3.

ASPECTS OF POSTFEMINISM IN LAURA DAVE‘S NOVEL EIGHT HUNDRED GRAPES

As Ann Brooks explains, “Postfeminism is about a critical engagement with earlier feminist political and theoretical
concepts and strategies as a result of its engagement with other social movements for change” (4). The term
“postfeminism has been utilized to signify temporal economies suggesting the completion, suspension, or waning
purpose of earlier feminism as well as a futuristic sense of going beyond it” (Harzewski 155). The protagonist of the
romance novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2015) contains characteristics of both, old and modern feminism concepts, as she
desires to inherit her family’s vineyard, to work there, and to get married. The protagonist is pursuing her dream life as
well, living in Los Angeles, working as a lawyer, also “paying attention to all sorts of things that I [the protagonist]
hadn’t historically” (Dave 17). At the beginning of the novel, the protagonist admits herself, that she has changed, “and
transformed in the way Los Angeles seems to transform people: a little bit at a time until you don’t recognize yourself
anymore” (Dave 17). Difference between the life in a country or a small town and a life in a big town like Los Angeles,
displays the protagonist’s postfeminist aspects. The romance novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2015) contains Chick Lit
aspects, as “the chick lit protagonist strives to carve out personal happiness within the dominant social order that has
bequeathed both professional opportunity and partner search challenges” (Harzewski 181) and also focuses “on the
elements most associated with the popular romance novel: love and the happy ending” (Regis 21). Whilst analyzing the
elements of the romance novel, postfeminist and Chick Lit aspects emerge.

3.1 An account of the meeting between the heroine and the hero
In the romance novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2015), scenes, provided by Pamela Regis (30), not reveal in an ordinary
way, and, as Regis explains, any element can be diminished or expanded (30-31). Not every element can be found just
in dialogue or action, some of them, exist “in the voice of the narrator or one of the characters, [who] let the reader
know that it has happened” (Regis 30-31). On the contrary, other elements are “dramatized in detail with action and
dialogue, thus becoming a governing element of the novel” (Regis 31). The elements that Regis picks out confirm that
the novel is a romance novel, and they can be adapted to a novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2018).
Robin Lovett in The Structure of Romance (2018) column distinguishes an 11-step structure to plot a romance novel;
examples of these steps take place in the chosen novel and will be discussed later. In the romance novel Eight Hundred
Grapes (2015), the heroine George experiences two completely different relationships. One with Benjamin, boyfriend of
5 years and fiancé now, and other relationship with Jacob McCarthy, a guy she meets when returns to her homeland, a
grandson of Murray Grant Wines founders, the CEO, and soon to be owner of Georgia’s father’s vineyard The Last
Straw Vineyard.

First step Robin Lovett introduces is Call to Adventure / The Meet Cute, which is the beginning of a relationship
adventure, acquaintance, falling in love, planning a happy life together. It is the first stage of a romance novel, followed
by the barrier and the courtship (Regis 30). “Usually near the beginning of the novel, but also sometimes presented in
flashback, the heroine and hero meet for the first time” (Regis 31). The meeting of Georgia and Ben presented in
flashback, Ben “looked like Superman” (Dave 95) and impressed her from the very beginning. Jacob and Georgia had a
rival since they first met, because she did not give up on selling parents’ vineyard. Two different first meetings and
relationships displayed in the romance novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2015), one of them leads to break up and another to
betrothal.

When Georgia was a real estate lawyer in Los Angeles, she started to work with Ben, a British architect, who had lived
in New York at that time. “That was how we fell in love, on the phone, talking about the least sexy things in the world.
Permits. And billing. And then, everything that mattered” (Dave 11). Nearly a month of close friendship with a member
of the opposite sex can often lead to more than just a friendship. Sometimes the right people find each other, and
sometimes admiration is confused with real feelings. Georgia and Ben were going to get married, almost everything was
ready, and they were planning their life together in London, moving things into a new apartment. Georgia took some
time to figure out her feelings, but at first she and Ben were moving forward “happily-ever-after”. The relationship
between Georgia and Ben can be applied to the first step of introduced romance structure, were the relationship is
established “along with enough conflict to last the length of a novel” (Lovett). The conflict prevails throughout the entire
story, there were many decisions and the most important one was figured out completely just at the very end.

