The Rainbow

At the start of this section, the narration no longer refers to Anna by Lensky, her late father’s surname, and begins calling her a Brangwen, signifying her full integration into the family unit. The change becomes ironic when Anna rejects Tom as her father when she lashes out at him for refusing to let her marry Will. Although she tries to assert herself as an independent being in an effort to move away and seek freedom, her marriage takes her directly back into the family, since he is a Brangwen. Anna is impressed with Will’s craftsmanship and proudly uses the phoenix butter stamp he carved to mark all the butter shipped out by the farm. The phoenix depicted in the stamp is a visual representation of the novel’s interest in rebirth and regeneration: The phoenix dies and is reborn from its own ashes, much like the Brangwen women aspire to leave one life behind in favor of another.

These chapters explore the novel’s existential concerns. Tom has multiple identity crises, such as when Anna says he is not her father and later, at her wedding, when he contemplates what old age will be like and whether his life will ever amount to anything worthwhile. For Tom, the sense of belonging he always craved seems to have evaded him for his entire life. These chapters also introduce the novel’s religious aspects. Will’s interest in cathedrals and his hobby of crafting wood carvings depicting biblical scenes, such as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, contrasts with Anna’s underwhelmed feelings about religion in general. Marsh Farm itself is a kind of natural Eden, although it is already corrupted by industrialization and commercialized labor. Will’s wood carving of Adam and Eve is a work he is incredibly proud of, especially as he thinks of himself and Anna on their honeymoon as a version of Adam and Eve. He views their isolation from the rest of the world as a paradise, one in which they have no responsibilities and are almost always naked.

However, the novel quickly dismantles the notion that such an Eden can endure in reality. Indeed, the couple’s first encounter with the outside world following their wedding creates conflict in their marriage: When Anna plans her tea party, Will rebels against the imminent closure of the Edenic honeymoon period. Anna almost instantly begins to resent him as she prepares for her event, urging him to go find a way to make himself busy. Their marriage quickly sours, and they argue about everything. They pick apart each other’s passions to the point of cruelty, and the novel uses violent imagery to convey how much one’s mockery hurts the other. Anna “strikes” at Will so that he bleeds, and he is determined to “beat” her. Although it is unclear if the language is metaphoric or meant to convey instances of domestic violence, it is clear that they hurt one another intentionally.

The scene of Anna dancing naked while pregnant with their first child is startlingly visceral in its descriptions of her body, particularly the images of her “lifted” belly. Anna dances in defiance of Will and the “Creator.” Thus, she dances in defiance not only of God but also of Will as a participant in the creation of their child. His anger at seeing her naked, pregnant form signals to the reader that after the honeymoon ended and they were no longer perpetually naked together, her nude body was not meant to be seen again apart from the context of sexual intimacy. To see her dancing, naked, in a moment for herself and herself alone, angers Will because of its flagrant defiance and dismissal of unspoken rules about how she should conceal her body and how she ought to behave while pregnant. The couple’s martial conflicts reflect the theme Gender Roles in Domestic Life.