sorts; a prisoner of the past with its memories of maternal love denied to him because of his mother’s re-marriage. It is at the Consular reception that he is again denied love, this experience causes him again to feel rejected, rendered by a cry which he utters. It is his cries that echo the song of the beggar-woman; it is found again that music is the most suitable expression for madness and unfulfilled desires. His cry further emphasises exclusion and alienation, and whereas his outlet is his cry it is the beggar-woman’s song and march, that are the only refuge she finds after her mother’s abandonment.
‘Le Vice-Consul,’ is concerned with saying the ‘unsayable’ in a discourse of madness. Rejection and unfulfilled desire are feelings that are closely linked symptoms that then lead to a feeling of alienation; trauma from either the past or present are a cause and symptom of alienation.
“Most often it is a tragic passion, tinged with death and destruction, and is grounded in a profound sense of alienation…”
Alienation for Etcherelli, the author of ‘Élise ou la vraie vie,’ is synonymous with other themes concerned with the oppression of women and what is known as ‘la condition féminine’, estrangement, disunion and again the emptiness and void feeling felt within her characters.
‘Élise ou la vraie vie’s,’ central character is of course Élise, the sister of Lucien. It is through both her personal relationship as well as her working environment and relationship with ohters, that we are presented with the theme of alienation along with its various causes and symptoms.
The relationship shared between Lucien and Élise is not that of a ‘normal’ brother-sister relationship, but more of a mothering relationship. Élise is constantly looking after him and does everything for him, and has essentially sacrificed her own life for her brother’s. Élise sees the ideal feminine ideal, domesticity, as something good and it is precisely this that imprisons her and allows her no life of her own.
“A midi, quand Lucien rentrait, j’étais fière qu’il trouvât une table prête, une maison rangée, des visages tranquilles, autant d’images de ce que j’appelais la vie droite…”
Élise assumes this image as one of the perfect ideal, and portrays this as being her perfect ideal, one in which her happiness is achieved. This statement is made at the beginning of the novel, and reinforces the image of imprisonment. Élise up until this point has never experienced anything but this domestic life, Etcherelli presents this image of Élise in order to reinforce the way in which an individual may be alienated from society because of her lack of experience and knowledge of anything else. It is this life that allows her to feel secure.
“Je me sentais en sécurité chez moi. Sécurité. Jaimais ce mot et ce qu’il evoquait…Il remplaçait le mot bonheur.”
For Élise it is security and familiarity that is most important to her, and it is this that makes her feel happy. Although it has the adverse effect of estranging her from those surrounding her, and the society in which she lives. This enclosed world in which she lives appears suffocating and claustrophobic, but perhaps this only appears as such to those who have different ideals and to those
Throughout the novel Lucien remains as a child and stays in this fixated state, constantly needing both financial and more importantly emotional support from Élise. It is Élise who is the one to tell Marie-Louise, about Lucien and the adulterous relationship he is having with Anna. Which means that Lucien yet again shies away from his responsibility and passes it onto someone else.
The type of relationship that they share is one that infers the type of relationship a mother and child has, whereby the child’s needs and wants are being constantly fulfilled and supported by the mother. It is not the transference of ownership that causes their relationship to appear alienating, but transference of roles within their relationship as a result of Lucien’s child-like behaviour. Just as Lucien needs emotional support he also needs financial support, and uses Élise’s money just as he uses Marie-Louise’s money. His dependency on others reinforces his childish mentality, in the fact that he must rely on other constantly for emotional and financial support.
Marie-Louise is a character similar to that of the ‘Vice-Consul’ in that she is also lacking something within herself and is extremely persistent in her relationship with Lucien, and is constantly attempting to gain his full attention. Although unwilling to admit to herself that her Husband has interests elsewhere, i.e. Anna. It is difficult to empathise with her, but in a sense she does nothing to help her situation or speak up for herself. She allows Lucien to go out and not come back until the next day, and this happens at least three times a week.
Élise as a character is at risk of alienating the reader, as she is terribly ordinary and is almost handicapped. She does not appear as a central character because of strong characteristics, but appears as such because of those by whom surround her. It is not surprising therefor that Élise does not pose as a frame for other characters, but they are there to frame Élise. Her consciousness is definitely raised and the reader would not want to relate to her, given the pathetic image that she portrays.
Lucien’s reacts to Marie-Louise’s persistence in a hostile manner, and when she asks him to go for a walk in the evening, he responds by asking Élise to go with them.