Part 2 of the novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2015), The Crush, starts with a flashback when “the heroine and hero meet
for the first time” (Regis 31), and can be identified as one of the elements, The Meeting (Regis 31). Ben was “take-your-
breath-away good looking” (Dave 95), and his eyes was “green and deep and honest” (Dave 95) and seemed that he can
“make everything okay” (Dave 95). The connection was already made while they were talking about work on the phone,
but when they meet, the feelings are confirmed. The first meeting between Georgia and Ben was promising and led to a
relationship that lasted 5 years.

The first meeting with Jacob, who can be identified as an antagonist in the beginning of the novel, is tense and hostile,
although Jacob is acting sincerely, “it’s nice to meet you. You have a great family. I love your family” (Dave 45). Jacob
admits that he saw Georgia the night she came back, wearing her bride dress. He did not recognize her at first, because
Georgia’s hair “was up in that bun” (Dave 43), and compliments her current look with “it looks much better like this”
(Dave 43). While explaining from which corner Jacob saw Georgia, he delivers the fact that he has a girlfriend and that
“she love chia” (Dave 43). From their first meeting, they both knew each other’s state of the relationship and judging by
the first impression, Jacob and Georgia could not have any relationship. Georgia is stubborn and refuses to work things
out with Jacob, involving family business. “I’m not interested in this … Whatever you’re trying to do here” (Dave 46).
“Some hint of the conflict to come is often introduced” (Regis 31) and because of the vineyard, the rival between this
couple appears immediately. Jacob is an honorable man, and despite Georgia’s hostility, tries to “charm” (Dave 46) her,
trying to clarify the situation. The vineyard will belong to Jacob after the wedding, which was Georgia’s father request,
but Georgia intends “to contest this sale” (Dave 47).

As Georgia tries to figure out feelings with both Ben and family members, she encounters Jacob more and more often.
According to Robin Lovett, further step consists of three dates, “the lovers are together for a period of time, interacting
in a get-to-know-you scenario demonstrating relationship chemistry in at least three major scenes. Each scene both
deepens their affinity but also reaffirms the reason they cannot be together. It’s a “three steps forward two steps back”
pattern.” With Jacob and Georgia, there are no actual dates, but intentional or unintentional encounters appear. First time
they meet is when she comes to his office and pours out her anger at him, which is about selling the vineyard. After their
first encounter, she decides, “how much (she) couldn’t stand him” (Dave 47). Everything related to Jacob was irritating
and all just bad. He was Georgia’s biggest enemy and someone who got in her way when she was not at her best.

Second time they met was in Georgia father’s tour of The Last Straw Vineyard for locals and wine club members. It was
hard for Georgia to watch her father talk about selling the vineyard. She could not stand it, her feelings took over, she
teared up, and after her glass shattered on the ground, she rushed out. Jacob offers Georgia to walk her home, and the
fact that Georgia accepts his help, showing that she does not hate him completely. During the walk, they get to know
each other better, Georgia finds out that Jacob has a fiancé but their relationship is not “in a good place” (Dave 88) and
that is why they did not get married yet. There was more silence than talking but it was enough for them, yet they were
interrupted with reality, when Ben and Maddie was waiting on the doorstep.

The third “date” was after Georgia left family dinner and after the attempt to drive her brother to work. They were
arguing and Georgia hit the fire hydrant, making damage only to the car and her clothes. After the incident she left her
brother and turned into another street, were a small French restaurant was. After a small talk with Henry, Georgia’s
mother’s boyfriend, Jacob walked out of the restaurant, and for a minute, she thought that Henry was Jacob’s father.
However, shortly it became clear that they were unrelated when they introduced themselves and Henry went inside the
restaurant. Georgia and Jacob had a little chat and she spilled out everything that has happened lately, also asking
“money for a cab” (Dave 141). Georgia gets to know Jacob’s wife Lee better, that she “likes chia and computers and
Vera Wang” (Dave 141), as a reminder that it is an obstacle to the development of a possible relationship. There was a
moment when Jacob almost touched Georgia’s skin and she “felt a chill … where his hands almost was” (Dave 141), but
she refused his invitation to join him and his wife inside the restaurant and went to catch a cab. It was a nice “date”
comparing to a first one and Georgia’s attitude towards Jacob softened. They shared details from their lives from the
very beginning, as if they were friends, and not just met and Georgia was drawn to him since.

