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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Voyage in the Dark, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Homesickness, Memory, and Belonging
Sexism, Love, and Power
Race and Identity
Money and Happiness
Summary
Analysis
Anna dislikes England. Compared to her home in the West Indies, it feels colorless and drab. Everything, in fact, feels different, even the emotions she experiences. She misses the vibrancy of life outside her window at home, where Black women used to carry trays on their head and sell salt fishcakes. These days, though, her upbringing in the West Indies sometimes feels like a dream—but at other times, her new life in England feels like the dream, and her memories of home feel real. Either way, she can’t seem to make the two parts of her life cohere.
It's apparent from the very beginning of Voyage in the Dark that Anna is living in a sort of limbo, or an in-between phase in which she doesn’t feel invested in her present life but also feels alienated from her past. Her homesickness seems to define her life, as she spends her time passively dreaming about the West Indies in a romanticized way, all but assuring that her daily life in England will pale in comparison.
Themes
Anna eventually gets used to London, but she still dislikes the cold. It also troubles her that every town she travels to as a chorus girl looks exactly the same. She and one of the other chorus girls, Maudie, rent a room in Southsea from a landlady who initially doesn’t want to give them a room, saying that she doesn’t rent to “professionals.” But Maudie convinces her to let them stay, though the landlady later regrets it because Anna and Maudie sleep late. Maudie comes downstairs in a nightgown one day, and the landlady yells at both of them for giving her house a “bad name.”
The landlady’s scorn for Anna and Maudie spotlights the judgment that single, working-class women often dealt with in British society in the first half of the 20th century (when the book takes place). The landlady’s comment about not renting rooms to “professionals” suggests that she would rather her tenants have some sort of family wealth, but it also possibly hints that the landlady thinks Anna and Maudie are sex workers. This suspicion is unfounded in this moment, but it will follow Anna throughout the entire novel, as she enters into highly transactional romantic relationships with wealthy older men.
Themes
Maudie is 28. Anna thinks she’s very knowledgeable about the world, noting that she’s had all sorts of experiences. From time to time, Maudie will give Anna advice, like that she should “swank” as much as possible—if Anna can learn to “swank” a bit, life will be easier for her.
In British slang, to “swank” is to show off one’s wealth or elegance. Although Maudie and Anna don’t have much money, Maudie thinks it’s important to make it seem like they do. This implies that pretending to be rich is a good way of attracting wealthy people—who, in turn, might share some of their money.
Themes
While walking on the street one day, Maudie notices two men trailing behind her and Anna. They stop and talk to the men, and then they pair up with them—Maudie starts walking with the taller one, and Anna walks with the other one, who quickly looks her up and down out of the corner of his eye. Anna and Maudie were planning to go to a store for Anna to buy some stockings, so the men accompany them, and the one walking alongside Anna pays for them.
When the man on the street glances at Anna, it becomes clear that he’s mainly interested in her because of her looks. His glance is an appraisal of sorts, as he calculates whether or not he wants to pursue her as a romantic interest. Given that he ends up buying her stockings, it’s evident that he decides that he does, in fact, want to endear himself to her. His intentions are therefore quite clear from the very beginning of their interaction, and it’s obvious that he has no problem spending money on Anna to win her affection.
Themes
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Maudie invites the men to their rooms. The tall one is hesitant to take her up on the offer and even seems a bit nervous, but the other one—the one who bought Anna the stockings—accepts the invitation and buys some port to take back with them. When they reach the apartment, the landlady doesn’t say a word, simply opening the door and staring contemptuously at them.
The fact that Maudie’s invitation makes the taller man nervous suggests that he thinks there’s something illicit about spending time with her and Anna. To that end, it's quite possible that he assumes—much like their landlady—that they are sex workers. The man interested in Anna, however, has no qualms about spending time with her, suggesting that he doesn’t mind the prospect of starting up a transactional romantic relationship.
Themes
Once inside the room, Maudie tries to make conversation, but the tall man, whose name is Mr. Jones, is very stilted and quiet. The other one, Walter Jeffries, makes up for his friend’s brusque attitude by asking Anna how old she is. When she tells him she’s 18, he admits he thought she was younger. Then Jones makes a joke about Maudie’s age, saying that women who are older than 18 always claim they’re 22, even if they’re actually much older.
Age appears to be important to Walter and his friend. More specifically, Walter is clearly interested in young women, and the fact that he thought Anna was younger than 18 and was still interested in her hints that he sees no issue being involved with a minor. There is, then, an obvious imbalance of power between them. What’s more, the rude remark Mr. Jones makes about Maudie’s age shows that he—and, by association, Walter—thinks it’s fine to insult women in a very sexist, patronizing way.
