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The modernist writing of Empire appears to encapsulate an obsession with sexuality; a preoccupation which is utilized in conveying broader social commentary relating to topics such as sexual violence, objectification and the breakdown of binary gender roles, particularly in relation to maternity, domesticity, and the degeneration of associated colonial values. This paper will explore the obsession with sexuality evident in Jean Rhys’s Voyage in the Dark by Jean Rhys, and Katherine Mansfield’s ‘The Woman at the Store’, discussing the function of domesticity, reproduction and motherhood within an imperial apparatus, as well as the significance of sexuality and the absence of domesticity as a form of perceived degeneration within a colonial context. The unique position of the white settler, or the Creole woman within colonial ideals of domesticity is also explored within this analysis, as well as the portrayal of sexual violence as a form of social injustice. Finally, this paper will examine the theme of sexuality in association with the colonial landscape, discussing the body and sexuality as a manifestation of settler Gothic, and consider the role each text plays in obscuring the dichotomous stereotyping of the virtuous, sexually constrained white settler woman versus the sexually licentious, degenerate indigenous woman.
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