3.1.1 An account of heroine and the hero attraction for each other

One of the elements, that Regis present, is The Declaration, scenes with this elements can be placed anywhere in the
novel and it is recognized when “the hero declares his love for the heroine, and the heroine her love for the hero” (34). In
the romance novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2015), two declarations prevail, one in the beginning, which can be titled “a
love-at-first-sight situation” (Regis 34), and other, at the end of the novel when “heroine and hero declare their love for
each other after the novel’s barrier has been surmounted” (Regis 34). The declaration of love between Georgia and Ben
comes in the flashback, when during separation time she recalls nice moments of their relationship. First time they meet
each other eye to eye, it is clear that Ben is declaring his feelings:

That woman, on the phone, is the best part of my day. She makes me laugh and she makes me feel happy. She
makes me feel like everything is going to work out as soon as she says hello to me (Dave 96).
Ben promises to change everything for Georgia, and “how could (she) not be his after that?” (Dave 96). It is their first
meeting and it is a clear “love-at-first-sight situation” (Regis 34).

The declaration between Georgia and Jacob appears at the very end of the novel and is unexpected. They experience the
barrier earlier and it “was their inability or unwillingness to declare for each other, and the declaration scene marks the
end of this barrier” (Regis 34). They meet in the hospital, while Georgia’s father is resting after the heart attack, although
they both declare that they are “not ready to date anyone” (Dave 256), they kiss. The kiss is the declaration of love
between Georgia and Jacob, there is no betrothal between them, but it is expected. In the novel, we observed two
different declarations and without them, it is not a romance novel (Regis 34).

According to Regis, The Attraction element “keeps the heroine and hero involved long enough to surmount the barrier”
(33) and it “can be based on a combination of sexual chemistry, friendship, shared goals or feelings, society’s
expectations, and economic issues” (33). Even if Georgia and Jacob disagree, they share personal details from their lives,
which confirm their developing attraction. All the encounters they experience during through entire story, when Georgia
is at her lowest, and still, they have unusual dialogues through which they are getting to know each other, as well as
deepening their attraction. It develops slowly, considering the situation at home and with Ben, but somehow Jacob
becomes the only one who is able to understand Georgia. “A scene or series of scenes scattered throughout the novel
establishes for the reader the reason that this couple must marry” (Regis 33), Georgia and Jacob build their relationship
and trust slowly and every time they encounter they become more intimate. After they meet near French restaurant,
Jacob supports her with money for the cab, and nods his head “his way of offering encouragement for the rest of the
night apart. Like he wished he was joining me for it” (Dave 142). This scene includes element of attraction, when
Georgia’s concern of Jacob’s feelings arise and the relationship between them assumed to happen. There are no sexual
attractions, only emotional, which is even stronger in the relationship.

3.1.2 Social Conflicts in the Novel Eight Hundred Grapes

Society Defined is one of eight essential elements of the romance novel, provided by Pamela Regis (31). Georgia is
surrounded by society and the events including both Ben and Jacob, and as Regis explains, “the scene or scenes defining
the society establishes the status quo which the heroine and hero must confront in their attempt to court and marry” (31).
Georgia and Ben are in courtship from the beginning of the story and there was only one week until the wedding left.
Georgia’s relatives become involved in their relationship and thus Georgia received different opinions and advices. The
mother rushed her with wedding details “if you want to fix things, you have to start somewhere” (Dave 66), also rushing
her with the decision whether to forgive Ben or not. Georgia was shocked and offended that her parents were divorcing
and that her mother had another man keeping her company. Georgia compared her actions to Ben’s as she descripted the
situation as “complicated” (Dave 19), “the truth was that they had made things complicated” (Dave 19). The
environment Georgia was expecting to come back to was the opposite: “how had we gotten to the place where everyone
in the family was on different sides?” (Dave 19), and the only person she would call for support, Ben, was “the one
person who could help me find perspective on this – was the reason I had none” (Dave 20). According to Pamela Regis,
the society “always oppresses the heroine and hero” (Regis 31), in some case, it might happen regardless of them. The
parents are “taking a little time apart” (Dave 19) and they have their own reasons, not related to Georgia and her
relationship, although it affects her feelings.

