Earl Gray And Mandarin For Breakfast

Thinking about how in the book, My Dark Vanessa, the title can refer not only to the poem and Strane and Vanessa’s relationship but also Vanessa’s relationship with herself. “My” gives her a sense of self-possession as the “dark” comes from her nature with those around her and her trauma.

As I saw in another post on why Strane’s suicide is placed in the middle as opposed to acting as the climax, we see Vanessa grappling with processing this all-consuming aspect of her life - dark once again, she feels dark, the relationship is dark, darkness can refer to a loss of innocence or a marring point over her (sorry for the yapping).

She’s her dark Vanessa because it emulates her view ( partially imposed on her by Strane’s grooming) of herself as a “melancholic”- unpleasant to others- and the ubiquitous reverberations her “relationship” with Strane throughout her life.