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.