Social expectations and individual anxieties concerning sex and sexual stereotypes in Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach
I.
Introduction
Unlike Atonement, where at the very beginning the
reader encounters an epigraph from Jane Austin that more or less pre-supposes
intertextual clues for further reading, On
Chesil Beach does not offer such accommodating leading first steps into its
highly condensed narrative. Preoccupied with a single event that provides
multivalent analyzing points, the dramatic intensity of the whole book is
encoded in that condensed way of telling.
In On Chesil Beach the first wedding night is
a sublime moment for the sexual experience of the two virgin newlyweds Edward
and Florence. Encountering each other’s incompetence and deep fears their hasty
decisions and the sense of pressure dictated by social expectations inevitably
lead them to a disastrous culmination. Presented with subtle irony and Ian
McEwan’s typical interest in how innocence turns tragic, Florence and Edward
are portrayed during the ritual of their first night of new maturity, each of
them depicted while solitarily coping with their fears and expectations and
with what strongly implied is expected of them. Edward expects his gentle and
patient courting to be repaid by the pleasures of the first wedding night,
while at the same time he feels intimidated by the two lads serving the dinner
and by his awareness of class difference. Whereas Florence is horrified by what
should be done. Her repulsiveness towards what she read described as
“penetration” is obvious. In order to bring his characters to life, Ian McEwan
uses flashbacks and recollections that transgress from the condensed narrative
of the first wedding night.
II.
Concepts
In order to
analyze the stereotypes that are evoked in the book, I hereby rely on notions
of gender defined by Judith Butler as social constructs. According to Butler
culture predetermines which characteristics can be labeled masculine or
feminine, which shows that gender is a result of structural categories in
motion. Thus gender is a performative construct that dictates women and men to
behave in particular ways. She distinguishes sex and gender and argues that men
can perform femininity and vice verse. Her notion of femininity and masculinity
as roles that can be performed is essential for this paper because it allows
analyzing the main characters of the book in gender categories and in reversal
of gender roles.
In the focus
of this thesis are also the sexual stereotypes of English society in the 50s.
On the verge of major change in moral and value perception the 50s was still
influenced by class-difference and class-based distinctions. Affluence, social
mobility and the advent of the mass media were phenomena still in making that
will cause major changes in society during the next decades. The cinema was
very famous medium for entertainment that was attended by large numbers of
people. Popularity of marriage as social institution was very important for the
social status of both men and women, nevertheless the law from 1949 that
treated divorce as possibility to
many who had previously been deterred by the expense. Cars became very important in English life.
But despite the economical prosperity, the view of sex was rather conservative
and Britain was strongly family oriented. The sexual revolution that liberated
the people’s minds was a prerogative of the 60s. Mary Quant’s miniskirt and
sexual freedom were unthinkable for the Englishman in the 50s. Sex was a taboo
theme that was not discussed publicly and even between family members.
Combining the concept of gender with
the common assumptions of sexuality in the 50s I argue that English society in
the 50s presupposes gender roles for men and women that culminate in sex, only
possible in marriage. Thus the characters in the book as English from the 50’s
meet the expectations of their society and perform according to them.
As part of my critical analysis I
include critical concepts like intertextuality. First coined by Julia Kristeva
in 1966 the term since then has been used in various ways and is considered to
include everything from allusions to influence. Intertextuality may refer to
direct quotation in text, or obvious reference but its broadest definition
include shaping of a text by other texts. The concept of intertextuality is
further developed in poetry by the critical book The Anxiety of Influence by Harold Bloom. Whereas Bloom is
concerned with the author, semioticians like Kristeva and Barthes comprehend
the text as a puzzle-like, mosaic structure that evokes all kinds of
intertextual connections in the process of reading. Joyce’s Ulysses is one of the most convenient
examples of intertextuality. The annotations of which form themselves a
separate book. My thesis is concerned with two instances of intertextuality –
the brief mentioning of the film Taste of
Honey and corresponding episode to Wide
Sargasso Sea.
