Women's Independence And Sexuality In Book The Lover

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Introduction
The independence of a woman gradually increases throughout the novel especially around the narrator who at a young age is at the mercies of her parents and men in her life. As a teenager, the narrator is under the wing of her parents, and she has no say when her family returns to Paris. Though she is still a child under the law and not yet considered an adult, her family does into taking into account her sexual feelings towards the older Chinese lover. Eventually, she becomes an adult and seems to have better control of her life and has more independence. She pursues a career in writing which she enjoys and lives a relative life free of domination by other people. Her mother Marie Legrand also seems to have earned her freedom and control of the family estate upon her husband’s death CITATION Dur12 \l 1033 (Duras). Though she slowly dissipates the family wealth, she is now in charge of monumental decisions such as moving her family back to Europe. She again returns to South East Asia at her will which shows she has control over her life. Although the lover is ostensibly a shameful account of a teenage girl’s life as a mistress, I think Dura emphasizes women’s independence and sexuality by describing the different stages of her psychological activities and sexual scenes.
Summary review of the text
The novel is centered around a narrator and her life in Indochina during the French colonial rule in Southeast Asia in the 1930s. The narrator is a young French girl from a relatively well-to-do family though their family fortunes started declining fast after her father’s death. Her father was a colonial officer and her family, consisting of parents, two brothers, and herself lived in Sadec. The narrator's mother, Marie Legrand, spends the next approximate decade working as a French-language school director. Her father dies in Paris after a short illness. While a teenager aged 15, she meets a young Chinese guy who she falls in love with CITATION Dur12 \l 1033 (Duras). At the moment her family fortunes had declined significantly, and though her mother knows that the relationship is wrong, she turns a blind eye to it to access the wealth of the Chinese family. The relationship is sexual almost immediately, and the narrator acknowledges in finding satisfaction in the relationship CITATION Dur12 \l 1033 (Duras). The Chinese lover is older, and he does not mind financially supporting the family who seems in dire need of the same. The relationship lasts about 18 months before it is cut short by her family’s relocation to Paris. She is never to see her lover again. The family returns to France after the French colonial society is scandalized. Upon getting to France, she pursues a career as a writer in the warring country CITATION Dur12 \l 1033 (Duras). She later settles and starts a family and has children though her life is not particularly smooth. Her mother later returns to Indochina, and her brother dies which deeply troubles her. The story ends when the Chinese man who is now aged contacts the narrator and expresses his undying love for her.
Evolution Women’s Independence and Sexuality in the Novel
The reasons why women’s ...