“I have flown the distance of your body from side to side of your ivory coast. I know the forests where I can rest and feed. I have mapped you with my naked eye and stored you out of sight.” (Winterson 117)
This excerpt fits perfectly into the theme “Map and territory” that we started to discuss in class. Although her name is not mentioned throughout a dozen of pages, here the narrator is talking about Louise, using the pronouns “you” (117), as though he/she is talking to her directly.
This passage reminds me of the colonization of Africa. Historically, the British have colonized certain regions of Africa, inhabited by African peoples, just as the narrator is appropriating Louise’s body, which, since she is married, “belongs” to Elgin. The reference to “ivory” (117), a very valuable material, conveys the idea that Louise is precious to the narrator; but also, since ivory was used to be traded between nations, it reminds the reader that Louise is the property of two persons, who fight to possess her. Louise’s body is compared to a land the narrator has “mapped with [his/her] naked eye” (117). The love of the narrator for Louise becomes real through his/her appropriation of her body. These three sentences start with the anaphora of “I”, reinforcing the idea that the narrator has the power and the authority that enabled him/her to conquer Louise. Also, beyond the sexual connotation, the idea that “the forests (…) feed” (117) the narrator shows that Louise’s love is vital to him/her, which is developed in the last part of the book when the narrator keeps desperately looking for Louise. Indeed it seems that the possession of Louise’s body brings safety to the narrator, as he/she says later on the same page: “Your body is my landing strip.” (117) Moreover, the fact that Louise’s body is “stored (…) out of sight” seems to anticipate the rest of the plot. Indeed, although Louise is no longer physically present, her body is deeply imprinted in the narrator’s mind.