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The Voyage by Katherine Mansfield

The story focuses on a boat trip that a grandmother and granddaughter take to
Picton, New Zealand.
Summary of ''The Voyage''
''The Voyage'' begins with a grandmother, her son, and his daughter walking
quickly to catch a boat to Picton. The girl's name is Fenella, and the story is
from her perspective, or point of view. No specific reason is given at first for
their leaving, and it's only the grandmother and Fenella who get on the boat.
Fenella's father comes on long enough for them all to say tearful goodbyes and
to give Fenella a shilling, and then he gets off.

We can see that they aren't rich people when the grandmother asks about
sandwiches and is shocked at the price. We can also see that the grandmother
has been on this boat before. The stewardess recognizes her and remembers that
she doesn't usually get her own cabin. Grandmother comments that her son
kindly paid for it.

Throughout the trip, Fenella is given the responsibility of carrying

Grandmother's umbrella. She has to be careful with it so that it doesn't break,
and Grandmother mentions the umbrella and asks if Fenella has it several times.
Fenella does remember it, except for once when she forgets to lay it down flat
and Grandmother asks the stewardess to do it.

During the boat trip, we find out why Fenella and her grandmother left. The
stewardess notes the black clothing the girl and grandmother are wearing, and
later refers to Fenella as ''Poor little motherless mite!'' Fenella falls asleep
during Grandmother's conversation with the stewardess, so we do not hear
exactly what happened. However, from the stewardess' comments and
descriptions, we can tell that Fenella's mother recently died.

Fenella's descriptions of the small cabin, and the fact that she has rarely seen her
grandmother without her hat, tell us that Fenella has not traveled much and has
not stayed with her grandmother often.
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Eventually, the pair reach Picton, and a horse and cart pick them up and take
them to Grandmother's house. They go inside, and Fenella meets her
grandfather, who is ill and stays in bed. Fenella sees a painting hanging over the
bed. It says:

''Lost! One Golden Hour Set with Sixty Diamond Minutes. No Reward Is
Offered for It Is Gone for Ever.''
After she reads this, Fenella's grandfather tells her that her grandmother painted
it. He also smiles cheerfully at her, to the point that he might even be winking,
though Fenella is not certain if he did.
Themes
The Dilemmas of Parenthood
Fenella’s father, Frank, embodies the challenges and dilemmas that many
parents face. “The Voyage” takes place in the wake of the difficult decision
Frank has made to send Fenella away to live with his parents. His wife has
recently died, and—for reasons that are never made explicit—he has evidently
judged that his parents would be better guardians of Fenella for a time. This
decision, having already occurred, is revealed through the details of the story.
Frank is described as “nervous,” and he walks quickly through the streets to
accompany his mother and daughter to the Picton boat that will carry his
daughter away from him. The parting is clearly painful for Frank. When he says
goodbye, Fenella grabs at his coat lapels and asks him how long she is going to
stay away, but “he wouldn’t look at her. He [shakes] her off gently,” and gives
her a shilling. This is a large sum for Fenella, and it helps her to understand that
she will be gone for a long time. Frank’s pained, nervous temperament in this
passage implies that his decision to send Fenella away was a dilemma that
required him to weigh the good outcomes against the bad. The Pain and
Unpredictability of Growing Up In “The Voyage,” Fenella is in the midst of a
difficult transition from the innocence of childhood to the experience of
adulthood. The tragedy of her mother’s death looms in the background of the
story, animating Fenella’s emotions and thoughts. Though Fenella’s age is
never made clear, she is undoubtedly a young child who struggles to understand
the enormous changes taking place in her life. Thus, her confrontation with the
loss of her mother is inevitably framed as a painful process of maturation. The
pain and unpredictability of Fenella’s loss emerge through the story’s details.
When Frank says goodbye to his mother at the wharf, their expression of
emotion is “so awful that Fenella turns her back on them,” presumably upset by
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the reminder of her mother’s death and its grave consequences. The
unpredictability of her situation is highlighted when she asks her father how
long she will be away; Frank does not reply directly, instead offering her a
shilling and a farewell. Fenella’s grandmother acts as a mentor in Fenella’s
maturation. Mary has placed Fenella in charge of her swan-necked umbrella,
and she continually reminds Fenella to watch out for it and be careful with it.
The umbrella takes on a greater meaning, for Mary is testing Fenella’s capacity
to be responsible. Thus, the umbrella becomes symbolic of adult responsibility,
more of what Fenella will have to take on in the ensuing stages of her life.
The Impermanence of Tragedy
The immediate backdrop of “The Voyage” is one of tragedy. Fenella’s mother
has recently died, prompting an uncertain move to Picton to live with her
grandparents. Despite the sorrow and uncertainty that characterize Fenella’s lot
at the beginning of the story, the conclusion suggests that the initial tragedy will
not permanently dictate Fenella’s life and that her fortunes may take a felicitous
turn. Fenella’s arrival at the home of her grandparents seems to herald a new,
brighter future for the child. There, Fenella sees a path of “round white pebbles”
and “sleeping flowers” on either side. The “sweet smell” of the picotees
perfumes the morning air. Inside, Fenella finds a tranquil cat with “white, warm
fur,” and the cat welcomes her timid stroking as she listens to “grandma’s gentle
voice and the rolling tones of grandpa.” Her grandfather is warm and seems to
wink at her beneath his white puffy hair and above his long silver beard, and the
home seems altogether peaceful and welcoming. This harmonious setting
suggests that Fenella’s future here will be a good one.
SYMBOLISM IN MANSFIELD’S SHORT STORY
THE VOYAGE

