The Depiction of Anastasia Steele

From the way Anastasia depicts herself previously, we may see her low self- esteem. Anastasia lives in “a lifetime of insecurity” James, 2011:51. For example, she feels her skin is too pale although Christian depicts Anastasia‟s skin as “the most beautiful skin, pale, flawless ” James, 2011:113 skin. Her low self-esteem can also be seen from her thought. There are two quotations that clearly show her low self- esteem. The first quotation tells us that she d oesn‟t feel comfortable in a luxurious place, she even doe sn‟t think that she suits there. At first, she depicts Christian‟s office as “a huge twenty- story office building, all curved glass and steel, an architect‟s utilitarian fantasy, with Grey House written discreetly in steel over the glass front doo rs” and “the enormous- and frankly intimidating-glass, steel, and white sandstone lobby” James, 2011:4, but after that, we can see that she doesn‟t feel she suits to this luxurious place. It is seen by her speech, “She hands me a security pass that has “visitor” very firmly stamped on the front. I can‟t help my smirk. Surely it‟s obvious that I‟m just visiting. I don‟t fit here at all James, 2011:5”. The second quotation explains that Anastasia has a problem in her relationship with others. She dislikes having a real conversation with a real man or showing herself in a group discussion. She prefers to be alone and lives in anonymity. She even prefers to spend her time reading literature works rather than spending her time with man. It is seen from her speech when she has to interview Christian: I‟ve never been comfortable with one-on-one interviews, preferring the anonymity of a group discussion where I can sit inconspicuously at the back of the room. To be honest, I prefer my own company, reading a classic British novel, curled up in a chair in the campus library. Not sitting twitching nervously in a colossal glass-and-stone edifice James, 2011:6. Apart from her low self-esteem, Anastasia is also depicted as an obedient girl. She is classified as an obedient girl because she cannot say no to Kate‟s requests. She even has to sacrifice herself only to fulfill her demands. For example, Anastasia agrees to replace Kate for interviewing Christian although she has “final exams to cram for and one essay to finish” James, 2011:3. She even has “to drive 165 miles to downtown Seattle in order to meet the enigmatic CEO of Grey Enterprise Holdings, Inc ” James, 2011:3 and leaves her work for the interview. However, Anast asia agrees to do Kate‟s demand by saying “Only for you, Kate, would I do this ” James, 2011:4. She is not only obedient to Kate, Anastasia is also obedient to Christian Grey. She agrees to have coffee with Grey even though she hates coffee. It is seen in this quotation; “I am going to have coffee with Christian Grey . . . and I hate coffee” James, 2011:40. It shows that Anastasia cannot say no to Christian likes she cannot say no to Kate. Another proof is in the following quotation. In the following quotation, there is a conversation from Anastasia and Christian. In the conversation, Christian forces Anastasia to eat her meals even though she doesn‟t want to eat it: ”Eat” he says more sharply. “Anastasia, I have an issue with wasted food... eat” “I can‟t eat all this.” I gape at what‟s left on the table. “Eat what‟s on your plate..... Swallowing my last piece of pancake, I peek up at him. He‟s eyeing me speculatively. “Good girl,” he says. James, 2011:76 The speech from Christian to Anastasia below can also strengthen the depiction of Anastasia as an obedient girl. In his speech, Christian says that he needs to control Anastasia in a certain way he wants. If Anastasia doesn‟t follow his orders, Christian will give her punishment: “It‟s the way I made, Anastasia. I need to control you. I need you to behave in a certain way, and if you don‟t- I love to watch your beautiful alabaster skin pink and warm up under my hands. It turns me on ” James, 2011:288. Although depicted as an obedient girl, Anastasia is also depicted conversely. It can be seen by her rejection to other characters‟ requests. Anastasia always rejects to g o with Paul, her boss‟s brother, “Whenever he‟s home he asks me on a date, and I always s ay no. It‟s a ritual” James, 2011:34. We can see that Anastasia rejects Paul ‟s invitation but accepts Christian‟s invitation to have some coffee although she dislikes coff ee. Anastasia even rejects her parent‟s demand. Her rejections to her parent can be seen in these quotations: “This is Kate‟s dress.” I glance down at the gray chiffon halter neck dress. He frowns James, 2011:233. “Why are you wearing Kate‟s dress?” Oh . . . no James, 2011:408. The first quotation is the reaction from Ray Steele Anastasia‟s step father and the third quotation is the reaction from Carla her biological mother when they know that Anastasia borrows Kate‟s dresses. Anastasia surely knows that her parents dislike her borrowing dress from Kate, but she still borrows dresses from Kate. The interesting thing is when Carla tries to buy Anastasia a dress. Anastasia refuses Carla‟s suggestion by saying, “Oh, Mom, you don‟t need to do that. I have plenty of clothes” James, 2011: 408. Refusing Carla‟s suggestion, Anastasia prefers to use Kate‟s dresses. Anastasia‟s depiction can also be seen by another character‟s point of view. The followings are several speeches stated by Christian, Anastasia‟s lover, which can be used to depict Anast asia‟s personality, “Like Eve, you‟re so quickly to eat from the tree of knowledge” James, 2011:74 and “Impatient as ever, Miss Steele” James, 2011:215. These quotations show Anastasia as an impatient