“Monkey Grip is an unconscious piece of work … based on a diary and that is why it has that sort of broken up structure” – Helen Garner
The title of the novel – ‘Monkey Grip’ – refers to the way in which the two leading characters in the novel hold onto each other, they hold together when you try to separate them or when one of them wants to leave
Themes and Issues
The novel is a criticism of society, an advocate for feminism and about being a writer.
The book has several layers of meaning. The book’s success at the time it was printed was due to the fact Garner had tried to grapple with cultural norms that had not been accepted before. It was a very challenging novel and it was definitely not traditional.
The novel explored “the entrapment of women in domesticity and the attraction of a romantic love that is deeply internalized” (Higgins and Matthews, 1979)
Some have said it is a confessional diary which is valid as a novel (it is seen as a novel and a diary).
The conflict in the novel exists on many different levels. There is conflict in Nora, the main character, who tries to understand the patterns of her own behaviour and accepts herself. She accepts that which can’t be changed and realises why things cannot change. She sees the reality of the situation.
Nora wants love and she wants to be loved. She knows Javo (the lead male character and the object of her desire) uses her and makes no contribution to the running of the household. Javo steals and always expects freebies. He is a product of the welfare system. He is a junkie and his habit leaves him with no money. Nora does not condemn him because to do so would be to reinforce the traditional female stereotype she has tried to shed. She does not want to be the conscience of the world or a stereotype anymore. She has to accept Javo for what he is and she tries to love him for what he is.
There is the issue in the novel of women trying to make new patterns, to create new ways of dealing with romantic love, sex, children, domesticity and other women.
For Garner, romanticism has to be reconsidered. Here they have ‘sex’ instead of making ‘love’. The language in the novel is often used to attack the conventions of love and sex. The language also pushed against stereotypes and traditional smoothness.
The affair between Nora and Javo represents two people touching each other. She almost mothers him at times. Sex is not a cherished commodity in the novel and it is given without commitment or expectations. The casual nature of relationships is explored. Love has shed its romantic shell and now represents caring and affection that is shared between people.
Women find it hard to redefine their relationships as traditionally they are brought up with the idea of wanting a romantic love. In the end of this novel Nora walks away from Javo. She cannot accept him at the expense of herself. She survives the struggle of the love affair and her own internal struggle. Nora finds a way to love. There is a new dawn which is symbolic of new beginnings. There is a wholesomeness about the book at the end. We get the feeling she achieved her freedom. There is a breaking of co-dependency. She realises individual freedom from people who are dependant on her and who expect everything from her. In the end she gives herself back the ability to make choices.
There is a paradox in the sense that she is a feminist who wants equality and freedom, not to be tied to men who stop their growth, but at the same time, females are attracted to the opposite sex. There is also a sense of betrayal in the novel when one woman sleeps with another woman’s man. This is not acceptable.
In the end, Nora chooses art, to be alone, to let go of the monkey grip. She will survive because she wants to survive. She has made the choice to let go. Javo had a habit that Nora couldn’t break. There is a parallell in the novel between his drug addiction/dependency and her addiction to him.
Goldsworthy points out that much of the novel is about writing and becoming a writer and about music. She reads things by other female writers and listens to the women singers of the 60s and 70s. Garner immersed herself in this – in the creativity of women artist and writers. In the novel Nora also beins to note the importance of women’s writing in her life.
Links
Helen Garner – bio, works and links
An Interview with Helen Garner
OzLit Helen Garner Site
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