Re:Finding your Voice

My favorite story from Kissing the Witch, by Emma Donaghue is “The Tale of the Voice.” I loved this version of The Little Mermaid because of the way her relationship with her man played out…. It even kind of answers the question of the situations some women are in today (specifically in college dating culture). The girl gives away her beautiful voice to the witch so that she can get into the arms of her crush, although she doesn’t fully possess his heart the way he possesses hers. The two are bound together for the rest of their lives, but she can’t speak and they only connect in physical ways. The girl kind of gets what she wants but it’s at the sake of her pride and self respect.

Now when I say this relates to women today in the college dating culture I want to add that both men and women can be on either side of this type of relationship. In this case, the girl loses her voice to keep this empty, lusty, halfway-love  with this guy she thought was the one. In return she cannot voice her opinions about her wanting to marry him and be committed to him for the rest of her life. The guy doesn’t know this, clearly he is just thinking about the sex they share so in return he uses her body every night without ever seeking anything deeper. He knows she’ll be there for him every night and he takes advantage of that. The girl feels stuck because she sees this extravagant potential for romantic love and is shut down due to his purely physical pursuits, “After awhile I would have liked to ask when we were going to be married. My eyes put the question, but all he did was kiss them shut. That was the first time I felt the loss of my voice” (197-198). Ugh! That quote breaks my heart. I’m glad she left him and got her voice back. In the end, she finds her happiness apart from him through her heartbreaking experience and I think this is something many can relate to.

The book is called Kissing the Witch because that girl in the last story kisses the witch… Right?