Georgia’s friend Suzannah from Los Angeles, one time suggests her that she should not be letting Ben go, and next time
when she comes to Sebastopol, she has changed her position and suggests that Georgia is “doing the right thing walking
away” (Dave 204). It becomes hard to figure out feelings when surrounding society interferes with different proposals.
Surrounding people impose advices regarding to their own life experiences, and the heroine must find her own
judgement of the situation.

The main conflict between the heroine and the hero can be identified as the Point of Ritual Death, as Regis’ suggested.
This essential element of the romance novel

marks the moment in the narrative when the union between heroine and hero, the hoped-for resolution, seems
absolutely impossible, when it seems that the barrier will remain, more substantial than ever. The happy ending is
most in jeopardy at this point (Regis 35).

The fact that protagonist’s fiancé was unfaithful and had secrets threatens their marriage and relationship. “The romance
novel heroine must escape her “death”” (Regis 35), that means that Georgia must face the challenges and become
stronger and wider after unpleasant events.

After Georgia finds out that Ben has a four and a half years old daughter, their relationship seems to be falling apart.
Georgia feels tormented; she tries to figure out how the relationship can still work after this, especially when the
wedding is due in a week. She is mad at him, but wants him to explain himself too. “It wasn’t just that he’d kept his
daughter from me – it was the explanation as to why” (Dave 90). Georgia is disappointed that Ben did not trust her and
kept something that important away from her. After the encounter with Maddie and Michelle (the daughter and the
mother), Georgia runs from a bridal dress shop straight to her parents’ home in Sebastopol. She picks up the phone when
Ben is calling and gives him a chance. “Part of me wanted Ben to tell me a story that would make this all okay, that
would make him familiar again” (Dave 13). Georgia still loves Ben, feelings does not just go away after five years of
relationship, but she is hurt and betrayed, so “in order to continue on their journey, they will need to work together”
(Lovett). That is a step of Giving the relationship a chance and Georgia gives Ben a huge chance to prove that he is
worthy of her.

Next step, Robin Lovett introduces for romance novel structure, is Refusal of the Call / Rejection of the Relationship,
which she explains as a denial of the attraction between one or both characters, there might also occur some external
causes interfering the relationship, however “there are hints that they can’t quite stop thinking about each other, and
something big is going to happen between them”. For this step, the best example is the relationship between Georgia and
Jacob. The “rejection of the relationship”- the feelings were suppressed and hidden under the rage, pride and
disillusionment, they also encountered other factors, such as the sale of The Last Straw Vineyard. First time Georgia and
Jacob met was in his office and was about the sale, she was furious and anything Jacob said was nonsense to her. “Proof
that he was a jerk, those degrees in such fancy frames” (Dave 46). For Georgia, all his accomplishments seemed just like
boasting. Jacob was easy to blame for all her frustrations and Georgia already picked a target. However, they face each
other when Georgia needs him most, first time he walks her home after leaving The Tasting Room, event that her father
hosts. During the walk, they start talking about the landscape and Georgia tries to hide that she is having a good time,
“not wanting him to see how that made me smile” (Dave 86). When Georgia accidentally meets Jacob’s wife, she does
not admit that she knows him, and such things are hidden when feelings interfere. Feelings between them remain hidden
almost throughout all story.

Scapegoat Exiled element, that Regis provides (39), fits to the antagonist of the novel and Maddie’s mother, Michelle
Carter, “The famous British actress. On the cover of so many American magazines” (Dave 12). As Regis explains, this
element is present “In the romance novel, (when) a character who, wittingly or not, prevents the heroine and hero from
marrying, is ejected from the new society formed by their union” (39). Michelle interferes into Georgia and Ben’s
relationship at the time they reconciled, and purposely attempts to break them up. At The Harvest Party, element, which
also suits “a dance or a fete” (Regis 38) point, Michelle takes advantage of her and Georgia being left together, revealing
more of Ben’s secrets, and giving hints about her feelings while telling how much her daughter loves Ben, she adds
“hard not to, I guess.” (Dave 211). Georgia had a feeling about Michelle’s feelings towards Ben, and “her mission, which
apparently was to win” (Dave 212) Georgia over. Michelle wittingly “prevents the heroine and hero from marrying”
(Regis 39), and it becomes one of the results why Georgia did not marry Ben. “As long as the focus stays on the core,
essential elements, the work is a romance novel” (Regis 47), and adapting Pamela Regis’ provided elements it is possible
to confirm that the novel is a romance novel.