girl. When Anastasia wants something, she will be really eager about it. Not only that, Anastasia is also depicted as a careless girl by Christian since she does something without even thinking about the risk of her action, “Well, if you were mine, you wouldn‟t be able to sit down for a week after the stunt you pulled yesterday. You did n‟t eat, you got drunk, you put yourself at risk” James, 2011:67. Apart from her irresponsible action, Christian depicts Anastasia as a “very self- contained ” James, 2011:43 girl. Anastasia doesn‟t agree about it. The fact that Anastasia doesn‟t think that she is self-contained but another person does, supports the argument about Anastasia‟s low self-esteem. We can see that all of the characteristics found in Anastasia ‟s depiction by Grey prove her as an innocent girl Not only that, Christian depicts Anastasia as a virgin and an inexperienced girl in any romantic relation, “I knew you were inexperienced, but a virgin” James, 2011:49. Apart from Christian‟s depiction, we also get the depiction of Anastasia through her best friend, Kate. Kate depicts Anastasia as a smart girl. The fact that she is smart can be seen by her GPA which is almost perfect, “I told you your GPA would open doors, Ana ” James, 2011:161. Although Anastasia is depicted as a smart girl, she is also depicted as an inexperienced in any romantic relationships . It is seen from Kate‟s speech: “What do you mean, someone like me?” I demand, affronted. “An innocent like you, Ana. You know what I mean,” she says a little irritated. I flush James, 2011:39. There is one similarity from the depiction of Anastasia Steele given by Christian and Kate. Both of them depict Anastasia as an innocent girl. Her innocence is seen in her romantic experiences. She is inexperienced in any romantic relationships. She is not only depicted as a virgin in the novel, but she has hardly ever fascinated any men. It is interesting since Anastasia is a girl who is currently in her twenty-one, not a child whose sexual development hasn‟t grown. This fact comes up in Kate‟s utterance, “You, fascinated by a man? That‟s a first,” she snorts James, 2011:21. Although hardly has Anastasia ever fascinated men, Christian finally makes her fascinated. Christian is the only men made her fascinated. Anastasia admits it by saying, “And for the first time in twenty-one years, I want to be kissed” James, 2011:48 and “So I have always been the one to rebuff any would be admirers. There was that guy in my chemistry class who liked me, but no one has ever sparked my interest- no one except Christian Damn Grey. Maybe I should be kinder to the likes of Paul Clayton and Jose Rodriguez, though I‟m sure neither of them has been found sobbing alone in dark places ” James, 2011:51. Next is Anastasia‟s depiction seen by her past life. Looking back to Anastasia‟s past life, she is depicted as a girl with four fathers in her life. Her biological father passes away when she is only an infant, “My father died when I was a baby” James, 2011:45. After that, her mother marries Ray Steele. Anastasia stays with her second father, Ray Steele, when her mother marries husband number three, “Yes. My mom met Husband Number Three when I was fifteen. I stayed with Ray ” James, 2011:46. Although Anastasia lives apart from her mother, her relationship with her mother is fine, “My mom is wonderful. She‟s an incurable romantic” James, 2011: 45. We may be confused by the fact that Anastasia prefers to live with her step father despite living with her biological mother. This is quite interesting thing to discuss. The discussion on it will be on the second part of this chapter. However, from her past, we may see that Anastasia is lonely since she lives apart from her mother and her stepfather. She is also depicted as a “taciturn” James, 2011:45 like her stepfather by Christian. Next, her personality based on her reaction toward certain circumstances. She is depicted as a clumsy, spontaneous and shy girl. Anastasia is clumsy because she doesn‟t pay attention to her circumstances. Her clumsiness can be seen in: “Next, I set up the digital recorder and am all fingers and thumbs, dropping it twice on the coffee table in front of me ” James, 2011:9 and “I am on my hands and keens in the doorway to Mr. Gr ey‟s office” James, 2011: 7. Sometimes her clumsiness put her in endanger , “It all happen so fast- one minute I‟m falling, the next I‟m in his arms and he‟s holding me tightly against his chest” James, 2011:48. The spontaneous Anastasia is seen through her action.She often does something without even thinking about the result of her action. For example, she easily agrees to do Kate‟s and Christian‟s demands without thinking first. Many times she regrets it. For example, she regrets when she agrees to replace Kate for the interview, “I cannot believe I have let Kate talk me into this ” James, 2011:4. The worst is she even does not make any preparation for the interview, “Of course, I would know if I had done some research ” James, 2011:11. The spontaneous Anastasia can also be seen by the way she expresses her thought. ““Maybe, you‟re just lucky.” This isn‟t on Kate‟s list- but he‟s so arrogant” James, 2011:10. In this utterance, Anastasia spontaneously criticizes Christian after he shows his a rrogance. She doesn‟t think twice when she says it. She doesn‟t even consider the fact that she is saying such thing to a multi-billionaire CEO who is also the main donator of her college. Anastasia is also depicted as a shy girl. It is seen from her reaction towards certain circumstances. She has habits to bite her lips, blushes or takes her hair behind her ear when she is embarrassed. We