"A World of Their Own": Subversion of gender expectations in Conrad's plays

Papers on Language and Literature, Winter 2001 by Wheatley, Alison E

As the play opens, Anne has just been found at a hotel in perhaps Singapore by an old friend, the morally upright Captain Davidson, who knew her in earlier days when she was the "girl" of Harry the Pearler, who has since dumped her and died. In the meantime, she apparently has taken up with one man after another, because, as she asks rhetorically, "What was I to do?" ( 11 ).2Anne's serial relationships have had several consequences, involving both her young son Tony and her self-esteem. Of her role in her relationships, she boasts:

You know I have always stuck to my men through thick and thin, till they had enough of me. And now look at what's left of me. But inside I am what I always was. I have acted on the square to them, one after another. I was a pal worth having. But men do get tired of one. They don't understand women. (14-15)

Anne has not had many options of roles, but the manner in which she fulfilled each role has been intentional and by all accounts admirable. Her self analysis contains at least three striking features. First, Anne is aware of the difference between her outer appearance and inner reality: in the eyes of men, she is a has-been, no longer an attractive prize; they see her as a perishable commodity and she's been used up-there's not much left of her now. But she also is proud that her inner self is as true and unchanged as ever. Second, part of that inner self involves appropriating what it means to be a woman. Refusing to concede to men their version of the female, she is proud that she has been loyal, a "pal worth having." These are ideal human traits, if anything typically associated with male companions rather than heterosexual partners. That she also has "acted on the square" suggests an honesty and forthrightness inconsistent with the image of a "painted woman" she portrays as her past. So even as the men in her life were pleased only by the paint, until it would begin to wear thin, her narrative of her own life has told an alternate story of a faithful and honest friend. Third, even as she reframes for herself what it can mean to be a woman, she concedes that she is unlikely to change the minds of the men around her: she accepts that "They don't understand women."24 Nonetheless, Anne not only acts according to her values concerning women, but also tries to pass them on to the next generation. Since her son entered her life, she has chosen companions who would care for him, but also about him, currently Bamtz, who "seems real fond of him" (12). One of her goals in living out on an island with Bamtz is that "the boy needn't ever know that his mother was a painted woman" (12).

Several of the men expect her to play roles, including the evil Man Without Hands (abbreviated "M.W.H." in manuscript), who upon first meeting her slimily puts his arm over her shoulder, his stump against her cheek,jeering "You'll be friends with me. A helpless, miserable cripple longing for a companion to take care of him . always" (21). At Anne and Bamtz's cabin, where the Man Without Hands and his other thug friends have come to rob Davidson, whose boat is carrying thousands of dollars, the M.W.H. carries through his assumption that she will help him by having her tie a weight onto his stump to use as a weapon to betray not only Davidson but also his fellow would-be thieves. Although Anne does his bidding, she also secretly alerts her old friend Davidson, thus foiling the plot to rob and kill him. She becomes a "pal" to Davidson, ultimately sacrificing herself for her friend. This revision of female scripts has her playing the role of ideal friend, motivated by neither romantic nor family ties. Killed by the Man Without Hands, once he discovers her socalled betrayal of him, Anne's final words, "Never mind me. The kid. Get the kid out, Davy" (33), are her legacy. The play ends with Davidson vowing that "your boy shall have his chance" (34). Thus not only has she saved the life of her friend Davidson (who does then, satisfyingly, kill the Man Without Hands), but she has guaranteed protection of her son by the only morally responsible male in her acquaintance.