III.
Flashbacks, recollections and the
intrusive narrator
“Despite
rambling nature walks and the naming of birds”, says an internet reviewer in
the popular site GoodReads.com, “his (Ian McEwan’s) subject matter remains
hermetically sealed in the hearts of two people” and their minds I would add.
This way of narration is not new to English fiction, nor is for McEwan. Using
flashbacks and recollections the narration invades the private and extremely
subjective domain of the memory. Visible from the experiment in Atonement what one sees and remembers is
nothing close to “the universal truth”. Memory is something to be experimented
with, something to be reshaped and re-thought. In a similar fashion Florence
and Edward establish little mythologies, consisting of coincidences and
similarities about their childhood and adolescence, to make their love seem
like faith. Thus we have two “exquisitely crafted” chapters of description
detailing the chance of Florence and Edward’s meeting. The net of memories and
happened before-s in the book is artfully juxtaposed to the narrative of the
honeymoon night. While memory presupposes narration out of time, because memory
as a supreme subjective matter cannot consist of time, it is timeless (one
cannot say what amount of time passes in a memory), the narration of the
wedding night can be measured by the clues left in the text. A careful reading
would reveal that the events from the arriving on Chesil beach until Florence
departure took approximately two hours. From “they ate the melon in less than
two minutes” to “she was hoping to catch the last train”, the dramatic event
took place, framing the highly intensified narrative. This way of structuring
the novel creates tension of reading that resonates in the intensified
comprehension of the events. A little surprising the narrator in the novel is
not only omniscient but rather intrusive commentator, who supplies the reader
with scrutinized picture of the two lovers’ most private thoughts and
experiences. This fact could easily find its explanation, however, if we
consider the whole tone of the novel as subtle irony aimed at Britain’s
conservative society in this particular period of time. To some extend
everything that happens to Florance and Edward and ends in tragic fashion is
closely related to social norm and expectations and to the fact that sex is a
taboo theme. But however private this subject is, some expectations are
strongly implied by society. The narrator may be seen as embodiment of this
mechanism and thus as the ultimate intrusive figure.
IV.
Social
expectations and the wedding ritual
The opening
lines of the novel are exemplifying of the state of thinking in England before
the sexual revolution and the invention of The Pill. Only years before the
decade turns to be called “the permissive sixties”, the story of Edward and Florence
begins: “they lived in a time when a conversation about sexual difficulties was
plainly impossible”. This statement presupposes and outlines the tragic element
of the story, focusing on desire and its discontents. Plain and simple
situation even ordinary turns bad when the intimacy does not stretch to find
its way in conversation. On the verge of finding their “new maturity” both
characters experience initial fear and discomfort of the upcoming sexual
encounter. Unable to share their anxieties, restricted by the unwritten rule of
silence about sex, they struggle to perform according to social norm. Even
their dinner is depicted in its customary formalities that should be obeyed in
such a way that the reader wonders whether this is simply irony of the English
mannerism or closes to parody. In fact the first image the newlyweds see is the
marital bed that seems to them “rather narrow” and “pure white” and with
“bedcover stretched startlingly smooth”. The text works on basic binary
oppositions, alluding to well-known wedding ritual from early ages. The
whiteness of the bedcover suggests that the purity of their innocence should be
sacrificed in the quest of new maturity. The sexual act implies spilling of
blood and therefore symbolic dirtying of the pureness and whiteness. The
smoothness operates on the same level of easy allusions as they are expected to
mess it. Because we see the bed through the eyes of the protagonists we can say
that this set of allusions work on character level as well. What is more they
are made to feel uncomfortable because of its narrowness, whish supposes close
body contact. This initial image of conflict that embodies the characters’
implicit and explicit fears is an epitome of the central conflict in the novel.
V.
Active and
passive. Gender stereotypes and sex
The two
village lads, of whose presence the characters are too aware, also can serve in
the ritualistic reading. They play the role of the witnesses and their role is
to testify the consummation of the marriage in order the union to be validated.