“Bon, avait-il soupiré, je prends ta veste. Élise! Viens, nous allons faire un tour.”
Lucien appears to be incapable of handling the situation on his own, and this echoed in the comment that he makes above.
When Élise moves to Paris it is here that she finally makes the decision to live a life of her own, instead of living her life for someone else. It is during Élise’s first day of factory-work that we are presented with the subject of alienation, in the form of estrangement from one group to another. It is the first instance where Élise experiences racist behaviour, demonstrated by Daubat towards the Algerian factory workers, who also demonstrate similar behaviour towards her. Daubat, is one of the few French workers, who Élise has been given in charge to. Immediately expressing his dislike at the fact that there is another woman working there. His welcoming words to her are:
“C’est les femmes maintenant?”
An Arab worker who in an attempt to form a superficial alliance with Daubat, echoes his sexist comment and observation, and given a rather brusque reply.
“Oui, et après? Travaille, t’as déjà une voiture de retard.”
It is made quite evident that there exist different prejudices within the workforce, all of, which cause the individual to feel, alienated. Élise is excluded from the group of women that she is working with, and is made to feel every isolated.
“Les autres femmes ne me parlaient pas encore. Et pourtant, une fille jeune, entrée après moi, avait pénétré déjà dans leur intimité.”
Élise is in a sense being rejected by those that she works with and it is her friendship with Arezki, an Algerian worker, that further distances her from the women she works with. It is her previous claustrophobic existence, and lack of experience of the outside world that causes her to act slightly naïvely in her relationship with Arezki. Elise thinks that Arezki is exaggerating when he sees police everywhere, Élise thinks that provided one’s papers are in order there is nothing to fear from police questioning, this naïveté is soon corrected.
Etcherelli’s ‘Élise ou la vraie vie,’ is concerned with self and group estrangement, which causes the character of Élise to feel, alienated not only from herself but also from others. And although she does appear to overcome this to a certain extent, her initial isolation from others does cause her problems later on when she moves to Paris.
Margaret Atwood’s novel ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ takes place in the northern part of the USA sometime in the beginning of the twenty-first century, in the oppressive and totalitarian Republic of Gilead. The novel is centred around the novel’s protagonist ‘Offred’ and it is through her that the past society and the present society of Gilead are documented. It is in this state of Gilead that all of the characters, in particular Offred are concerned with physically surviving. Offred also acts as the narrator of the novel, and is presented as a character trapped in a repressive and regressive society run by a group of not only racist but, sexist Christian fundamentalists, who have given themselves the role of governing The Republic of Gilead. Her alienation from herself and from others is caused solely by this society in which she has the misfortune of being a part of. It causes her and others to live in isolation from each other, without any control over their lives. Offred’s alienation can therefor only be understood in the light of the society in which she lives.
Offred, pre-Gilead times she was a well-educated, complacent woman with a male partner and a daughter, an all round quite ordinary person. In Gilead she finds herself as nothing more than a ‘womb’ assigned currently to Fred.
The commander, Fred, does his duty by attempting to impregnate Offred once a month while she is spread across the legs of his wife, Serena Joy. This ritual act, named the ceremony, is in itself alienating for all three of them. Offred describes what happens durin this ceremony and spaeks of her body as if it is something not belonging to her.
“What he is fucking is the lower part of my body. I do not say making love, because this is not what he’s doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate, because it would imply two people and only one is involved.”
This infers the ceremony as a completely alienating situation, and on in which Offred does not feel a part of. In this instance it is her mind that is alienated from the situation, and although her body is physically involved her mind and her thoughts are elsewhere.
The ceremony is not only alienating for Offred but is also alienating for the Commander too.
“He is preoccupied, like a man humming to himself in the shower without knowing he’s humming; like a man who has other things on his mind. It’s as if he is somewhere else…”
The Commander, like Offred, is simply doing his duty and it is for this reason that his mind is not entirely focused on the situation. This is not an act of making love, as Offred states. The word ‘fuck’ is a vulgar word used to describe the act of sexual intercourse. It is also an expression that carries certain connotations of anger and disgust, and it is possibly the most appropriate word to use in such circumstances.
For Serena Joy, who herself acts merely as a prop for Offred, is perhaps the most alienated out of the three. She is estranged from the situation in the physical essence, and it is understandable to an extent why she is harsh in her treatment of Offred. Serena Joy makes it clear that Offred is merely there for a purpose and is to treat her stay as a job. Thus what is supposed to be intimate act between two people, in this case involves three people. That is to say there are three people who are physically there. It may be true to say however, that there are also three absent minds. Offred and the Commander appear to have their minds elsewhere, and are only acting in duty. Serena Joy’s thoughts are elsewhere, because of her loathing for the situation.
