Fowles Introduction 2

Fowles Introduction Continued...

Aside from being an historical critique, Fowles’ novel is also a philosophical contemplation of the existential state of humankind. Fowles employs the postmodern tactic of relinquishing the omniscient power to determine the fates of his characters. Fowles offers at least three possible conclusions, each one seeming as plausible as the others. Before Charles goes to Exeter to consummate his passion for Sarah, Fowles presents the possibility that he bridles this reckless desire and returns to Ernestina. Charles has been entrenched in Victorian culture his entire life, and thus it would make sense that his engrained values would dominate his new-found conviction at the last moment. If Charles does decide against pursuing Sarah, he will marry Ernestina, have a family, and live out the complacent existence of a Victorian gentleman. After considering the possibility that Charles never acts upon his desire for Sarah, Fowles continues his novel under the assumption that Charles does in fact go to Exeter. Charles has sex with Sarah, returns to Lyme to break off his engagement to Ernestina, and then goes back to Exeter to discover that Sarah has fled without leaving any information about where she has gone. Charles searches in vain for Sarah, eventually moves to the United States because there is no longer any place for him within his old society, and finally learns of Sarah’s whereabouts after several years have passed. Charles goes to London, where Sarah is living, and again two possible outcomes are given. In the first outcome, Charles discovers that he and Sarah begot a daughter during their one sexual encounter in Exeter. Charles’ courageous abandonment of inhibition has created a beautiful child; his choice to truly live has in turn created life. The second outcome, however, is not as poetically fated. Sarah has no revelatory truths to reveal to Charles; she merely tells him that she is incapable of being his spouse, and Charles leaves Sarah for the final time, realizing that she is not that transcendent figure for him after all. In offering numerous possible conclusions, Folwes conveys his existential beliefs. Fowles does not believe in a teleological force governing the fates of humans; he thinks that no matter how much independent will people may exert, they are still susceptible to the random nature of the world. Given Charles’ passionate feelings for Sarah and his reticence to deviate from convention, his choice to pursue Sarah seems equally likely as his returning to Ernestina. If Charles does forsake his old life for his love of Sarah, it is certainly possible he will discover that Sarah is not the ultimate answer but rather another wrongfully conceived representation of truth.

Why does John Fowles choose Lyme Regis as the primary setting of a novel in which the protagonist realizes the disparity between his own desires and the social mores of his culture? It is because a provincial town such as Lyme allows no room for anonymity whatsoever. In a bustling big city like London, Charles could have engaged in an affair with Sarah while still maintaining his image of a proper gentleman. In Victorian England, people were judged only by how they appeared on the surface level. Therefore, one had to be especially scrupulous about preserving an unblemished reputation while under the vigilant eyes of a small town’s citizens. For Charles, to confront his desires in the town of Lyme Regis means an outright renunciation of the Victorian way of life. To seek the appeasement of desire in anonymity is to acknowledge and perpetuate convention, but to do so while being watched is to openly decry it. Fowles’ choice of Lyme Regis as the primary setting of his novel makes Charles act of defiance more blatant and deliberate, and signifies a true assertion of independence by Charles from the stifling dictates of Victorian society. When I visited Lyme Regis, I too felt the very distinct sensation of being watched. The town of Lyme abounds in natural beauty, which I personally experienced as I strolled the quay and looked out onto the ocean, hearing the continuous sound of waves rushing up against the rocks on the beach. However, as night descended an eerie feeling of desolation seemed to pervade the entire town. It seemed as if all inhabitants abruptly vacated the streets upon nightfall, leaving me in solitude, vexed by the inscrutable sense of being watched by a collective eye of the town. Whenever I would pass a person, we inevitably took explicit notice of each other. Lyme certainly did not feel like a place where I would commit an act that I did not want others to see. I felt as though any action I performed there had to be resolute and deliberate, and if it was an action that would elicit contempt from the townspeople, I would have to be wholly assured of its rightness. John Fowles himself lived in Lyme from 1968 until his death in 2005, which may initially be deemed odd given his seemingly antagonistic relationship with the town. However, perhaps Fowles thrived in a place that made him feel like he was constantly being watched and judged. Perhaps Fowles, like his character Charles, felt a heightened awareness of his own convictions while in the provincial town of Lyme Regis.