An autobiographical novel about leaving home and encountering a world of sexism and sexuality, Voyage in the Dark (1934) was Jean Rhys's third novel. Jean Rhys (1890-1979) was born in Dominica in the Caribbean and moved to London at the age of 16. After struggling as a chorus girl, living in near poverty, coping with alcoholism, and recovering from a botched abortion, Rhys turned to writing to help her work through her trauma. Many of the themes and events in Voyage in the Dark were inspired by Rhys's own life experiences.
Voyage in the Dark: a Novel by Jean Rhys
Voyage in the Dark was written by Jean Rhys in 1934. It is her third novel and is often considered her most autobiographical work. Like the protagonist of Voyage in the Dark, Rhys grew up in the West Indies (the island of Dominica) and moved to London when she was a teenager. Largely estranged from her family, Rhys worked as a chorus girl traveling from city to city.
Like Anna, Rhys struggled financially and became a wealthy man's mistress for money. He supported and helped Rhys out of near poverty. Rhys's lover paid for her abortion when she found out that she was pregnant with a baby she couldn't support. The abortion was nearly-fatal, and Rhys turned to writing to help her through the trauma.
Voyage in the Dark Summary
Voyage in the Dark is narrated by 18-year-old Anna Morgan, who moves to London from the West Indies following her father's death. Anna travels with a theater troupe, working as a chorus girl with her friends Maudie and Laurie. When Maudie and Anna go shopping one day, they meet two older gentlemen. Anna is hesitant to get in a relationship with Walter, who is twice her age, but Maudie urges her to go out with him.
Anna goes on a date with Walter, but pretends she is uninterested at first. After their date ends, he sends he an envelope with money, which she uses to buy a new coat. Anna loses her virginity to Walter, and he continues to support her financially, even paying for a boardinghouse. Walter introduces Anna to his cousin, Vincent, who tells her he can help her with her acting career.
Fig. 1 - Walter gives Anna money after sex, giving her financial stability for the first time since she moved to England.
Anna's stepmother, Hester, visits and urges Anna to return to the West Indies. Hester says she and Anna's uncle, Bo, can no longer support her. Anna says she doesn't need Hester's support. The two part ways on bad terms.
Anna and Walter go on an excursion with Vincent and the girl he's been seeing. Anna learns that Vincent and Walter are going to New York for a long stay, and she's upset that Walter didn't tell her before. While Walter is away, Anna receives a letter from Vincent, telling her Walter no longer wants to be with her. The letter states Walter will still support her financially for a time. Anna moves out of the boardinghouse immediately so that he is unable to contact her.
Anna moves into a rundown boardinghouse, where she meets Ethel, who runs a manicure and massage business out of her flat. Anna starts working as Ethel's manicurist, and men come in all the time hoping to have sex. Anna begins casually seeing several men and finds out she is pregnant. Fearing that the pregnancy will be bad for her business, Ethel kicks her out.
With no one else to turn to, Anna writes to Walter asking if he will pay for her to have an abortion. Although part of her wants the baby, she knows she can't take care of it. Vincent helps Anna, but the abortion goes horribly. Anna almost dies and drifts in and out of consciousness. A doctor visits and says that she will recover and be able to return to her life all over again.
Voyage in the Dark Characters
Below are the main characters in the novel.
Anna Morgan
The narrator of the novel, Anna, is a young woman who struggles in England after moving from the West Indies. She thinks England is cold and depressing and finds herself struggling financially. She works as a chorus girl and eventually loses her virginity to a much older man, who gives her money after sex. Walter supports Anna financially, but she gets depressed when he ends the relationship. She begins having sex with other men and has an abortion when she discovers she's pregnant.
Fig. 2 - Anna struggles in England after leaving the bright, vibrant world of the West Indies.
Walter Jeffries
Walter Jeffries, a wealthy, middle-aged man, is Anna's main love interest. He pursues her after meeting her on the street. Anna becomes financially and emotionally dependent on Walter, who buys her nice things and takes care of her when she's sick. Walter is only interested in Anna for her youth and appearance, and he has his cousin end things with Anna through a letter. Walter pays for Anna's abortion.
Maudie
Maudie is Anna's older friend from the traveling theater troupe. She encourages Anna to pursue a relationship with Walter because she has dated wealthy men in the past and gotten money from them. She also warns Anna not to fall in love with Walter because he will most likely leave her when he gets bored.
Laurie
Like Maudie, Laurie is an older friend who worked with Anna. Laurie is more sexually promiscuous, and it is heavily implied that she is a sex worker. She attempts to set Anna up with Carl and Joe, two men at her house, but Anna becomes agitated. Laurie tells Anna to take as much of Walter's money as she can.
