Misery

The novel begins with the words "Goddess Africa," which seem to have nothing to do with the story at hand until Paul describes Annie physically for the first time. Paul compares Annie with "an African idol out of She or King Solomon's Mines" (8). These two titles are colonial adventure novels by 19th-century British writer H. Rider Haggard, both set in Africa. One of the main characters in She is a white warrior queen, Ayesha, known as "she-who-must-be-obeyed," an epithet that Paul would find fitting for Annie. Though Annie is a white woman, Paul quickly begins to think of Annie as an African goddess who needs to be "placated…when she [is] angry" (77). Paul even incorporates these ideas into Misery's Return, borrowing from Haggard's lost world genre by sending Ian, Geoffrey, and Misery to Africa for an adventure that involves "the Bourka Bee-Goddess" (227), an all-powerful idol that stands in for Annie's authority. Paul also links himself to Africa by identifying himself with the African bird he saw in the zoo as a child. Paul's preoccupation with these thoughts reveals itself when, in his panic to get Officer Kushner's attention, Paul can only scream, "Africa! Help me!" (268). When Paul thinks he's killed Annie, he thinks "the goddess was dead and he was free" (331). Paul's connection of his plight to Africa infuses the narrative with a mystical quality, relying on racialized and biased assumptions about the continent as a more "primordial" and dangerous place. These sentiments were common in the sorts of colonial adventure novels that Paul references. Altogether, the use of Africa as a motif highlights Paul's sense of Annie as a supernatural, unknowable, and violent force.

Knowing nothing about Paul's writing preference for a more modern word processor, Annie buys him an outdated Royal typewriter "as black and as proper as a pair of high-button shoes" (63). Right away, Paul thinks it "looked like trouble" and "called up no pleasant nostalgia" (64). Later, Paul regards it as "an instrument of torture—boot, rack, strappado—which is standing inactive, but only for the moment" (69). However, the Royal proves to be a major tool for Paul. It enables him to write Misery's Return, the novel that will receive "an unprecedented first printing of a million copies" (344). The Royal typewriter is also the implement with which Paul subdues Annie. While using it, he secretly lifts it like a set of weights, practicing for the crushing blow he'll later deliver to Annie's back. The typewriter thus symbolizes both Annie's simplistic mindset and Paul's power as a writer.