Before I relate to the text, I would like to admire the lofty imagery that we are left with when reading Proust’s Combray. It is almost like a string of thoughts that we are bombarded with and is an open ground for feeling many of the emotions and the experiences that the author himself has a deep relationship with. It is a reverie for the past and somehow attempting to revive some part of it into the present moment. I definitely think many of the sensory input we get from this work really shows the attention to minute details which do not deserve to go unnoticed. It also adds to the idea that maybe it is good to live within illusions if that is how to live more peacefully in such a hectically controlled society. As the narrator would put it, “Certainly I found some charm in these brilliant projections… But I cannot express the uneasiness caused in me by this intrusion of mystery and beauty into a room I had at last filled with myself to the point of paying no more attention to the room than to that self” (Combray1. p10).
From my perspective, I think Proust wants us to embrace our childhood by giving us a way to escape from the dull day-to-day life as an adult. Essentially, I think Proust is recollecting his memory on the good times — the good times that are gone, but not forgotten. These good times are shown through his experiences, the relationship with the narrator’s mother (is fairly complex) and a hierarchal society composed of the Bourgeoisie and the lower classes. The memory of childhood is something that sits in a large portion of where Proust decides to take his work. It captivates the atmosphere of an empty space in the present where this dark void is significantly filled with what happened around him and to him that left its imprints on the narrator’s mind. “What I wanted now was Mama, to say good night to her, I had gone too far along the road that led to the fulfillment of that desire to be able to turn back now” (Combray1. p.34).
On the other hand, Proust does not decide to put the direction of focus on the fact that the past will never happen again because everything in the past cannot be revisited physically. More alternatively, the narrator is able to find and revive a part of himself, which is essential to reading something as memorable as Combray. It is not the fact that living inadequately is the main issue, but the perspective of the main character who experiences it and must find a way to somehow leave it behind. And as difficult as that task may be, this is Proust’s personal attempt to find some meaning in whatever he is going through as a unique individual. Some painfully joyful tears.
Lastly, my question would be: What does the relationship between the narrator and his mother indicate about the story?