can see it in below quotations: “I flush, and my heart rate inexplicably increases. That wasn‟t the reason, surely. He just wanted to show me around so I could see he was lord of all he surveyed. I realize I‟m biting my lip, and I hope Kate doesn‟t notice it” James, 2011:20. “I flush at the waywardness of my subconscious- she‟s doing her happy dance in a bright red hula skirt at the thought of being his ” James, 2011:67. “I gasp, completely unaware that I am chewing my bottom lip and my mouth pops open. That has to be the sexiest thing anybody has ever said to me ” James, 2011:73. “Nervously, I tuck my loosened hair behind my ear” James, 2011:13. Apart from the depiction of innocent Anastasia, Anastasia is also depicted as a masochist. The main characteristic of sexual masochism is “a marked preference for obtaining or increasing sexual gratification through su bjection to pain or humiliation” Davison Neale, 1996:345-346. Due to the previous explanation, there are two keys of masochism. First is pain or humiliation in sex acts and the second is increasing sexual gratification derives from the pain or humiliation. Below are several descriptions taken from Anastasia while she and Christian are having sex: He places his hand on my naked behind, softly fondling me, stroking around and around with his flat palm. And then his hand is no longer there . . . and he hits me-hard. Ow My eyes spring open in response to the pain, and I try to rise, but his hand moves between my shoulder blades, keeping me down. He caresses me again where he‟s hit me, and his breathing‟s changed-it‟s louder, harsher. He hits me again and again, quickly in succession. Holy fuck it hurts. I make no sound, my face screwed up against the pain. I try to wriggle away from the blows-spurred on by adrenaline spiking and coursing through my body James, 2011:274. I try to pull my wrists apart, testing my bonds, and as I do, the plastic bites into my flesh. It‟s sore, but if I relax my wrists they‟re fine-the tie is not cutting into my skin James, 2011:327. I grip the post harder and push back against him as he continues his merciless onslaught, again and again, his fingers digging into my hip. My arm are aching, my legs feel uncertain, my scalp is getting sore from his tugging my hair . . . and I can feel a gathering inside me. Oh no . . . and for the first time, I fear my orgasm . . . if I come . . . I‟ll collapse. Christian continues to move roughly against me, in me, his breathing harsh, moaning, and groaning. My body is responding . . . how? James, 2011:329. In the first quotation, we may see that Anastasia is hurt while Christian thrusts her. In the second quotation, Christian ties Anastasia with a bond that bites her flesh. The next quotation is the description when Christian does “fuck hard” James, 2011:100 to Anastasia. All these three description shows pain while they are having sex. Another description that shows pain while Anastasia and Christian are having sex is seen in their conversation: “Shall I make you come?” “Please,” I beg. The crop bites my buttock. Ow “Please what?” “Please, Sir.” He smiles at me triumphant James, 2011:324. In the quotation, Christian hits Anastasia with crop while they are having sex. He hits her because Anastasia doesn‟t call her Sir. Christian wants Anastasia to call her Sir whenever they are having sex. Although Anastasia feels pain while she and Christian are having sex, but she aroused by him. She gets increasing sexual gratification from pain or humiliation in their sex acts. The increasing of Anastasia‟s sexual gratification can be seen by the descriptions taken from Anastasia below: He reaches down, and from his pants pocket, he takes out his silver-gray silk tie. . . that silver-gray woven tie that leaves small impressions of its weave on my skin. He moves so quickly, sitting astride me as he fastens my wrists together, but this time, he ties the other end of the tie to one of the spokes of my white iron headboard. He pull s at my binding, checking it‟s secure. I‟m going anywhere. I‟m tied, literary, to my bed, and I‟m so aroused James, 2011:191. I steal into the bathroom, bewildered by my lack of underwear. While drying myself after my enjoyable but far too brief shower, I realize he‟s done this on purpose. He wants me to be embarrassed and ask for my panties back, and he‟ll either say yes or no. My inner goddess grins at me. Hell . . . two can play that particular game. Resolving there and then not to ask him for them and not give him that satisfaction, I shall go meet his parents sans culottes James, 2011:332. In the first quotation, Anastasia feels so aroused when Christian bounds her to her bed. In the second quotation, Christian hides Anastasia‟s underwear. He wants Anastasia to beg him for her underwear, but Anastasia refuses it. She chooses not to use any underwear when she meets Christian‟s parents to make Christian‟s “game” become more interesting. Not only that, even though it looks like that Anastasia does the masochism for Christian ‟s sexual gratification, but in fact she enjoys the pain. She also gets sexual gratification while she does sexual masochism. It can be seen by Christian‟s and Anastasia‟s conversation while Christian first spanks Anastasia: “And you still haven‟t answered my question- how did you feel afterward?” “Confused.” “You were sexually aroused by it, Anastasia” James, 2011:288. Anastasia feels confused as she never felt that way before. It strengthens by the fact th at she has never had her “orgasm” James, 2011: 114 before. Christian explains to Anastasia that actually she aroused by the spanks. Those evidences support the fact that Anastasia is a masochist.

