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July 12, 1997
Dear Tanica,
Having just worked with you in a group which studied Daniel Deronda in depth, I can’t help comparing Rachel in The Voyage Out with Gwendolen in Daniel. Both women are about the same age, and both experience a rite of passage which leads them to better understand themselves. But how different the young women are! While both have been brought up with only one parent, the two women have been treated very differently. The expectations that their parents have had of them have differed so radically that Rachel and Gwendolen approach life in quite dissimilar ways.
Rachel seems to me to be a fragile lily in contrast to Gwendolen’s being a hardy geranium. Not only does Rachel approach life without much knowledge of what it is all about, but her father’s tendency to overprotect her has caused her to be introverted and quite unsure of herself in her relationships with other people. Rachel feels about life just as she feels about the ball on the ship’s rail that she stares at; she would be "startled and annoyed if anything had chanced to obscure it for a second" (33). Her aunts and her father have made sure that nothing, including feelings that Rachel might have had but failed to understand, has interrupted her calm, protected life. Thus she believes that, "To feel anything strongly was to create an abyss between oneself and others who feel strongly perhaps but differently" (34). Rachel has the luxury to take the easy way in life -- to immerse herself in her music and not to concern herself too much with others’ thoughts or feelings or ways of living. She can be easily manipulated, as Mrs. Ambrose, Mr. Dalloway, and Hewet do, and initially can say that she believes in "everything" before allowing herself to say, "But I don’t believe in God, I don’t believe in Mr. Bax, I don’t believe in the hospital nurse. I don’t believe --" (290 - 291) in answer to Evelyn’s question, "Do you believe in anything?" (290). Rachel has never been required to believe or to disbelieve in anything; therefore, she is completely ignorant of what she believes about almost everything. However, Gwendolen has not experienced the indulgence that Rachel has. Consequently, she lacks Rachel’s naive outlook on the world.
Gwendolen’s mother has made sure that her daughter, who is slightly younger than Rachel, is fully aware that her whole family expects to be supported by Gwendolen, and she has made sure that Gwendolen knows how this can be done, by marrying a man who has plenty of money. As a result, although this young woman may not fully understand men or marriage, she certainly knows that she must be prepared to make her own way in the world and that knowing how to manipulate her own feelings and other people is an essential tool. Although her life may have been protected in the usual ways of the nineteenth century, she has definite ideas about the way she expects her life to go and how to make that happen. Unlike Rachel, she knows what she believes in and is constantly plotting ways to get the freedom that will allow her to exercise those beliefs, thinking erroneously that she cannot be manipulated by others.
Tanica, as I reread this, I realize that it sounds too much like an essay or the beginning of what might be an interesting paper, so I’m not sure it’s very insightful because the topic can’t be developed well in such a short space. However, I would like to know whether you agree with me and to hear your thoughts concerning Rachel and Gwendolen or any other topic from The Voyage Out.
Betty
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