Anastasia Steele as A Lover in Relationship with Christian Grey

As a man, Grey also controls Steele because he wants her to be obedient. ―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 ‖ James, 2011: 201. Grey is aware of his role, in which he has rights to control Steele in the relationship. However, to make her obedient, the control he exercises towards Steele is followed by the punishments. ―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‖ James, 2011: 193. By using punishments, he wants to exert his masculine power over Steele and to show that he is physically stronger than Steele is. As a man, Grey is also described as an independent man. It shows his freedom to choose what he wants in his life. His independence makes no one is taking charge to control, dictate, and demand what he should be and should do in his life. In the story, Grey is presented as an independent person, supported by the fact of his achievement as the CEO of his own big and famous company, and also by the way he behaves and acts. As a man, he believes that a man can be freely dreaming whatever he wants and be able to achieve his dreams. Taken from his two statements to Steele, ―A man can dream, Anastasia.‖ He leans over me and grasps my chin James, 2011: 141, and ―A man can hope, Anastasia, dream even, and sometimes his dreams come true ‖ James, 2011: 260. These imply that he believes, as a man, he can achieve everything he wants and it is his rights. He is free to express himself through his dreams and hopes. Besides, he wants to emphasize that he has a lot and more chances to determine and control his life. ―It is lucky that I am master of my own destiny and no one castigates me. Except my mother occasionally and Dr. Flynn, of course. And you ‖ James, 2011: 281. When he calls himself as the master of his own destiny, he means he is the one who takes control of his life. By saying so, he wants to show his privilege as a man, independence, in which no one will interfere his life. As the man who likes to control, uses punishments, and described as an independent man, he is powerful in term of gender. He is more powerful than Steele is because as a man, he controls her to do what he wants and to follow his rules. He uses punishments to make her inferior. Compared to Steele again, he is more independent because of the fact that he is the employer of his own company, he makes his own money, he can achieve his dreams, and he has full rights to determine his life. Therefore, Steele is not capable of forcing him to be what she wants. His power is presented in the quotation below. T his is so… I want to think wrong , b ut somehow it‘s not. It‘s right for Christian. It‘s what he wants – and after the last few days… after all he‘s done, I have to man up and take whatever he decides he wants, whatever he thinks he needs. James, 2011: 336 Grey has power because he is able to make Steele change her mind about her opinion and to make her follow what he considers right. Even though he is not directly forcing her and is not present at the time, he still can make her take his opinion into a serious consideration. Besides, Grey‘s power is based on how Steele regards herself in front of him. How she needs an acknowledgement and how dependent she is on him make him take it for granted. The way she perceives herself as a woman who needs a man gives him a sense of power because he is needed by her. He uses this opportunity to manipulate her using his kindness and his presents. Meanwhile, Steele‘s characteristics as a woman and her social class are the supporting sources of Grey‘s power to control her. As the woman who works as an employee, it is a prestige to be able to date with a successful young entrepreneur.

2. Christian Grey as an Employer

Grey is not only powerful in term of gender, but is also powerful in term of class, supported by the fact that he is a successful billionaire. Grey, as an employer, is described as a very successful entrepreneur and a wealthy man. His being respected, his lifestyle, and things he can afford refers to his social class as the people from the upper class group. First thing is, as an employer of thousand employees, Grey is described as having power and as controlling. ―I employ over forty thousand people, Miss Steele. That gives me a certain sense of responsibility – power, if you will. If I were to decide I was no longer interested in the telecommunications business and sell up, twenty thousand people would struggle to make their mortgage payments after a month or so.‖ James, 2011: 12 From his information about his company, it indicates that his position as the employer of over forty thousand people is very important and crucial. He has power to rule and to control his employees to do what is appropriate. He feels his power because he knows the employees‘ life is dependent on his decision. By saying so, he wants to expose himself as the power holder. As an employer, his social class is shown through his office building, hobbies, and things he can afford. It‘s 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 doors…. I walk into the enormous-and frankly intimidating-glass, steel, and white sandstone lobby. James, 2011: 8 The description about Grey‘s office building shows how wealthy he is. In the description about his building, the mentioned characteristics show the luxury of the building. It is not just an ordinary office building, but it is well-designed using certain architectural style. The fact that the building has the words Grey House written also implies his success. Grey‘s social class is also declared through his expensive hobbies. He states, ―Yes. Gliding to the layperson. Gliders and helicopters – I fly them both‖ James, 2011: 67. By telling his hobbies, he shows that he has money to afford such things and it emphasizes his social status. Therefore, from his job and his lifestyle, it is clear that he is politically, economically, and socially powerful.

3. Christian Grey as A Lover in Relationship with Steele

This sub-part focuses on how Grey is presented as a lover in relationship with Steele, especially in the way he treats her as his ―girlfriend‖. Grey is presented as a manipulative man. Being a manipulative man means that he uses tricks to trap Steele in his game. He uses his changing mood and his opinion to influence her thought and perspective. It is used to make her agree to sign the contract.