I. INTRODUCTION
The Voyage is a short story by Katherine Mansfield. Born in New Zealand in
1888, Mansfield usually brings the sense of New Zealand’s colonial in each
story of hers, including The Voyage. The Voyage talks about Fenella and her
grandmother’s voyage to her grandparents’ house with Picton boat in New
Zealand. This story illustrates the growth process of a little girl who lost
mother’s figure very fast from childhood until adult proved by symbols. On the
voyage to her grandparents’ home, Fennela experiences many new things in her
life from the boat. Her grandmother shows common activities for adults to
Fenella. Day by day she learns it. After the long voyage, Fenella arrives at her
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new home and she is ready to continue her life. She has already been grown up
to face the world.

This paper focuses on analysing symbols made by Mansfield. Symbols can

tickle readers with their own ways. Those symbols can give the meaning of
something and make a story really new and give some interests and imagery
about what the author’s real message is as talking about literature is related to
life.

II. THEORY AND FINDING

Symbolism is a part of intrinsic elements in literature works. Symbols are given
to describe something important to represent the characters or things in a story.
Many kinds of existing symbols in literature works are animals, elements,
things, places, or colors. They are commonly well-known in culture. Symbols
from Mansfield’s story are not only about things used or worn by the characters
but also the conversations of the characters in the story.
In The Voyage by Katherine Mansfield, there are many symbols that will be
analysed in this chapter. Each symbol represents big parts of the story. The first
symbol appearing in this story is an umbrella. It is the most important symbol
that always appears from beginning to the end of the story. The umbrella was
owned by Fenella’s grandmother. It is beautiful and seems expensive. Her
grandmother asks Fenella to keep her umbrella in the voyage of the boat. Every
time her grandmother always asks and asks whether Fenella keeps it safe or not.
Firstly, as a young girl, she is not aware of this but day by day she finally
understands that she has the responsibility to take her grandmother’s umbrella
that has a swan-neck in it. It is seen when they are about to leave the boat and
her grandmother asks about the umbrella and Fenella gradually knows and
proves that she keeps her umbrella till the end. It is proven that a little girl won’t
have awareness. The umbrella in this story represents that Fenella, a little girl,
finally changes into a grown-up girl. It shows the process of the childhood
transforming into adulthood. She is not aware of this meaning when she is still
in her childhood and she changes fast in the same place, the Picton boat. She
remembers and takes the responsibility about her grandmother’s umbrella. In
the end, that changing makes her grandfather a little bit surprised when Fenella
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arrives in their house while bringing her grandmother’s umbrella. She can
finally make sure it is safe with her till the end.

