"There's something about you, though, and I'm finding it impossible to stay away. You should steer clear from me." He closes his eyes as if in defeat. "Anastasia, I'm not a hearts and flowers kind of man, I don't do romance. She finds the basic idea of inflicting pain on another person to be upsetting, not arousing, and she can never fully grasp the psychological dynamic of what he is seeking. However, this initial interaction reveals a problematic dynamic which plagues Christian and Ana's relationship throughout the novel. He uses the word "dominant" to explain this more complicated idea. However, Christian has a more nuanced definition: what arouses him is power, and pain matters only because inflicting it can be a form of asserting power.
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![quote from fifty shades of grey quote from fifty shades of grey](https://cache.lovethispic.com/uploaded_images/thumbs/184564-Fifty-Shades-Of-Grey.jpg)
Ana assumes the point is that Christian enjoys inflicting pain, and this information is hard for her to accept. Ana's initial interpretation of the room, and the question she asks him shows the gap in their frames of reference. Here in Christian's "Red Room of Pain," he explains for the first time what his ideal relationship dynamic would be: she is the submissive, and he is her dominant. "It means I want you to willingly surrender yourself to me, in all things." Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, Chapter 7, I wander to the far corner of the room and pat the waist high padded bench and run my fingers over the leather. It also shows that she has little frame of reference for actual relationships: she only knows what she has learned from books, and this lack of perspective makes her vulnerable. The quote shows her dreamy and romantic nature. Ana is beginning to idealize Christian and imagine him as a character in a romantic story. By contrast, Christian came to help her in an unpleasant situation, and focused all of his concern on her welfare. The quote shows that Ana has been feeling wary and slightly afraid of Christian, imagining that he might be a "dark knight." This suspicion might come from the fact that José and Paul Clayton have both been fairly forceful in their pursuit of her.
![quote from fifty shades of grey quote from fifty shades of grey](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d4/13/00/d41300cb211dbedc14aea386732009d3.jpg)
At this point, they do not yet have a sexual relationship he brought her back to his room after she became very drunk and passed out. Anastasia Steele, Chapter 5, Pages 68-69Īna reflects on these lines when she wakes up in Christian's hotel room. He's not a dark knight at all, but a white knight in shining, dazzling armor-a classic romantic hero-Sir Gawain or Lancelot. He cares enough to come and rescue me from some mistakenly perceived danger. And for all that, I have spent the night in his hotel suite, and I feel safe.