Review Of Marguerite Duras's Book 'The Lover'
Water: An Allegory for Love
Mary (Maria) Ortega, UG
TA: Dr. Vicky Gilpin
ENGL E-154a
December 11, 2013
Marguerite Duras’s book, The Lover, centers on a young French girl who lives in Indochina with her dysfunctional family. The narrator, whose father recently passed away, lives in a "raised" house along the Mekong River with her mother and two brothers. The French girl is very close to her younger brother Paulo, but she avoids her older unnamed brother who is verbally abusive and may have drug and gambling issues. When the young narrator attends an Indochinese high school, she participates in a socially forbidden love affair with an older Chinese businessman. Throughout the novel, the author incorporates the highs and lows of love relationships but also entices readers by revealing intimate details of different love …show more content…
Duras compares water to love in a conversation the narrator has with her younger brother, Paulo, and the imagery of the river’s dangerous current represents love. Duras states, "we also talked… [about] getting drowned in the river if we went on swimming in the currents" (107). 'Drowned in the river ' refers to how the brother and the narrator understand they could be swept away by love. Also, this comment refers to how they both choose to emotionally protect themselves from swimming in the currents of love. They believe that they must be careful and guard themselves against love or they will be swept away or overcome by a love relationship ending. The river’s current represents love and how the narrator, as well as, Paulo protects themselves by only entering into relationships that are unattainable or forbidden. Throughout the book, the connection between water and love refers to the narrator but it also refers to her brother who participates in an extramarital
Mary (Maria) Ortega, UG
TA: Dr. Vicky Gilpin
ENGL E-154a
December 11, 2013
Marguerite Duras’s book, The Lover, centers on a young French girl who lives in Indochina with her dysfunctional family. The narrator, whose father recently passed away, lives in a "raised" house along the Mekong River with her mother and two brothers. The French girl is very close to her younger brother Paulo, but she avoids her older unnamed brother who is verbally abusive and may have drug and gambling issues. When the young narrator attends an Indochinese high school, she participates in a socially forbidden love affair with an older Chinese businessman. Throughout the novel, the author incorporates the highs and lows of love relationships but also entices readers by revealing intimate details of different love …show more content…
Duras compares water to love in a conversation the narrator has with her younger brother, Paulo, and the imagery of the river’s dangerous current represents love. Duras states, "we also talked… [about] getting drowned in the river if we went on swimming in the currents" (107). 'Drowned in the river ' refers to how the brother and the narrator understand they could be swept away by love. Also, this comment refers to how they both choose to emotionally protect themselves from swimming in the currents of love. They believe that they must be careful and guard themselves against love or they will be swept away or overcome by a love relationship ending. The river’s current represents love and how the narrator, as well as, Paulo protects themselves by only entering into relationships that are unattainable or forbidden. Throughout the book, the connection between water and love refers to the narrator but it also refers to her brother who participates in an extramarital