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50 Shades of Grey chapter 7 recap, or, “I wish the whole book was a short as this chapter”.

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Did anyone watch last week’s episode of Game of Thrones? Every time someone was ordering a whore to beat another whore to death, or forcing a live rat to burrow through a screaming man’s heart, I thought of Ana and her obsession with the Spanish Inquisition. Also, thanks, Game of Thrones. I just got my notoriously squeamish husband to watch you, and you utterly disturbed him. Now I’m going to have to watch it alone, just like American Horror Story, and I’ll have no one to talk to about it. Jeez!

Chapter seven opens with proof that Ana doesn’t really have a concept of what the Spanish Inquisition was like. At the end of chapter six, she says the “playroom” is like stepping into the Spanish Inquisition, but at the top of chapter seven, she opens with this description:

The first thing I notice is the smell; leather, wood, polish with a faint citrus scent. It’s very pleasant, and the lighting is soft, subtle. In fact, I can’t see the source, but it’s around the cornice in the room, emitting an ambient glow. The walls and ceiling are a deep, dark burgundy, giving a womb-like effect to the spacious room, and the floor is old, old varnished wood. There is a large wooden cross like an X fastened to the wall facing the door. It’s made of high-polished mahogany, and there are restraining cuffs on each corner.

I’m no medieval historian or anything, but I’m pretty sure nothing about the Inquisition was faintly citrus scented. Ana has stumbled into the executive class Inquisition, is what I’m thinking. The description goes on, detailing an iron grid on the ceiling, various lengths of rope and chain, paddles, whips, you know. Exactly the type of stuff you’d expect from a sadistic billionaire. There’s also a red leather bed, made from the suits Eddie Murphy wore on tour in the 80’s. Okay, obviously that part isn’t in the book, but let me have this one. Ana feels the room is “romantic”, or at least Christian’s version of romantic, so she picks up a flogger and thinks a bit:

I think I’m in shock. My subconscious has been struck dumb or simply keeled over and expired. I am numb. I can observe and absorb but not articulate my feelings about all this, because I’m in shock. What is the appropriate response to finding out a potential lover is a complete freaky sadist or masochist? Fear… yes… that seems to be the over-riding feeling. I recognize it now. But weirdly not of him – I don’t think he’d hurt me, well, not without my consent.

How is this a surprise? He came to your work and bought rope and cable ties. He took weird pleasure in strapping you into your helicopter seat. It’s not like this guy hasn’t been sending you clues this whole time, probably on purpose to feel you out. He’s not subtle. Ana checks out the bed and admires the “craftsmanship”. Ana asks if he’s into being beaten or beating people himself:

“People?” He blinks a couple of times as he considers his answer. “I do this to women who want me to.”I don’t understand.“If you have willing volunteers, why am I here?”“Because I want to do this with you, very much.”“Oh,” I gasp. Why?

Is it that hard to figure out, Ana? I’ve been wanting to take a crack at you with any available implement since the middle of chapter one. Ana confuses dominance with sadism, but I really can’t blame her. There’s a little caning station set up, for heaven’s sake. Caning ain’t playing around. But Christian doesn’t get off on the pain aspect, just the submission.

Please him! He wants me to please him! I think my mouth drops open. Please Christian Grey. And I realize, in that moment, that yes, that’s exactly what I want to do. I want him to be damned delighted with me. It’s a revelation.

Let me just clarify, before I go any further with my thoughts here, that I have nothing against BDSM. I think that between two or more consenting adults who want to get off and have a good time, safely, BDSM isn’t any different than any other aspect of human sexuality. There’s nothing inherently dangerous about it, it doesn’t speak to some deep psychological wound in the people who get off on it, it’s just a thing that turns cranks for people. However, I do think there is a different level of “consent” to anything involving the physical aspects of BDSM, and I don’t think Ana can consent here. She’s a miserable person, desperate to please the romantic hero of her dreams, and she’s unable to say no to anyone. I think if Christian Grey asked her to rob a bank or kill a man just to watch him die, she would jump at the chance to please him. In fact, when Ana asks what she would get out of the arrangement, Christian’s answer is, “me”. I don’t feel that’s an entirely fair way for a dominant to answer that question.

Kate had said he was dangerous, she was so right. How did she know? He’s dangerous to my health, because I know I’m going to say yes. And part of me doesn’t want to.