Ethel Matthews
Ethel Matthews befriends Anna while they're both living in a rundown boardinghouse. Ethel states that her flat is nice, and she's only living in the boardinghouse while her home is being renovated. She was trained as a nurse but now runs a massage parlor out of her home. When Anna visits Ethel at her flat, Ethel convinces her to rent a room from her. Anna also agrees to work as a manicurist for her business, and it is implied that Ethel subtly encourages her to engage in sex work to make more money. Ethel kicks Anna out of the flat when she discovers she's pregnant.
Vincent
Walter's cousin, Vincent, is the middle man between Anna and Walter after their relationship ends. Vincent writes to Anna on Walter's behalf. He acts as though he wants the best for Anna, although he really wants to minimize damage to Walter's reputation. Vincent gives Anna the money she needs for the abortion.
Hester
Anna's stepmother, Hester was raised in England and only moved to the West Indies when she married Anna's father. Hester is racist and judgmental. She resents having to financially support Anna after Anna's father dies, although Hester kept all the money from selling the family estate.
Uncle Bo
Uncle Bo is Anna's uncle from the West Indies. He and Hester do not get along. Uncle Bo refuses to pay for Anna's move back to the West Indies, stating she is not his financial responsibility. He tells Hester she should be able to afford Anna's move back home since she just sold the family estate.
Voyage in the Dark Themes
The main themes in the novel are money and happiness, gender and power, and identity and the Other.
Money and Happiness
Anna and many of her friends struggle with money. As women, there are fewer opportunities for them to support themselves in the patriarchal society. Anna does not know financial security as an unmarried woman working as a chorus girl. This instability keeps her from truly experiencing happiness, and her life in England seems dull and monotonous. Part of why she becomes so attached to Walter is the security he provides with his financial assistance. She can buy expensive clothes, take trips, and even move into a nicer boarding home. Anna isn't necessarily a materialistic person, but she finds happiness when she experiences stability and more than the bare minimum.
Money and happiness go hand in hand throughout the novel because having money allows the women to experience life more fully. They have sex with wealthy men for money because they cannot make enough on their own. Although the women are every bit as ambitious and hardworking as the men, they will always be seen as socially inferior. The one thing they are able to offer these powerful men is sex in exchange for money and, indirectly, happiness.
Gender and Power
Men have the majority of the power in the novel. They are elevated financially as well as socially in their patriarchal society. Many of the women rely on their relationships with men in order to make a comfortable living. Sex is one of the few instances in which they have power over men because they control what the men want. Laurie, for example, is able to get dinner and money out of the men she sleeps with. Although they rank higher than her socially, she is able to control them.
The disparity inherent in gender and power is especially apparent in Anna's relationship with Walter. When they first meet, everything is on her terms. Walter sends her money before the two have sex because Anna holds the power. Over time, though, he becomes increasingly uninterested and eventually cuts her out of his life. When Walter ends things with Anna, he regains complete control of their relationship. He no longer contacts her directly, instead using Vincent as the middleman.
Walter also demands that Anna return the letters he wrote to her in order for him to help her. Why might he do that? What does that say about the power dynamics in the novel?
Identity and the Other
Anna experiences social isolation throughout the novel because she is an outsider who does not fit perfectly into English society. Anna misses the West Indies and thinks life in England is dull, monotonous, and exhausting. She says,
It was as if a curtain had fallen, hiding everything I had ever known. It was almost like being born again. The colours were different, the smells different, the feeling things gave you right down inside yourself was different. Not just the difference between heat, cold: light, darkness; purple, grey. But a difference in the way I was frightened and the way I was happy." (Part One, Chapter One)
Alone, without any family to support her, Anna has to navigate a very different world from the one she was accustomed to in her beloved West Indies. Even though she is white, Anna grew up in a predominately Black culture in the Caribbean. As a result, she feels more connected with Black culture than she does European culture. In England, Anna is ostracized for not behaving entirely like a European. Although England grows on her over time, she never feels fully comfortable in the city because her childhood in the West Indies separates her as the Other.
Fig. 3 - Anna experiences intense social isolation because of her identity as Other.
Voyage in the Dark Quotes
The most important quotes in Voyage in the Dark examine the themes of money and happiness, gender and power, and identity and the Other. Below are a few excerpts from the novel.
I took the money from under my pillow and put it into my handbag. I was accustomed to it already. It was as if I had always had it. Money ought to be everybody’s. It ought to be like water. You can tell that because you get accustomed to it so quickly." (Part 1, Chapter 2)
Anna says this after Walter has given her money following sex. Although Anna falls in love with Walter, for him, it is mostly a transactional relationship. Though Anna is not a sex worker, Walter gives her money every time they have sex and ensures she is financially cared for. This presents the power dynamics between men and women in the novel, which are expanded upon throughout the novel.