The next symbol that is shown in this story is the taking off of Fenella’s father
hat. It means there will be farewell as Fenella’s father separates his hat. This
occurs when the boat of Fenella and her grandmother will ship in the next three
minutes’ time. It is the first convincing symbol that she will truly be separated
from her father. She looks at both of her father and grandmother hug very
tightly and she looks at her grandmother with full of tears. It seems that they
will go forever and she doesn’t have time to live longer with her father.

The third symbol is seen before her father and Fenella get separated. It is the
second symbol that makes Fenella more convinced to leave her father. In the
farewell, her father gives Fenella a shilling. As a little girl, she is fascinated
with the shilling since it is a big value of money in that era and she is also afraid
that her father will leave her forever. Her father says to spend it wisely. To
spend the big value of money means that Fenella will no longer live together
again with her father. Actually, this shilling means the symbol of farewell of
them. At the beginning, she doesn’t understand that she will have a new life
without her father anymore but in the end, she knows about it and she is ready
to be an adolescent girl.

The next symbol from The Voyage is both Fenella and her grandmother wear
black clothes from up to toe. It is seen that grandmother wear the black thread
gloves when she says farewell to her son. As usual the black color is a symbol
of death. The death of Fenella’s mother is also the reason why Fenella will
leave her father and go to her grand parents’ home. Probably her father decides
to let her daughter go because of the financial problem that he has. Black in this
story means the sorrow expressing both of them. At the beginning, until Fenella
and her grandmother arrive in the land, Mansfield mentions that Fenella still
wears the black hat with a crape rose, black blouse, and black coat and skirt. It
is the representative of Fenella’s sadness. But it makes different when Fenella
faces a new place and new thing in her new life at her grandparents’ place. All
that Fenella can see is just white like a white cat owned by her grandparents.
When she meets her grandfather, she feels that the color is properly white and
warm. It means there is a transition from the sadness and sorrow to happiness
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represented in the white. The time when Fenella is sad about her mother now
changes into her happiness in her new life with grandparents.

III. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This story actually talks about a little girl’s transformation from childhood into
adulthood. Her childhood is dominated by the black color always appearing in
middle of the story. Black in many cultures such as Western, Asian, and
African, has the same meaning of death and darkness. All black colors, in
Fenella’s and grandmother’s costumes, the old dark wharf, and the black
mushroom are a part of boat’s place in Fenella’s perspective, the weather and
even the dark bush that they face after they arrive in the land are the
representative of her gloomy feeling because of her mother’s death. As a child,
of course, she is not ready to miss her mother’s figure in life. Then, she must
separate from her father because of economic condition to get along with her
grandparents. The Voyage itself means the life of her life. It represents that
Fenella must face the reality and rise from the darkness going into bright. In her
voyage, Fenella finally knows about the reality and she must learn from that
reality even though she loses her mother and must continue her life and she
must begin her new life with her grandparents with white and full of happiness.
In the end of this story, Fenella finally knows about what she must do to get out
from darkness. She also learns things from her grandparents. She realizes that
she must face a bitter life because happiness or sadness can’t be brought up
again. We can’t make the second chance. Then, the childhood process of her is
seen in the symbol of umbrella. It actually helps me realize Fenella can be
aware of something important not only for her life but also for her grandmother.
Her responsibility is the proof that she is ready to be an adolescent girl and
ready to free from her childhood. Finally, in the last part of her voyage black
now becomes white. She begins a new life without filthiness.

IV. CONCLUSION
Actually, the author of the story wants to talk about the voyage of one’s life. All
symbols represented gives a lesson deeper into the heart of the readers. All
voyages of one’s life absolutely has a dark side and it won’t always be in
darkness because that must be an event that she or he goes out from the
darkness into brightness of life. Like the main character, Fenella, in this story,
she has a painful incident, she is guaranteed to have a new life. In the end,
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everybody has their own voyages and it is our decision to have a well ending
voyage of life or not. It will be proved from our actions to face situations. The
message of this story is identical with time too. Briefly, we must spend time
wisely because time can’t be brought up again. Although the main character of
this story is still a little girl as adult, we sometimes think it is very classic and
boring to remind about this. It makes us aware that we must face the reality
even it is a sad fact as Fenella faces. The darkness will come in every voyage of
one’s self and it makes us more mature to face the reality and we can learn that
time can’t be changed or brought up again.