3.2 Analysis of the barrier element in the novel Eight Hundred Grapes

The protagonist faces internal and external barriers, which make her question her decisions. The heroine and the hero
story begins with the barrier, which “can be external, a circumstance that exists outside of a heroine or a hero’s mind, or
internal, a circumstance that comes from within either or both” (Regis 32). The greatest external barrier is Georgia
leaving Los Angeles and driving about nine hours to her parents’ home in Sebastopol, and certainly the reason of it.
Coming home, she expects to be safe and comforted, and far away from drama and the pain. According to Regis, “the
barrier drives the romance novel” (32), and the protagonist in the romance novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2015)
experiences physical and emotional separation from her fiancé. Through the element of barrier the situations can be
examined “within the heroine’s mind” (32) or within the external events, including other characters and the setting. In
the novel Eight Hundred Grapes, the conflict between Georgia and Ben is because of the secret that Ben has a daughter,
and Georgia is considering her destiny through the entire plot, and as Regis claims, “components of the barrier are in
virtually every scene until the heroine and hero are betrothed” (33). The heroine encounters the elements of barrier with
both, Ben and Jacob. According to Pamela Regis, “any psychological vice, virtue, or problem, any circumstance of life,
whether economic, geographical, or familial can be made a part of the barrier and investigated at whatever length” (32).
The barrier, which changed the heroine’s life, is the secret of the four and a half years old daughter, which her fiancé
kept from her. The scene when Georgia sees Ben “walking down the street with a woman” (Dave 12) she did not know,
and when the little girl calls him “daddy” was the turning point of the heroine’s life and one of the “the reasons that this
heroine and hero cannot marry” (Regis 32). Ben appeared to be keeping secrets several times; he did not reveal his secret
meetings with his daughter, while taking a trip “to finalize the purchase” (212) of their new apartment in London, and
telling that “he had to stay a few extra days because the sellers were being difficult about the inspection” (Dave 213).
The daughter, Maddie, was the main reason Georgia decided to give Ben freedom and opportunity to raise his daughter,
because she was his “have-to-have-to” (Dave 244). Georgia and Michelle were only “fighting for second place” (Dave
245) and Georgia realized that her future with Ben was her “second place too” (Dave 245). Releasing the barrier “is an
important source of the happiness in the romance novel’s happy ending” (Regis 33). The heroine of the novel separated
herself from the source of the barrier, Ben, who could not make the decision himself.

3.2.1 Setting in the novel Eight Hundred Grapes

Setting is one of the external barrier elements, which “includes geography—physical separation is sometimes part of the
barrier—as well as society and its rules” (Regis 32). The heroine Georgia Ford moves from Southern California, Los
Angeles, the place where she lived “for the last fourteen years” (Dave 4), to her homeland, “small town in Northern
California on the edge of the Russian River Valley” (Dave 4), Sebastopol, which is almost 700 kilometers away. Georgia
leaves wearing bridal dress from the final dress fitting, and after “nine hours, five rest-spot stops” (Dave 4) journey she
reaches Sonoma County. The first place Georgia visits is The Brothers’ Tavern, which her brothers Finn and Bobby Ford
own. The heroine expects compassion and that her relatives would comprehend what she “had been through” (Dave 4)
from the look on her face. Georgia is suffering, and when she comes home, she is shocked rather than comforted. The
absence of the father and one of the brothers confuses the heroine and her “heart dropped in disappointment” (Dave 5).
The heroine moves from big city to the small town, hoping to figure her future out, instead, everyone she relied on,
betrayed in one or another way.

