On the back of the copy of Voyage in the Dark that I have, one critic says "...so remote from mainstream idiom of English social fiction that it seems miraculous that they should be able to write like that and be British too. Jean Rhys is such a writer."

This in particular stood out to me because I could not agree more. Thus far, we have not experienced a character that has grown up in a colony and moved to England, only to face their demise. However, in Rhys' novel, that is exactly what we get. The title of the novel, Voyage in the Dark, to me, seems very reminiscent of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness that we read earlier in the semester. However, instead of traveling from England to the dark and savagely described colonies, Anna Morgan travels through darkness and despair in England. The colonies in the West Indies where she grew up are described in a light and innocent way while England is described in a foreign and depressing way.

Anna's character represents the tension in the relationship between wanting to be integrated into modern, English society and wanting to maintain ones own identity. Anna is clearly caught between two worlds: finding herself isolation emotionally and socially from those around her, making it difficult for her to reconcile her heritage in both the West Indies and England. The way the novel is narrated, through first person, bring together both the past and the present in Anna's world. In addition, Anna's interior thoughts and narration convey a sort of dreamlike stream, which both detaches and destabilizes the narrative. In turn, putting an emphasis on Anna's detachment from English society.