Therefore they also impose a threat on the newlyweds because they are reminder
of society’s expectance. This symbolic reading can be backed up by the fact
that Edward feels uncomfortable of not being in a hotel before. He is too
conscious of the two lads and is said to watch “closely for any gesture or
expression that might have seem(ed) satirical”. Edward’s insecure behavior may
also be seen as an expression of his subconscious fears of performing badly in
the marital bed. Certain expectations are expected of him by the wedding
ritual. He has to perform as a male, as an invader, he is the one who should
spill the blood. In this sense love making and war making are brought together,
sharing same sets of images, as in war from the man is expected to have stamina
and strength, the love-making ritual implies the same set of principles.
On the other
hand what is expected from the woman is at the other end of the spectrum. She
should endure. She should be passive and obedient. Should be penetrated and
invaded. This causes great deal of anguish to Florence. She struggles with the
idea to be subjected to a penetration and with her sense of duty that collide
inside of her mind - “”The Florence who led her quartet, who coolly imposed her
will, would never meekly submit to conventional expectations. She was no lamb
to be uncomplainingly knifed. Or penetrated”. Instead of doing according to her
the right thing, however, Florence assumes untypical role when it comes to
love-making. Instead of leaving the leading role to Edward she takes matters
literally and symbolically in her hands. This causes catastrophic outcome for
both of them. It causes guilt and shame and even stronger fears. The text
offers convenient explanation of her actions, explaining that she finds her
confidence exclusively when she plays the violin and when she commands the
quartet. So in an attempt to find her grip, Florence assumes control and tries
to turn Edward into her instrument. In order to silence her own fears she
triggers Edward’s (who prior “felt a terrible pressure narrowing his thoughts,
constraining his speech, and he was in acute physical discomfort - his trousers
or underwear seemed to have shrunk“), taking from him the leading role and
objectifying him to his instrument. The reversal of the presupposed roles is in
direct conflict of social norm and expectations. So Edward’s reaction is normal
and even expected. He fails to fulfill his role and fails in his performance.
This resonates deeply in Edward because his guilt and fear in failing to please
can be traced to his childhood experience. He was in an endless effort to
please his brain-damaged mother, assuming a mature role when he was not that mature.
Freudian enough this Oedipus complex projects over Florence.
VI.
Clothing as
a metaphor of social expectations
Following
the clothing example given above, we can trace how the issue of clothing is
depicted in symbolic manner after the sexual scene occurred. Ashamed and at the
same time possessed by anger Edward tries to persuade himself to follow Florence
on the beach. What he feels at this particular moment signifies the social role
he is supposed to perform, the pressure and the consequences of it - “putting
them on (his pants), it seemed to him, would return him to the social world, to
his obligations and to the true measure of his shame”. Clothing here suggests
the idea that social roles and stereotypical behavior are worn to restrict the
individual and to exemplify this “arbitrary fashion of recent centuries”. In
the Observer review of the book Tim
Adams profoundly observes: “The
novel that seems to hover around the edges of this book is Philip Roth's Everyman, another short, sharp shock of
a story, a slow roasting of a single romantic life. You might see McEwan's
novel as a very English riposte to Roth; here, a man's life quietly founders
not on shifting purpose and infidelity, but on frustration and embarrassment“. Indeed central
to Edward’s character are these intense feelings of frustration and
embarrassment.
VII.
Intertextual
references: Wide Sargasso Sea and Taste
of Honey
Ian McEwan
is if not notorious then famous with his metafictional methods. So Everymen is hardly the sole intertextual
connection we can spot. On page 5 there is yet another view the newlyweds
register, turning their chairs in unison. Once again we are put in the position
to look through their eyes. What they see is a garden, “sensuous and tropical”
garden with “thick-veined leaves”. The Biblical reference is almost inevitable.