“A move from the city to a more modest country residence helps mark the protagonist’s new life stage” (Harzewski 171).
The vineyard is important for the heroine, because it is “about the farm and the house and how proud he (the father) was
of what he had built here” (Dave 33). The selling of the vineyard also meant that the parents “seemed to be giving away
each other” (Dave 33). Heroine’s child house with her parents in it, waiting together, is the safe place she runs to, after
encountering barriers in her life. “It was a lovely house, comforting with its large shutter, flowers on the windowsills, a
bright red door” (Dave 9). The protagonist fell in love with the vineyard when she was about five years old, she “spent
the week at home” (Dave 41) with her father, getting up early and taking care of the ground, and watching him working
“was like watching love” (Dave 41).

Symbols that have more than literal meaning, in the novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2015) are the heroine’ “mother’s
famous lasagna” (Dave 48) and the vineyard. Eating lasagna for dinner brings all the family together, “no matter how
pissed” (Dave 48) the relatives were at each other. The lasagna is family’s tradition, coming back to your child house and
eating mother’s made food brings sentimental feelings, comfort and nostalgia.
3.2.2 Beauty myth and Chick Lit in the novel Eight Hundred Grapes

According to Naomi Wolf, “the qualities that a given period calls “beautiful” in women are merely symbols of the
female behavior that that period considers desirable: The beauty myth is always actually prescribing behavior and not
appearance” (Wolf 183). The beauty myth uses “female beauty as a political weapon against women’s advancement”
(Wolf 180), however, “the ideology of the beauty is the last one remaining of the old feminine ideologies” (Wolf 180).
Earlier, “the liberated women of the First World” (Wolf 179) were “ashamed to admit that such trivial concerns – to do
with physical appearance, bodies, faces, hair, clothes – matter so much” (Wolf 179) but after “the more legal and
material hindrances women have broken through” (Wolf 179), they gave a “beauty” concept more attention. Despite the
fact that modern women take places in a better legal positions, inside the “controlled, attractive, successful working
women, there is a secret “underlife” poisoning our freedom; infused with notions of beauty, it is a dark vein of self-
hatred, physical obsessions, terror of aging, and dread of lost control” (Wolf 180). The protagonist of the novel Eight
Hundred Grapes (2015) is a successful, attractive woman, who is not concerned about her appearance when she is at her
homeland, however, while living in Los Angeles, she realizes that living in a country “ had forgotten to teach me [the
protagonist] about how to look and feel sexy” (Dave17). Life in the big city, gave the heroine a chance to feel the
difference of the “beauty” concept.

Following the “beauty” standards, the protagonist lost some weight, she started to “spent more money on a pair of shoes
than on a month’s rent” (Dave 17), and the protagonist’s “mother would always say how stylish” (Dave 17) she looked
when coming back home from Los Angeles. The difference of appearances living in a small town and a big city shows
how “beauty myth” is present where the women’s values of success are equal to how they look “and how unrefined and
rural local life” (Dave 18) is, according to the protagonist. The protagonist “wavered between the two worlds” (Dave
18), “Sonoma County was blue jeans and fleece pullovers and practical field boots” (Dave 18), while “Los Angeles was
slingbacks and blue jeans distressed to the tune of $275” (Dave 18) and she was “trying to find a balance” (Dave 18).
The influence of the modern life and of the mass media makes a women desire to look better, to lose weight in order to
compete with other women, and “competition between women has been made part of the myth so that women will be
divided from one another” (Wolf 183).

The protagonist felt inferior comparing herself to Michelle, the ex-girlfriend of her fiancé. The protagonist did not care
about her appearance since she came back, but the visit of Michelle, lowered her confidence. Michelle is a movie star,
“one of the most famous women in the world” (Dave 61), she is “gorgeous and effortlessly stunning” (Dave 153),
Michelle looked good without an effort and always stylish. The protagonist feels unsafe, because her fiancé might fall in
love with her, and Michelle was “the perfect woman” (Dave 154), which associated with threat and at their first
encounter, the protagonist was “un-showered” (Dave 154) which made her feel inferior. Michelle’s character fits the
“beauty myth” concept; she always looks beautiful and stylish, speaks “in this powder-soft voice” (Dave 153), her
appearance draws attention of men, and hostility of women.
The novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2015) has Chick Lit genre’s characteristics, as the “story is about main character’s
road to self-discovery” (Mlynowski and Jacobs 10) and it “reflects women’s lives today – their hopes and dreams as their
trials and tribulations” (Mlynowski and Jacobs 10). The heroine’s break up with her fiancé, the news of the daughter, the
change in her life, which is geographical and professional, was heroine’s “tribulations” and “trials”, without them, she
could not discover herself and what future she wishes. Although “one of chick lit’s most salient characteristics is its city
setting” (Harzewski 30), the setting of the novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2015) is in Sonoma Valley; Los Angeles is
mentioned in the flashbacks, as the place, the heroine lived for the past five years. The Chick Lit characteristics mostly
arouse in this scenes, because in Los Angeles the protagonist had a well-paid job and was free “from financial
dependence on men” (Leonard 101), she was pursuing her dream.

