Analysis of a Passage from the Novel, The Lovers. Literature Essay

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Analysis of a Passage from the Novel, The Lovers.
“Throughout the affair, for a year and a half, we’d talk like this, never about ourselves. From the first we knew we couldn’t possibly have any future in common, so we’d never speak of the future, we’d talk about day to day event, evenly hitting the ball back and forth.” (Duras, 1984, p. 49). This passage provides a vivid description of the kind of love affair that both the protagonist and the Chinese man entered. So, by reading it, the first theme that comes out is social status. Here, the narrator tries to tell the readers of the situations back in the colonial French Indochina. Even though they both loved each other, it is paradoxical that they never talked about their future together. There is a reason for this, and the main cause is that according to the colonial French tradition, the colonizers were viewed as people of higher ranks compared to the colonized. Even though the Chinese man is rich, the narrator who comes from a humble background of French colonialists would not marry him simply because they considered the girl to be of superior rank compared to the man. The passage, therefore, informs the readers of the social orders and roles of parents in deciding who a lady/man gets married to.
Additionally, the passage reflects on the colonial rules which tied the young ones to display full family loyalty to their parents. At first, the narrator accepts to enter into the relationship with the intention of solving their family’s financial problems. They cannot afford basic needs at home after the death of her father, so to her, being in the relationship with a rich Chinese man would be a source of financial breakthrough. It is, therefore, a clear depiction of the protagonist’s desperate level. The girl’s mother and brothers are aware of their relationship but no one seems to end it immediately due to the financial gains that are acquired from the wealthy lover. The power of wealth is, therefore presented as a force that weakens tough social rules in society. The family loyalty, additionally, forces the girl to flee French Indochina without marrying her lover.