The situation of the male characters in Anne Hebert's novels evolves, from Les Chambres de bois to L'Enfant charge de songes. The position of the male characters in relation to the female characters changes, as does their position in relation to physical and psychological space. The male characters gradually acquire greater liberty in the course of this evolution. Concretely, this means that the male characters free themselves, step by step, from the conflictual situation that determines their relations to the female characters and that they free themselves, at the same time, from a restrictive physical and psychological space. / We will demonstrate that the evolution in the male characters' position in relation to the female characters and to space is realized simultaneously. When a significant change occurs in the male-female relation, it is accompanied by a similar change in the relation of the male characters to physical and psychological space. Starting from a doubly conflictual position (with relation to the female characters and to physical and psychological space), the male characters evolve, on both counts, towards what we call a harmonious state. This evolution is not, of course, linear; the male characters sometimes seem to hesitate. But still, we cannot deny that they progress, from one novel to the other, towards freedom.

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