Chick lit offers “less romance” (Harzewski 31) but “greater realism, and in its attempts at synthesis of work and love it
shows the challenges of straddling both realms” (Harzewski 31). The heroine is encountering misfortune and betrayal,
her fiancé kept a secret about his daughter, parents were “taking a little time apart” (Dave 19) and her mother was dating
another man. Later, she found out that her brother Finn is in love with other brother’s Bobby’s wife. Apart of this, the
parents were going to sell the vineyard. In the end, the heroine has balanced her love and work life, even though the
future is unclear.

“Expression in chick lit’s subset of texts that focus on a bride or fiancée’s story” (Harzewski 173), also called “bride lit”
or “bridezilla lit”, prevails in the novel, the protagonist engaged until the end of the novel, when she decides to break up.
The story is about the protagonist understanding what she wants in the life and with who she desires to share it with. She
does not have to marry to fulfill her dreams or to live wealthy. “The modern woman is fully capable of supporting herself
and free to couple as she chooses; put simply, she may marry for love not money” (Leonard 100). As Harzewski
discusses, “these postfeminist marriage plots portray their protagonists as transferable capital and agents of capital
acquisition and make apparent, without necessarily critiquing, the economic underpinnings of marital union” (177).

3.3 Analysis of the Betrothal element in the novel Eight Hundred Grapes

The heroine and hero are engaged from the beginning, there is no scene of the betrothal, it happened five months ago
from current events and Ben proposed to Georgia “during a trip to Paris” (Dave 62). As Regis suggests, “a scene or
scenes the hero asks the heroine to marry him and she accepts; or the heroine asks the hero, and he accepts” (Regis 37)
reveals the element of The Betrothal. This element exists in the romance novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2015), even
though there is no description of the protagonist accepting the proposal. In the romance novels, “marriage is not
necessary as long as it is clear that heroine and hero will end up together” (Regis 37-38). There is a chance of the
wedding between Georgia and Ben, but the situation changes several times during the story, since they encounter
barriers, which affect their relationship and the future.

The heroine and the hero are living together at the end of the novel, which promises the betrothal. Georgia calls Jacob a
“boyfriend” (Dave 260), plans “to buy her a beer and for Jacob to cook some bad spaghetti” (Dave 260), which is a proof
that they live together, and are getting along. This short scene shows that the heroine sees the hero in her future, together
dealing with the vineyard, continuing her parents’ work and building their legacy there.
For the structure of the romance novel, Regis provides three, not essential events: “the wedding, dance, or fete; the exile
of a scapegoat character; and the conversion of a bad or evil character” (Regis 38). The wedding is depicted at the end of
the novel, however, not of the heroine and the hero, the element of this event is important to the romance novel and “this
scene is promised in every romance, even if it is not dramatized” (Regis 38). The scene of the wedding is at the fourth
part out of five of the novel, the last chapter. “It wasn’t an official ceremony” (Dave 252) but all the most important
people were there, the parents, her brothers, and one of brothers wife with twins, Jacob, and even her friend from Los
Angeles “Suzannah and Charles flew up to be there” (Dave 252). In the novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2015), the
betrothal of heroine and the hero is promised.