Themes
When Mr. Jones refills Anna’s glass, he touches her hand and remarks how cold and clammy it feels. Maudie jumps in and explains that Anna is always cold because she was born in a warm climate in the West Indies. All of the other chorus girls call her “the Hottentot” (a racial slur), but Mr. Jones doesn’t understand why they say that.
That the other chorus girls call Anna “the Hottentot” reveals their racist ignorance. Anna herself is white, but she was born in the West Indies, which is a predominantly Black area of the world. Because she grew up surrounded by Black culture, the British chorus girls call her “the Hottentot,” which is a racist term for the Khoekhoe people of South Africa. Of course, Anna has no connection to South Africa, so the nickname simply accentuates her fellow chorus girls’ ignorance and insensitivity—they not only use racially charged terms but do so inaccurately. Maudie’s comment thus illustrates how little anyone knows about Anna’s upbringing in the West Indies, adding to the alienation she feels in England.
Themes
Maudie tries to get the two men to talk about what they do for work, but Walter just says he works in London and that he works very hard. Mr. Jones, though, won’t say what he does. Before long, the men prepare to go, but Walter makes a point of telling Anna that he’d like to see her when the show she’s in comes near London. She gives him her stepmother, Hester’s, address and says that she’ll be in the city soon.
Mr. Jones’s unwillingness to divulge information about his life demonstrates just how uneasy he is about spending time with Maudie and Anna. He clearly wants nothing to do with them, perhaps because he thinks that embarking on a relationship with them would be taboo. Walter, however, is eager to see Anna again, ultimately suggesting that he doesn’t care about their age difference or anything else—all he wants is to seduce her.
Themes
After the men leave, Maudie talks about how rude they were. Anna agrees, saying she didn’t like them, but Maudie points out that Anna gave her address to Walter without hesitation—which, of course, Maudie approves of, since the man is obviously wealthy. She advises her young friend to go out with him again if he asks her. Then she goes on at length about an old lover of hers, Viv, and how he gave her the nice coat she now wears. She was in love with Viv for a long time. In fact, she still goes to see him sometimes when she’s in London, but she can tell he wants to end things.
Walter’s intentions with Anna are obvious: he wants to seduce her by buying her clothes (like the stockings he purchases) and taking her out to dinner. While this might seem off-putting to Anna, Maudie encourages her to indulge the transactional nature of his interest in her. She doesn’t tell Anna to go out with Walter because he’s attractive or appealing—rather, she tells her to accept his invitation because he has money, thus indicating that it can be very lucrative to get a wealthy older man’s attention. At the same time, though, the fact that Maudie talks so extensively about her own older lover, Viv, hints that she might have developed true feelings for him. In this way, simply taking advantage of a wealthy man’s passing affection comes with a certain amount of emotional risk.
Themes
Anna tunes Maudie out and thinks about her home in the West Indies, comparing it to England. She used to be excited to see snow, but now she’s unimpressed by winter in England. When she first arrived, her stepmother, Hester, told her she would get used to England even though she felt out of place. These days, Hester sends her money on occasion. Anna has also saved some money of her own, and together with the small amount Hester will send her for Christmas, she plans to rent her own place when the theater company arrives in London. She doesn’t feel like staying in the depressing hostel that all the other chorus girls stay in.
Anna’s homesickness is still quite strong, as thoughts about the West Indies manage to sneak into her everyday life. Even while talking to Maudie about a completely unrelated matter, she finds herself daydreaming about her home and upbringing. On another note, it also becomes clear in this section that Anna hopes having some money will improve her current lifestyle, since receiving cash from Hester will help her avoid the depressing hostel she’ll otherwise have to stay in.
Themes
Anna gets in touch with Walter when she reaches London. Maudie and Laurie—who does Anna’s makeup—tell her what to say to him in her letter, insisting that she say she’s busy when he asks her to dinner. She follows their advice and then agrees to meet him on a different date.
Maudie and Laurie’s advice suggests that they’re experienced when it comes to dealing with wealthy older men. They urge Anna not to seem too available, thus giving Walter an extra incentive to court her. Simply put, he’ll probably be more willing to spend money on her if he isn’t sure whether or not she likes him—which, of course, would be a legitimate concern for him to have, since Anna doesn’t actually seem to like him all that much yet.
Themes
