Indiana (George Sand) Themes

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  • Created by: CaraPW
  • Created on: 12-05-21 14:07
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  • Indiana Themes
    • Society - relationships and significance
      • Marriage as a social contract - marriage is apart from love as a means of protection for a woman and a means of status for a man - women depend on marriage, it is their entire life
      • Adulterous relationships as scandalous for a woman but not for a man - demi-monde demographic is hypocritical
      • Relationships between women very close - shared suffering but to different degrees
      • Relations between men seem formal and business-like, but under the surface they exploit each other - Delmare and Ralph do this
    • The plight of women
      • Indiana is viewed as a trophy to be possessed by men and is constantly infantilised - she seems out of place in Delmare's home. like a sparkling ornament - she is exploited like one too
      • Noun is even more exploited than Indiana. She does not have the solitude that Indiana does, nor does she have the ideal of Ile Bourbon, as it is a wrokplace for her. She is heavily sexualised and fully exploited by Raymon
      • Women exist in the societal system as the servants and playthings of men. Society is set up so that women depend on men and will die without them - they are forced to live in the masculinised reality
    • Emotions and the senses
      • Scene in which Indiana wants to jump into the seine is highly sensory - desrciption of colour and parisian surroundings (p332-333)
      • Icy water, dogs barking- the harsh, chaotic reality of the outside world, stark contrast to ile bourbon
        • Quand elle sentit le froid cuisant de l’eau qui baignait déjà sa chaussure, elle s’éveilla comme d’un état de somnambulisme, et, cherchant des yeux où elle était, elle vit Paris derrière elle, et la Seine qui fuyait sous ses pieds, emportant dans sa masse huileuse le reflet blanc des maisons et le bleu grisâtre du ciel
      • Description at the end of ile bourbon leading up to the suicide         Landscape seems almost dream-like, where dream and reality mix, and where this life and an afterlife collide
        • "Alors la lune se trouva au-dessus de la cime du grand palmiste, et son rayon, pénétrant l’interstice des lianes, enveloppa Indiana d’un éclat pâle et humide qui la faisait ressembler, avec sa robe blanche et ses longs cheveux tressés sur ses épaules, à l’ombre de quelque vierge égarée dans le désert."
    • The ideal
      • The ideal is found in several differnet areas
      • Feminised ideal in nature - around the country house and especially on Ile Bourbon - very prominent at the end
      • Masculine ideal found in the exploitative nature of industrialised society - this is the realtiy of society though due to systemic male privilege
      • Indiana as the ideal woman - close to nature, independent in thought, innocent and free-spirited, she tries to get away from male tethering
    • Nature
      • Use of landscape descriptions provide escapism, only menas of escape into the feminine ideal
      • Landscapes exteriorise the internal sufferings of the characters, especially Indiana. However, there are consoling and liberating landscapes
      • Ile bourbon as archtypally romantic, revives chilhood memories for the pair - descriptions reflect their 'état d'âme'
    • Suicide
      • Suicide is a prominent theme throughout the novel, we seem almost desensitised to it
      • People can only escape their oppression through suicide - dark statement about the state of society
      • Noun only escapes exploitation by the middle class by killing herself - she has been oppressed by Raymon's use of his male privilege
      • Indiana wishes to die because she is trapped in poverty after escaping the clutches of men - she cannot live apart from a society that works by abusing her and other women. Suiicde is her way of reachinf the ideal
      • Ralph is forced into suicide by depression posed upon him by toxic expectations for masculinity and childhood trauma. He is an ideal man but is suppressed and cannot live happily - he is exploited too

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