Homesickness, Memory, and Belonging
Voyage in the Dark is a portrait of the loneliness and disorientation of leaving home. Anna Morgan experiences intense social isolation after moving to England from her home in the West Indies. Living in England makes her feel like everything in her life is new, but she doesn’t see this transformation as positive or rewarding. To the contrary, she feels as if a “curtain ha[s] fallen” over her life, suggesting that she doesn’t see her…
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Sexism, Love, and Power
Voyage in the Dark features many sexist, transactional relationships between wealthy men and younger women. The novel tacitly criticizes men who treat women as if their only purpose is to provide fleeting moments of pleasure, but it also suggests that the women in these toxic relationships can still develop real romantic feelings—or, at the very least, feelings that seem real. Anna, for instance, becomes enamored of Walter, an older man who initially uses…
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Race and Identity
Anna Morgan’s cultural identity in Voyage in the Dark is hard to define. In some ways, her social positioning seems straightforward: she is, after all, a white woman living in England. However, she doesn’t identify with British culture, nor does she feel connected to her own whiteness. Having grown up in the West Indies, she doesn’t relate to British ways of life, finding everything in England drab, monotonous, and overly modest. She’s also unaccustomed…
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Money and Happiness
The majority of the characters in Voyage in the Dark view money as a path to happiness and satisfaction. Laurie and Maudie, for instance, focus most of their energy on finding men who will be able to give them a measure of financial security. Even Anna—who seems rather skeptical of this practice—recognizes the transformative effect money has on her life, noticing that she sounds more confident and assertive after her lover Walter gives…
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