Offred is not only being alienated from herself, but is also alienated from those around her.
The characters in Margaret Atwood’s novels struggle to overcome alienation, and are consequently incapable of achieving personal and social integration. It is also not surprising that there is a problem of communication, a subject that is central to this novel, and one that applies not only to the spoken word but also to the written word. It is rare to find conversations in this novel, and what we are presented with is a series of commands and orders on the part of certain characters. What we are subsequently forced to do, is to dive beneath the surface of the language and interpret the unspoken words, in essence the internal monologues. It is precisely this lack of communication that, not only alienates the characters from each other and themselves, but also creates the effect of alienating the reader.
The theme of alienation is central to the works of Margaret Atwood, the characters in her novel struggle to achieve personal and social integration. It is clear in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ that alienation from self and from others is the cause of estrangement from one’s own past.
It is true to say that Offred does not see her mind and body as one, but lives in her mind and sees her body as a separate entity. She portrays her body as being something fearful, and something, which she wishes to hide:
“My nakedness is strange to me already. My body seems outdated. Did I really wear bathing suits at the beach? I did, without thought, among men, without caring that my legs, my arms, my thighs, my back were on display, could be seen. Shameful, immodest. I avoid looking at my body, not so much because it is shameful and immodest but because I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely.”
Relationships between the sexes as depicted in the novel
Religion allowed you to a sense of belonging, without it you were alienated and ostracised the Gilead society.
The characters in the Handmaids tale are given names based on their role and occupation in the state of Gilead. Offred is given the name Offred, which has been derived from her commander’s name ‘Fred.’
Schwarz-Bart
Colonial and ex-colonial countries find the task of accepting the past extremely difficult, as they are habituated to importing religion and culture from other countries.
Colonial alienation
Modern Caribbean descendants have a fractured history, due to the times when there was slavery in their families, and because of this many families were broken up. This meant that they were unable to communicate with each other, or amongst each other. This novel explores the psychological consequences of this history. Simone Schwarz-Bart has chosen to explore this from the point of view of the female descendants, rather than the males, and this is because women are stronger than men are and appear to have come through times of slavery.
The family structure is also based primarily around children and the female family members, as fathers were separated from their children, and it was slavery that functioned as an institution and broke up these families. The effect of this is alienating an individual from others, family members. This then causes them difficulties in later life, and they are incapable of rendering themselves wholeheartedly to their emotions.
One of the central themes of this novel is ‘solitude’, which appears to affect the main women characters of the novel: Toussine, Télumée and Cia. Each of these characters choose to live in solitude at some point, involving them living on their own and usually away from others. Each of them has their own reasons for living in solitude, and thus alienating themselves from others.
Ma Cia: witch, healer, and sorcerer. Lives in solitude away from the village, and this may be because she is shunned away from society because of their own personal inhibitions towards her. It is their fear of her that cause them to alienate her from their society (village). She is alienated from them as a group. But is made welcome by certain characters.
Conclusion
Characters defined by alienation are associated with one another in a subtle breakdown of the notion of the discrete character. This fragmentation breaks up the text into segments of longings and alienation, thus contributing to the tenuous atmosphere of prolonged.
What is evident in each of these novels is that alienation’s main cause is estrangement from one’s own roots and ancestors, essentially from their past. If this past has had a negative effect both spiritually and psychologically it causes the person to feel alienated from themselves and from others. It is important to overcome the past, to free oneself, and to accept not only the positive parts of it but also the negative parts. Without this acceptance, and individual in incapable of being successful later in life in their personal life.
Discovery of self, self-realisation helps to overcome alienation from hers.
Becoming a stranger to something or somebody who one is closely related to, may also apply to situations where a union between two people has never existed. Alienation occurs because the individual concerned feels that it should exist, because this union constitutes an ideal or a necessity of a happy or meaningful ‘normal life.’ If this close relationship has never existed, then why must one feel alienated from something that has never existed? It is because of such ideals that individuals have the misfortune of becoming and feeling estranged.
There are three main areas of alienation: self-alienation, social alienation and group alienation. The characters that have been discussed in these novels all appear to suffer from self-alienation and this may often be the result of social alienation. It is often the society in which an individual lives that causes them to feel they are lacking and that they are estranged from that society. It is because of the ideals that the society imposes on an individual that they are caused to feel alienated.
