“Besides, a life without freedom to choose is not worth having.”
The power of the female voice in a patriarchal society is embodied by the character Bella Baxter. She is an outspoken feminist in the Victorian Era and when her husband paints her in the wrong light she speaks for herself. In her society, her voice is not considered and has to go to great lengths to be heard, and even so it is still complicated. Her sentiment is expressed in the assertion; she pinpoints the inequalities between the genders in terms of autonomy.
“You, dear reader, have now two accounts to choose between and there can be no doubt which is most probable.”
The novel is a complex one with how it manipulates the truth and blurs the line between fiction and truth. Firstly, the author writes himself in the narrative as an editor of the story of Bella and her husband. Secondly, the plot of the story is about Archibald writing an autobiography that does not tell the actual truth about his marital life. Therefore, Bella comes forward to voice her version of events and the truth about the dynamic of their marriage. The quotation is her opinion to the reader as it is their choice to figure out which is true considering the times.
“She is the swelling sail, trim rigging and bust sunlit deck of our matrimonial yacht. I am the low hull, with the invisible ballast and keel.”
The conflict in the narrative arises when Archibald offers a version of events in his autobiography that are clearly untrue according to Bella. Since his wife is a renowned feminist who is outspoken he feels it is necessary to show the public that he is still the man in the union. The statement is the imagery he paints of their marriage in that while the wife is forthright and seen, he is the one in charge. The times make the man’s words valid over a woman’s and thus the public takes his account as truth despite Bella’s objections.
