Hotel du Lac - Social Pressure - Lost Lonely Women
Exiled to A Swiss hotel by a lake. Image by Ted Drake |
Anita Brookner's Booker Prize winning novel, Hotel du Lac, reveals how a woman's mental and physical space are limited so as to conform to societal norms.
In Anita Brookner’s novel, Hotel du Lac, 1993, the friends of the protagonist, Edith Hope, a romantic novelist, have exiled her to a Swiss hotel so she can reflect on her ‘misdeeds.’ Considering her apparent 'rebellious' nature, how and why does Edith fit into her new environment?
Hotel du Lac Guests are Lonely Women
Hotel du Lac’s “recommended” visitors (23), the majority being displaced women, only enhance the hotel’s sombre, out-of-season atmosphere. Edith’s acquaintances at the hotel deem her an appropriate guest for this micro-society, since she “will live up to [its] standards” (15). Edith fits in nicely since she meets these 'standards' through her portrayal of modesty and conformity and her “extremely correct” appearance (10) and the fact that she professes to be “a householder, a ratepayer, a good plain cook, and a deliverer of typescripts well before the deadline” (8).
Edith - a Dim Accomplished Writer
Although Edith seemingly conforms to the narrow expectations of Hotel du Lac's patrons, she is an accomplished writer. Nevertheless, she defines herself as “dim, . . . trusting” (9), “meek,” and “at fault” (146); such self-descriptions emphasise her propensity for self-blame. Besides her own lack of self-praise, Rivers, Barnett, and Baruch in their book Beyond Sugar and Spice: How Women Grow Learn & Thrive, 1983, note that mythology depicts the single, childless woman as “unhappy,” “unnatural,” and “personally flawed” - “a sorry figure” (276). Therefore it seems that society chooses to delineate Edith and diminish her presence for despite her achievements, she is anonymously referred to as “a professor’s daughter” (28), implying that she exists only in relation to her father.
Clara Shaw Schuster and Shirley Smith Ashburn, in their book, The Process of Human Development: A Holistic Life-Span Approach, 1992, refer to Erik Erikson’s stages of development. Erikson theorised that the stage of late adolescence and early adulthood involves identity formation. Erikson, however, questioned how women form their identity as for many of them this period is devoted to finding a husband and raising children (Shaw Shuster 887).
Edith’s failure to be acknowledged in her own right supports Erikson’s claim that women resolve their identity crisis when they find a suitable partner. Lacking in self-esteem and a victim of societal stereotyping, Edith strengthens this theory when on her wedding day she considers herself “grown-up . . . at last” (126). However, through marriage would Edith progress in her development or would she become a wife and still not reach her final level of development.
Edith's Lack of Self Stems from Childhood
Beside Edith’s apparent self-disapproval and need to observe rules, her absence of spontaneity not only confirms her appropriateness as a patron of Hotel du Lac but also suggests her lack of confidence and self-esteem. Abraham Maslow, the founder of humanistic psychology, mentioned in Juanita Williams’ book Psychology of Women-Behaviour in a Biosocial Context, 1987, studied people who had succeeded in developing their basic inner natures to their fullest expression as opposed to those with “pathologies, weaknesses and negativisms” (Williams 460). Maslow believed that a person’s environment influences their development. On this basis, Maslow's theories suggest that most of Edith’s negative traits and willingness to acknowledge her rights to claim space in society are a consequence of childhood influences.
Sources:
- Rivers, Caryl, Rosalind Barnett, and Grace Baruch. Beyond Sugar and Spice: How Women Grow Learn & Thrive. Ballantine Books, New York: 1983.
- Shaw Schuster, Clara and Smith Ashburn, Shirley. The Process of Human Development: A Holistic Life-Span Approach, Lippincott co., Philadelphia: 1992.
- Williams, Juanita, Psychology of Women-Behaviour in a Biosocial Context, 3rd ed. W.W., Norton New York: 1987.
Copyright Lesley Lanir. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
Mar 2, 2011 Lesley Lanir
Mar 2, 2011 Lesley Lanir
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