“I’ll risk you, if you’ll risk me”: The Ambiguity of Human Existence and Relationships in Marilyn Duckworth’s Married Alive

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse Marilyn Duckworth’s Married Alive within the framework of Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy of ambiguity, risk and reciprocal recognition. It is argued that the New Zealand writer represents human relationships both as a potential threat to one’s subjectivity, conceptualising them in terms of conflict and competition, and a necessity that may enrich both parties. What is celebrated in the novel as the key to establishing a mutually rewarding bond is the wilful acceptance of risk and reciprocal recognition of oneself and the lover as both subject and object.