Department of English, University of Louisville
Phone: (502)852-6770 or (502)852-6801. Fax: (502)852-4182.
I think her silence as a metaphor of oppression or abuse stops short at a "vict
im psychology" reading of the Hunter character. I think her silence is a respon
se to her situation, not just a consequence. It's an act of resistance, and it
contributes a good deal to her power over the men, as she refuses in this way t
o respond to her society's "hailing" of her as a subject, and as she controls h
er own desire more fully than she would if she answered to the men's various en
treaties, orders, etc. She's an oppressed character, but also quite a powerful
one, and her silence is key to both things, within a social context in which op
tions for resistance are limited.
 
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Thomas B. Byers
Department of English/University of Louisville
Louisville KY 40292