B. The Reflection of Feminine Oedipus Complex in Fifty Shades of Grey

From the previous depiction of Anastasia Steele in part A, we may see that there is a contradiction between her personality and her decision to become a masochist. Anastasia is previously depicted as an innocent virgin student who spends her time only reading books and working. Hardly has she ever been fascinated by men. However, her decision to start a relationship with Christian Grey who turns her to a masochist raises a big confusion about her personality. This contradiction is what this thesis is going to focus on in this part. This part will discuss on how feminine Oedipus complex causes masochism in Anastasia Steele. Psychoanalytic approach is used in this part. Psychoanalytic approach is “a form of literary criticism which uses of the techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature” Barry, 2009:92. Psychoanalysis itself is “a form of therapy which aims to cure mental disorders „by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious element in the mind” Barry, 2009:92. In applying psychoanalytic approach, this thesis uses the theory from Bressler in Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. In his book, Bressler talks about the way researchers can apply this approach in simple way. He summarizes the application of psychoanalytic approach into four simplified concepts which this thesis uses in this part. The first concept of Bressler is a distressing event or situation occurring in youth that is buried into unconscious mind. “The clearest sign that an emotional problem is being repressedis the repetition of a self-destructive behavior, such as choosing unhealthy friends or romantic partners, displaying inappropriate social behavior, engaging unwarranted violent behavior, engaging in substance abuse, and the like ” Bressler, 1999:83. We can see clearly that Anastasia‟s self-destructive behavior in this novel is her masochism since she chooses a sadist to become her romantic partner. To understand the reason behind Anastasia‟s destructive behavior, we should first know about Anastasia‟s emotional problem or her buried experience. Since, “family is the most important source of our early emotional experiences ” Bressler, 1999:83, this thesis will depict Anastasia‟s family. Anastasia lives in a broken home family. Her mother has married for four times in her lifetime. The first marriage doesn‟t last since Anastasia‟s biological father dies when Anastasia “was a baby” James, 2011: 45. Carla‟s second marriage is with Ray Steele. This marriage also doesn‟t work well. Carla meets husband number three when Anastasia “was fifteen” James, 2011:46. Although Carla and Ray are divorced, it does not affect Anastasia‟s relation with Ray. Anastasia mentions Ray as “the only father I know.” James, 2011:45. She even lives with Ray in Montesano despite living with Carla and her new husband. From the description of Anastasi a Steele‟s family background, it can be see that Anastasia has an abnormal infantile sexuality due to the inexistence of her biological father and her mother‟s four marriages. Infantile sexuality is “the notion that sexuality begins not at puberty, with physical maturing, but in infancy, especially through the infant‟s relationship with the mother” Barry, 1999:93. Infantile sexuality stresses on the relation between infant and its parent as the very first step of infant‟s sexual development. There are three steps of infantile sexuality which are the oral, the anal, and the phallic. In oral and anal stage, children “experience no distinction between itself and the world ” Madsen, 2000:94. The phallic stage is when children experience the distinction between itself and the world. Starting from the phallic stage, female and male develop differently. “The sexual life of the woman is regularly split up into two phases, the first of which is of a masculine character, whilst only the second is specifically feminine. Thus in female, there is process of transition from the one phase to the other, to which there is nothing analogues in males ” Freud, 1928:2. Using Freud‟s theory, this thesis wants to analyze Anastasia‟s stage of sexual development starting from her infantile sexuality. From the novel, we may see that Anastasia has four fathers. Her biological father has already passed away when she was only an infant. She says that she can not even remember him James, 2011:45. This fact, of course, influences the second stage of Anas tasia Steele‟s sexual development since the second stage of sexual development requires the existence of a father figure to exchange her first love‟s object.