Fifty Shades of Grey

Christian is preoccupied with Ana’s eating. He often asks if she’s eaten, and he grows frustrated when she hasn’t or when she only eats a few bites. Ana asks him, “What is it with you and food?” (128), and he responds that he has “issues with wasted food” (128). Food becomes an axis of control between them.

The first time Ana eats in her apartment with Kate and without him, she notices, “This is normality. It’s so grounding and welcome after the last forty-eight hours of…madness. I eat my first unhurried, no-nagging, peaceful meal in that time” (161). Food is tied up with Christian’s childhood trauma, which he reveals during his commencement speech during Ana and Kate’s graduation. He says, “I have known what it’s like to be profoundly hungry. This is a very personal journey for me” (235), referring to his company’s focus on feeding the hungry. His issues with food are one more way his childhood trauma affects his relationship with Ana.

Christian learns Thomas Hardy is Ana’s favorite author, and he sends her three first edition volumes of Tess of the d’Urbervilles. He includes a handwritten note: “Why didn’t you tell me there was danger? Why didn’t you warn me? Ladies know what to guard against, because they read novels that tell them of these tricks…” (52). The note quotes Tess speaking to her mother after being raped by Alec d’Urberville. It refers to one of the primary themes of Hardy’s book, which is that 19th-century women were often victims of the social hierarchy, largely at the hands of men. Just as Tess had no power over men, Ana follows Christian into a world where he hopes to have full power over her.

When Ana agrees to sign the contract and be his submissive, she prepares to return the books to him, writing another quote from Tess: “I agree to the conditions, Angel; because you know best what my punishment ought to be; only—only—don’t make it more than I can bear!” (247). For Ana, the quote refers to the BDSM relationship with Christian. It conveys that she’s willing to be his submissive, but she’s afraid of his capacity to hurt her physically and emotionally.

Christian Grey says he’s “fifty shades of fucked up” (267). His last name correlates with the reference to color. Ana finds him complicated, enigmatic, and mercurial. She notes that Kate’s world is black and white, as opposed to her life with Christian, which is “intangible, mysterious, vague hues of gray that color [her] world” (278). Gray is the color of black and white mixed together—some good, some evil, and it’s impossible to see which one might overrule the other. Little in their relationship makes sense to Ana, and she spends much of the story trying to understand.

Her mother tells her, “Men aren’t really complicated, Ana, honey. They are very simple, literal creatures. They usually mean what they say. And we spend hours trying to analyze what they’ve said, when really it’s obvious” (396). Ana tries to take her advice, but she’s pulled back into Christian’s mysterious proclivities and needs. She finds him “[f]ifty shades of exasperating” (467), recalling the color gray, that in between color. Near the end, she understands, “because of his fifty shades, I am holding myself back” (470). She cannot feel secure with him because he is so complicated, which makes her realize she needs to end their relationship.