The 19th century is a period marked in history due to myriads of changes that transpired. The world experienced tremendous changes from the agrarian to an industrialized society, which threatened the existence of prior systems and values. The industrialized world changed the social and cultural structure of the society. Moreover, the society needed a tool that would best express the sociocultural and philosophical concerns of the day. Literature came in handy as an artistic medium to air such issues of the day, and at the same time to change people’s view on certain issues due to the introduction of lifestyles associated with realism, romanticism from earlier in the century and naturalism. Literature is the mirror of the society; hence authors used it as a tool to create awareness to issues in the society. In the 19th century, the society was changing from a patriarchal society to a class oriented society. Intermarriages and interaction of people compromised culture. Society and culture therefore, greatly influenced the development of characters in books. Tragedy as a form of writing was greatly affected by the society, and cultural stakes through the inspiration of books such as, Strindberg’s Miss Julie, and Jean Rhys’ the Voyage in the Dark arising. Miss Julie addresses the issue of a change in the patriarchal order dictated by politics as brought out by Miss Julie’s daughter and Jean (Göran 39). Voyage in the Dark, on the other hand, addresses the role of culture in self-destruction. The main character in Voyage in the Dark, Anna Morgan, is belongs to two cultures due to her white father, former slave owner and a Creole mother. This essay, therefore, discusses how the cultural and social conditions could be a stumbling block in a person’s happiness.
Cultural identity is the need to belong to a certain nationality, ethnicity location religion and locality. Culture influences in life often include; dressing, language, behavior and beliefs of people in a given society. When an individual is caught up in more than one cultural heritage, conflict often do arise. By following one’s culture, an individual may be unknowingly breaking another person’s culture. In Voyage in the Dark, Anna Morgan is attracted to the Caribbean culture, yet her stepmother Hester does not approve of her not behaving according to her England culture (Harald 24). Anna seems to think about the Caribbean culture as perfect, because she considers it as naturally beautiful, and tends to identify herself with its people. Because of her skin color, she cannot be accepted as one of the Caribbean; she becomes friends with one of their servant Francine, who later tells her about the naturalistic nature of menstruation. However, the British traditional predisposition stipulates that menses are curses that females must feel embarrassed whenever they occur. Hester act as cultural reservoir who believes that culture should not change, she tries to instill the dressing’s mode of traditional England culture to Anna (Harald 28). Besides, she inflicts upon Anna a talkative nature, and spurs on her a contingent of England traditional norms, but Anna would not confide. Anna is trying to create her cultural identity by rebelling against the England culture. Jean Rhys enumerates that cultural confusion between what one is and what one wants to be can be dangerous. Anna’s downfall is due to her not being given a chance to integrate the two cultures peacefully. Strindberg finished writing Miss Julie in the late 19th century; a time when the conflicts in society were at their peak. Strindberg wrote about a naturalistic tragedy, and at the same time employed some concepts of realism in it. Strindberg developed his characters as being acted upon by outside forces, which were the society at large. He made his tragedy as a small part of the society while giving a general representation, but at the same time concealing some concepts of realism so as to bring about the representation of time and characters as evolving and conditioned by time (Göran 43). The play is written at a time when the rules of the Swedish government were made by the concept of the father being the head of the family, hence the master and his children would look up to him for the provision of the daily bread. This concept would be reservedly applied on master as the head, and had control over his servants and children. In Miss Julie Jean, there is a servant whose character as developed by this concept, was to be submissive to his master, the count. However, when the servant drinks the count’s wine and is found out, he reverse the rule and says that as a servant of the house he views himself as special just like the son of the house. The patriarchal society in the 19th-century also dictated that a noble person like Miss Julie should perform a social role as mistress, and Jean a servant, should perform a role according to his servanthood. It is during the manifestation of their social role that they breach the patriarchal order. Miss Julie goes to bed with Jean, his mistress, and later allows him to just call her Julie (Göran 48). Strindberg has employed a concept of naturalism by allowing characters to have free will and not to be dictated by the society. Tragedy comes in as Julie commits suicide after realizing here atrocious violation of the patriarchal order. Julie was portrayed as a tragic heroine, and an unfortunate individual in the patriarchal society, but her death was a way of redeeming herself after her breaking of a sacred order. Patriarchy in the 19th century was a system of law and a natural order which affected the character development of members in Strindberg's play, that no matter how they tried to exercise free will, they would end up following the orders of the society
Culture and social norms can be disastrous in self-realization, if not handled carefully. In most cases, people need to rebel to find their happiness from their culture. Strindberg and Rhys show how one’s culture and social norms would lead to an individual’s self-destruction when they become rigid and nonaccommodative. Just like the society is a dynamic culture, social norm should also change to accommodate members of the society. Social and cultural rigidity does not provide a chance for redemption for the main characters in the drama Miss Julie and the novel Voyage in The Dark as the stories end on tragic note to the main characters.
Works cited
Göran Stockenström The Dilemma of Naturalistic Tragedy: Strindberg's "Miss Julie"(Spring 2004). Comparative Drama
Harald Loendorf . Two Tunes: Jean Rhys' Voyage in the Dark Caribbean Quarterly, Vol 46, No. 1 (March 2000), University of the West Indies Caribbean Quarterly http://www.jstor.org/stable/40654111 Accessed: 22-03-2016 18:45 UTC