Most importantly, this quote depicts Anna's relationship with money. She has struggled since moving to London, barely getting by on her paycheck as a chorus girl. Although she works hard to support herself, she will never make enough money to be comfortable. The only jobs available for women of her social class don't pay enough to get by, so many women, like Laurie, Maudie, and later Anna, turn to sex work in order to support themselves.
A woman—Anna's stepmother—keeps all the money from selling the family estate after Anna's father dies. How does that affect the themes of money and power within the novel?
Fig. 4 - The women in the novel turn to sex work in order to alleviate their financial struggles.
‘D’you know,’ she said, ‘I never pay for a meal for myself—it’s the rarest thing. For instance, these two—I said to them quite casually, like that, ‘When you come over to London, let me know. I’ll show you round a bit,’ and if you please about three weeks ago they turned up. I’ve been showing them round, I can tell you….I get along with men. I can do what I like with them. Sometimes I’m surprised myself. I expect it’s because they feel I really like it and no kidding. […]’ (Part 2, Chapter 2)
Laurie says this to Anna as she is discussing her relationship with two Americans, who presumably pay her for sex. It is implied that Laurie thinks Anna should do the same thing in order to make money and support herself. When Anna moves in with Ethel later, she also suggests that Anna should entice wealthy men for money. Anna unintentionally did have this sort of transactional relationship with Walter, as he would slip money in her purse each time they slept together. Money is a powerful force in the novel: the women generally struggle to support themselves, and the men have all the wealth.
This also relates to the disparate power dynamics between males and females. In society, the men have the power because they control the wealth. The women, however, often use sex as a form of control over the men. Laurie says she never pays for a meal, and can do what she wants with the men because they are under her control, even while the men are in a superior, more secure social position.
‘Poor little Anna,’ making his voice very kind. ‘I’m damned sorry you’ve been having a bad time.’ Making his voice very kind, but the look in his eyes was like a high, smooth, unclimbable wall. No communication possible. You have to be three-quarters mad even to attempt it.
‘You’ll be all right. And then you must pull yourself together and try to forget about the whole business and start fresh. Just make up your mind, and you’ll forget all about it.’" (Part 3, Chapter 6)
Vincent says this to Anna when she asks him for money for an abortion. She and Walter have long since broken up, and she tells Vincent the baby isn't Walter's. Vincent's condescension underscores the power he feels he has over Anna. Although he talks as though he is sympathetic and caring, he doesn't actually connect with her. Instead, he maintains his power and control by his distance from the situation.
Both Anna and Vincent know that she needs Walter's money in order to have the abortion. Without the money for the procedure, Anna will have to raise a child she knows she cannot support. Her lack of money is inherently tied to her social status and gender, as her job options are limited, and there's little chance for her to advance socially. She will always be reliant on a man's money in order to feel a comfortable level of security.
It is also important to note that Vincent is acting as the buffer between Walter and Anna. As soon as the two broke up, Walter no longer needed to see Anna. He is able to use Vincent as his only method of communication. And Anna can't demand to see Walter himself because of her social inferiority, which keeps her submissive to Walter even after their relationship ends.
Voyage in the Dark Analysis
Though Rhys's own life deeply influenced Voyage in the Dark, it examines many universal themes that are still apparent in society today. Each of the work's central themes is interconnected and speaks to the issues women and foreigners still face in society. Although society in the 21st century has come a long way since Rhys's 1934 novel, the patriarchy still gives men an advantage over women, and Western society still has systems in place that ensure white privilege.
Money is still disproportionately in the hands of wealthy, white men, while women and minorities encounter more obstacles to gaining wealth and supporting themselves. And issues of bodily autonomy and a woman's ability to have an abortion are still being debated almost a century later.
Voyage in the Dark doesn't offer a solution to any of these issues, nor does the ending offer any hope for a better future. In the final section of the novel, the doctor who sees Anna while she is delirious after her botched abortion says, "You girls are too naïve to live, aren’t you?” (Part Four, Chapter One). He also says that she will be ready to “start all over again” (Part Four, Chapter One), implying that she will have to return to the exact same life that has mistreated her at every turn. With the ambivalent ending of Anna returning to her tragic life, the novel challenges society to give women, who deserve much more than what has been offered to them, a chance at a better life.
Voyage in the Dark - Key takeaways
- Voyage in the Dark was written by Jean Rhys in 1934.
- It is largely an autobiographical novel based on Rhys' childhood in the West Indies and her move to London.
- The protagonist is Anna, an 18-year-old who struggles with social isolation, her identity as an outsider, her relationship with men who are socially superior, and supporting herself financially so she can experience stability.
- The novel examines themes of money and happiness, gender and power, and identity and the Other.
- Voyage in the Dark ends ambivalently, with Anna recovering from a botched abortion and having to return to the same life that she resents.
Explanations 
Exams 
Magazine 