See what I meant about consent?

Christian takes her to a different room, all in white (he has the same decorator as the Cullens do) and with an awesome view. This would be Ana’s room, and she’d stay in it from Friday evening through Sunday, if she agrees during negotiations. He won’t sleep with her, it’s just not something he does. They go back downstairs for dinner, and Christian tells Ana that now that she’s signed a non-disclosure, she can ask him anything. And thus follows the funniest typo ever:

“But we won’t have any sort of relationship?” I ask. “No.”“Why?”“This is the only sort of relationship I’m interesting in.”

I know it’s a typo. I know this, because this is the pre-Random House version of the book. I’ve noticed a few people saying that Random House didn’t edit the book upon acquisition, and just looking over both versions, it’s clear they did line edits on it. So let’s put that to rest, and discuss the fact that in the original version, the one that garnered world-wide success, Christian is only “interesting” in a BDSM relationship. I contend that no, he’s just plain not interesting. He offers Ana food, and when she politely refuses on the basis of not being hungry, he commands that she eat. You know, after the last chapter, where he told her she wouldn’t have to to do anything she didn’t want to do. Sure, he sounds like a safe, trustworthy dom. Ana points out that since she hasn’t signed anything, she doesn’t have to eat if she doesn’t want to, and at least he backs down. I would give her props for putting him in his place, but it’s obvious that this is going to be like, the very last time, because she’s going to sign his paperwork and let him do whatever he wants to her. I know this, because there are a lot more pages in this book.

Christian uses different variations of the word “punish” a lot. I think he’s related to Penny Pingleton’s mother.

Penny Pingleton's mother from John Water's Hairspray

Before Christian can warn Ana about the dangers of “race music” or threaten to make her wear a P on her sweater because she’s permanently punished, he figures he better show her the rules. Yes, all the rules are there, like we’re reading the sheet of paper with Ana. To sum them up, Ana has to obey Christian in all things, get plenty of sleep, good nutrition (no snacking between meals… I would be so out), wear certain clothes while in Christian’s presence, work out regularly with a personal trainer, get waxed and prettied up, not smoke, get drunk, or use drugs, have sex with anyone other than him, and generally not embarrass him, or she’s gonna get Punished. There’s a section on “hard limits”, meaning what freaky sex stuff she’s going to be down for. That’s a whole separate batch of paperwork that I’m really looking foward to slogging through, let me tell you. She feels weird about accepting money for clothes, thinking it will make her a “ho”. They argue and nitpick over pretty much everything on the list, then Christian introduces his “hard limits”. They include nothing where people are getting set on fire, pissed or shat upon, cut up, pierced, no medical fetish shit, pedophilia (I wonder if he knows how childlike Ana finds sexuality?) or bestiality, no choking or anything like that. When Christian asks Ana what her “hard limits” are, she admits that she doesn’t know… because she’s never had sex before.

“You’re a virgin?” he breathes. I nod, flushing again. He closes his eyes and looks to be counting to ten. When he opens them again, he’s angry, glaring at me.

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” he growls.

Wow, the winner of Mr. Sensitive 2012 is…

This recap isn’t longer because it’s a short chapter, made shorter when you cut out the huge chunks of paperwork that I sure as hell was not retyping here. However, tomorrow… now brace yourself… I know you’ve been quivering in anticipation this whole time… tomorrow… Anastasia Rose Steele and Christian Grey are going… to do… IT.


I’ll get my rubber panties.

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Here for the first time because you’re in quarantine and someone on Reddit recommended my Fifty Shades of Grey recaps? Welcome! Consider checking out my own take on the Billionaire BDSM genre, The Boss. Find it on AmazonB&NSmashwords, iBooks, and Radish!

16 Comments

  1. I found the paperwork to be highly annoying to wade through, and skimmed through it. I think it probably took me a few sittings to get through it. Chapter 7 and STILL no sex in an erotic novel. I wonder what fans of this book would think of The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty?

    May 14, 2013
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  2. Penny Pingleton!!! I freakin’ love you, Ms. Trout.

    September 11, 2013
    |Reply
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    January 31, 2014
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    February 4, 2014
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  5. jim
    jim

    I know i’m coming to the party 2 years late. Love your posts!