3.3.1 Analysis of the ending in the novel Eight Hundred Grapes

According to Rachel Blau DuPlessis, an American poet and essayist, the end of women in novels, “the rightful end” (1),
“was social – successful courtship, marriage – or judgmental of her sexual and social failure – death” (1). In the romance
novel Eight Hundred Grapes (2015), the ending is open, because the protagonist does not get married in the end,
although the ending is happy, the reader can make his own conclusions. According to Pamela Regis, “the happy ending
is the one formal feature of the romance novel that virtually everyone can identify” (9), and a marriage can be “promised
or actually dramatized” (9). The heroine was engaged from the beginning of the novel and made her decision at the very
end. In the beginning of the chapter The Other Line (243), Georgia “felt bizarre” (Dave 243) looking at Ben, in her
“childhood bedroom” (243), which meant that she has decided that her future is without Ben. Georgia understood that
Ben wants “to work things out with Michelle” (Dave 244) and be with his daughter, which was “the only thing he could
see” (Dave 245). Ben tried to convince otherwise, but Georgia decided what she wants from this situation – “something
like friendship” (Dave 246). Their friendship ends with them lying in bed, “hand in hand” (Dave 246), Ben’s last words
were “do not close your eyes. If we fall asleep, I won’t be able to convince you” (Dave 246). However, he did fall asleep,
which symbolizes the end of their journey together.

The marriage in the end of the novel is heroine’s parents, who “stood there together under a homemade altar” (Dave 252)
in the place, were Georgia’s wedding with Ben was supposed to happen. After the ceremony, Georgia and her friend
Suzannah walks “away from the crowd, up to the top of the hill” (Dave 253), and after small talk, Georgia is left there
alone with Jacob. They talk about their plans of the future and Georgia’s is to buy “a small plot of land” (Dave 254) and
“make some wine” (Dave 254). After offering his help with supervising the land, Jacob handed Georgia her father’s
original deed for The Last Straw Vineyard, for which Georgia fought for since she came back. There was enough land
for Georgia’s new beginning so she agreed with conditions that Jacob had provided. In that scene, the heroine finally
makes a conclusion on her feelings and doubts: “What if Ben and Michelle hadn’t walked by the dress fitting? What if
we’d walked down the aisle together in that beautiful tent and I hadn’t met Jacob. Jacob, who was standing before me,
offering me a future I hadn’t know I wanted” (Dave 255). As Pamela Regis explains, the heroine’s “adventures,
vicissitudes, or the events that she confronts in the course of the narrative—is at odds with the novel’s ending, namely,
the heroine’s union with the hero” (Regis 9). The hero is Jacob, with whom relationship was complicated and conflicting
at first, but after several encounters they start to develop a friendship and at the end Jacobs kisses Georgia for the first
time.

At the last part of the novel, An Unnamed Vineyard (257), “the heroine's happy union with the hero is presented”
(Radway 208), the time is about four months later, at the beginning of the spring. The harvest ended in the fall, and in the
present the heroine and her relatives are preparing her winemaker’s cottage, after “she has spent the winter” (Dave 259)
for preparing for the new season. Georgia is planning casual dinner with Jacob, “she has a boyfriend who has usurped
her father’s winery” (Dave 260), she has no savings, but “she’s ready to get started” (Dave 260) with her new life. In the
novel, the relationship between Georgia and Jacob presented, “not as a functional necessity dictated by the needs of
social and political institutions but as a combination of luck and individual choice. The reader is invited to see her own
fate in the same light as a freely chosen course of her own making” (Radway 208).

Georgia sees the vineyard as “her whole beautiful future” (Dave 260) and “the best thing that she could possibly do for
herself” (Dave 260). She has “been told that it takes ten years to figure out what you’re doing” (Dave 260), and she
accepts it with the smile. The events in a romance novel, that the heroine experienced, took her “from encumbered to
free” (Regis 30), and she is excited for the future.

Regis, Pamela. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 2003
DuPlessis, Rachael Blau. Writing Beyond the Ending: Narrative Strategies of Twentieth-Century Women Writers.
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Brooks, Ann. Postfeminisms. Feminism, Cultural Theory and Cultural Forms.
Harzewski, Stephanie. Chick Lit and Postfeminism.
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth.
Radway, Janice. Reading Romance. Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature. Capel Hill: The
University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
Dave, Laura. Eight Hundred Grapes.
Lovett, Robin. The Structure of Romance