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“Still, the library is kept warmer than my own room, to ward off mould from the books; and I find I prefer to write, than to
sew. He gives me a pencil with a soft lead that moves silently upon paper, and a green-shaded reading-lamp, to
save my eyes.
My work itself is of the most tedious kind, and consists chiefly of copying pages of text, from antique volumes, into a
leather-bound book. The book is a slim one, and when it is filled my job is to render it blank again with a piece of
india-rubber.”
Waters, 2002:209
4.2.2 Violence
Mistreatment makes woman no longerbelieve in men. When two women share the same hatred towards men, the feeling and relationship between them will be must
likely to grow. Woman tends to use feeling than logic and she seldom do such a rebellion. In
this novel, Water tries to tell the readers that in Victorian Age, it can be some violence found done by man towards woman also the otherwise. Sue, as the main character in the
novel gets a physical violence from adoctor named Doctor Cristy. She is tortured when she is in mental asylum. A tragedy makes her sent in to that rehabilitation.
I tried to speak. HelpHelp I tried to say. But the spoon made me gobble like a bird. It also made me dribble; and a bit of dribble flew out
of my mouth and struck Dr Christies cheek. Perhaps he thought I had spat it. Anyway, he moved quickly back, and his face grew grim. He took
out his handkerchief.
Very good, he said to the men and the nurse, as he wiped his cheek. That will do. Now you may take her.
Waters, 2002 : 421
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Sue gets that kind of violence not only from the doctor, but also from the nurse. Besides that, she also gets mental violence. As she is forced to be taken care of Mental Hospital
while she suffers no disease or any disorder.
“She put her foot to me. Now, does Dr Christie have you here to give us all bruises? Eh, my lady?…and she picked me up about my waist; and
she dropped me. You could not say she threw me, but she lifted me high and let me fall; and me being just then so dazed and so weak, I fell
badly.”
Waters 2002: 422 Violence, both mental and physical are also experienced by Maud. Since she is in
10 years old, she lives with her uncle at Briar. She is disciplinarily and hard educated. Her uncle will not think twice to hit her if she makes any mistakes. Christopher Lily uses
hard method in educating and teaching Maud. He will give penalties by hitting her if she makes any mistakes or breaks the rules he makes. Maud is jailed with rules and
regulation. The servants in that house are given opportunity to hit her if she does any mistakes. The pressure is higher and higher on her.
“I feel i, and suck harder. Then the women pluck me from her. And when I weep, they hit me…
.
But I could not want a lover, more than I want freedom.”
Waters, 2002 : 261 Mentally, Maud also gets violence when she lives in mental hospital since she’s
born until she is brought by her uncle to Briar. Her mother is a mental patient and dies for giving birth to her. Her life changes after she moves to her uncle’s house. Being a
personal secretary of his own uncle gives pressure to her. She has to read many book to her uncle’s guests. She is forced to be perfect in front of her uncle’s guests.
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Make yourself neat tonight, Maud, he says to me, as I stand in his library buttoning up my gloves. We shall have guests. Hawtrey, Huss,
and another fellow, a stranger. I hope to employ him with the mounting of our pictures,
Waters, 2002:289
All of things experienced by Maud make her sick of her uncle, but there is nothing she can do but to keep it in her heart alone. She tries to escape from that house, but Sue, as
her maid tries to calm her down and asks her not to do it.
“My happiness is nothing to him, she said. Only his books He has made me like a book. I am not meant to be taken, and touched, and
liked. I am meant to keep here, in a dim light, for ever
She spoke more bitterly than I had ever heard her speak before. I said,
Your uncle loves you, Im sure. “ Waters, 2002:381
Maud’s daily activity is reading and mastering her uncle’s books. She is responsible for reading those books to his uncle’s guests. She used to read pornographic book and
homosexual books. In this novel, it is said that Lily Christopher marries no body indicating that he is a gay.
“My passions are met with punishments, each fiercer than the last. I am bound about the wrists and mouth. I am shut into lonely rooms, or into
cupboards.
When Mrs Stiles comes to release me I have made myself a kind of nest and cannot be uncurled, and am as weak as if they had drugged me.”
Waters, 2002:278
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Mentally, Maud get more pressure from her uncle more then what she has experienced in Mental Hospital. She feels tortured because her uncle’s bans her from
doing everything she wants. She can’t release her biological passion to her husband. So, she releases it to her personal servant.
4.2.3 Environment Romantic Friendship