Two virgins on their wedding night look at a garden that looks alien on the
Dorset coast with its tropical profusion. Facing the first wedding night for us
is easy to presume that the garden in their eyes is the topos of Eden, where
the original sin was committed. Similar to the Biblical story the two virgins
are not going to emerge innocent after the exploration of the secret garden of
sexuality. As Tim Adams writes: “McEwan’s subject has often been the way in
which innocence goes bad; here the serpent in the garden is the time-honored
one desire and its discontents”. But that is not the only association we can
make. The tropical profusion of the garden with its hidden hints of sexuality
resembles a similar motif in Wide
Sargasso Sea. In Jean Rys’s novel the tropical garden stands for the wild
nature of women’s sexuality and even physically challenges Rochester who feels
sick and intimidated. Edward in On Chesil
Beach the same as Edward in Wide
Sargasso Sea is intimidated by Florence and her reaction during their first
and apparently last wedding night.
Another work
of art that is actually named in the book is the movie Taste of Honey, which Edward and Florence go to see together. The
film also explores moral problem and implies social stereotypes and norms. It
tells the story of a school girl, whose mother’s loose behaviour sets a bad
example. Though rebellious towards her mother she falls for an Algerian sailor
who gets her pregnant and leaves. Evidently enough the title of the film shows
that sex is something forbidden but yet desirable. What it makes clear however
is that sex is a moral issue with consequences. What is more sex is something
to be judged by society. It also raises
the question of class difference, portraying the main heroine to be from low,
working class origin. Thus, implicitly the lower class is with low moral and is
inferior to upper-middle class.
Class is also
an issue in On Chesil Beach. Edward’s
anxieties are partially caused by the class difference between him, his family
and Florence’s origin. It is said that both of them feared that her parents
could condescend to his. Edwards attempts to fit in a higher hierarchy results
in his fear of failure and exposure to sniggering as it is described in the
episode with the two lads. He also expresses readiness to serve Florence’s
parents and to subjugate to Florence in not questioning her opinion or giving
her the leading role. This among the other things discussed in this work
reflects in Edward’s actual failure to perform and in his sense of guilt and
shame. It also makes the happy resolution of the problem impossible. He wants to
safe the bits of his shattered dignity and therefore cannot allow Florence to
offer the resolution, cannot forgive her of being born in a superior class than
his own.
VIII. Conclusion
As it was
smartly remarked in a comment regarding Ian McEwan’s work, it is hard to escape
English class system. It appears that it is also hard to escape the English
landscape. The actually existing Chesil Beach not only happens to be an arena
for Edward and Florence’s story but also is chosen to give the name of their
story. The beach is famous for the pebbles constantly shaped and re-shaped by
the sea water and forces of nature. The New York Times review of the book
starts: “the pebbles are arranged,
by wind and rain, in a spectrum of sizes and textures, so that the beach forms
a spatial map of time”. Similar to the pebbles on Chesil Beach, On Chesil Beach presents a map of
certain time, choosing to trace the impact this time has on two ordinary
people. Towards the end of the book Edward will come to the realization that
time is what could have make things different. He is also aware that time
changed him and made him see things in different perspective. So his fate is
just like the pebbles on Chesil Beach, constantly re-shaped by time.
This of all
Edward’s realizations resonates most with the reader, especially when he or she
turns on the last page and reads Ian McEwan’s last words: “The characters in
this novel are inventions and bear no resemblance to people living or dead.
Edward and Florence’s hotel - just over a mile south of Abbotsbury, Dorset,
occupying an elevated position in a field behind the beach car park - does not
exist“. But Does it not? Put that way this last statement is more convincing
that the story is universal and could happen to every one of us and that everyone
could have walked in Florence and Edward’s shoes if he/she had lived in their
time.
Bibliography
Adams, Tim –
The Observer, Sunday 25 March 2007 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/mar/25/fiction.ianmcewan
Lethem,
Jonathan – New York Times, June 3,
2007 - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/books/review/Lethem-t.html?_r=0
McEwan, Ian
– On Chesil Beach, Vintage 2008
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