    This “contract” is downright offensive. By linking all the “hard limits” together, it suggests that a pretty light fare like piercing or watersports is equal to SEXUAL CHILD ABUSE. Think about someone that things that pedophilia and consentual play of any kind is more or less equivalent. That you might have to sign a form promising that you won’t introduce child abuse to the relationship. WTF?

    August 8, 2014
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    • Mauvaise
      Mauvaise

      Jim,

      While there is a lot wrong with these books I have to disagree that the section on hard limits is one of them. I get what you’re feeling from having them all lumped together as if they are equally as “bad”, but where else should they be? A hard limit is what it is and it’s not like it’s going to be something like:

      1st Degree hard limits: pedophilia; bestiality
      2nd Degree: water sports, scat play
      3rd Degree: piercing, choking.

      It’s not as if he’s saying (and I can’t believe I’m 1) defending a fictional character and b) that it’s Christian Fucking Grey) that he views all these things as equals. Just that they are all things that he’s non-negotiable about exploring, regardless of if other people consider them “light fare” or they are actual crimes (consent or not). Which is what a hard limit is.

      November 3, 2014
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  6. crumblycube
    crumblycube

    So I am thoroughly convinced that this book must have been written in a different language and run through Google translate. It really is the only explanation that provides me with a semblance of satisfaction -subject verb agreement issues, conflicting words in the same sentence, inability to properly accent names (etc., etc., etc., cue Yule Brenner)? Maybe the author had to hire a hit on an old Swedish Dr. Ruth to steal this potential gem from under her nose.

    January 25, 2015
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  7. Minerva
    Minerva

    The author refers to Ana’s “subconscious” in every chapter so far (I think), but she hasn’t once used it in a way that makes any sense.

    “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

    February 13, 2015
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  8. Lol, omg my cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. Great post girl, love it.

    February 14, 2015
    |Reply
  9. Morgan
    Morgan

    Ana asks if he’s into being beaten or beating people himself:
    “People?” He blinks a couple of times as he considers his answer. “I do this to women who want me to.”I don’t understand.“If you have willing volunteers, why am I here?”“Because I want to do this with you, very much.”“Oh,” I gasp.

    Oh dear god. The opposition of “people” and “women”. The implication that she thinks, or he thinks she thinks, that he just, what, grabs people off the street and flogs them? The implication that Ana doesn’t think of herself as a “willing volunteer”, or understand that she’s (kinda – sorta – I mean, he’s not really going about it right) asking her whether she’s willing.
    I mean, they were just talking about how she wants to fuck him him to fuck her, right? And he said she didn’t know what that involves? And then he shows her this and her reaction is… “oh, why would you need me for this, I assume you just abduct and assault people when you’re horny – what, you actually get people who want to participate? huh, that’s cool, I guess, if it’s your thing, anyway, what does this have to do with me?”

    February 21, 2015
    |Reply
  10. Cat
    Cat

    Jesus Christ. I don’t normally mind lots of description, but when I’m reading porn, I want SEX, not useless descriptions that bog the story down. It pissed me off so much that EL James describes the color and material of the fucking spanking bench, but doesn’t use it in this scene.

    /rant

    The playroom description shows what a terrible writer EL James is. A good writer doesn’t describe EVERY SINGLE ROOM the characters step into, especially not when the readers are waiting for a sex scene. A skilled writer could use the description to show how the POV character feels and to build sexual excitement. This writing is so soulless and bland it could be a furniture catalog.

    May 15, 2015
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  11. Khan
    Khan

    “People”? Christian blinks in confusion. “No, I just do this to women. Not, you know, actual people.”

    July 2, 2015
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  12. Sera
    Sera

    I don’t know why it bothers me so much, but I really hate how this basically sets it up as if he’s going to have sex with her so she can understand her own hard limits. That’s NOT how this works. Having vanilla sex one time doesn’t instantly give you revelations about every single possible thing two people could do to each other and how much one is down for that.
    It actually doesn’t help in any way whatsoever, because the obvious stuff already should be out of question regardless of virgin status or not (no pedophilia, etc., no squeamish stuff if you really hate that kind of thing) while the less obvious stuff (like pain tolerance and the like) is not something you suddenly know just because someone kissed you, hugged you and carefully put his d*ick in you -.-

    April 1, 2017
    |Reply

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