Honestly, picking up this novel was quite intimidating, especially after not having read one in a while. Right off the bat, I found it difficult to follow, and I ended up rereading sentences in an attempt to figure out what exactly was going on. At some point, though, I realized I was actually making steady progress! Once I got comfortable with the non-linear narrative, I began to enjoy it more.
What stood out to me most was the way that the narrator lingers on a single memory, which then leads to another memory, then another, and so on. It felt endless. While this sometimes made it hard for me to stay focused, I also found it entertaining. It felt very true to how thoughts and memories work. One memory can trigger an abundance of others, and suddenly you can end up far off from where you began. Because of this, the writing style felt confusing at times, but also extremely fitting for a novel that is so focused on memory.
The narrator’s relationship with his mother was something I didn’t quite know how to feel about. I understand his emotional dependence on her during childhood and how she represents comfort for him, but the intensity of the attachment felt unsettling (?) at times. While reading, I had a fleeting thought about how the narrator’s relationship with his parents was kind of.. Oedipal and Freud-like, but it was more of a passing thought instead of something I deeply analyzed. By the end of the section, my feelings about this relationship changed. When his parents catch him waiting for his mother to say goodnight, she becomes more firm and distant, while his father is the one who ends up granting him the comfort he seeks (p. 35-36). That moment complicated the dynamic and made it a little less straightforward.
I struggled with the long descriptions of the Combray church. I appreciate the beauty of the depictions, but it was difficult for me to stay fully focused (I could feel myself start to do the thing where I drift through the text and miss a few words here and there, and then have to force myself to reread the sentence). That said, I really liked the memory of the steeple. What stayed with me was how the steeple acts as something that helps organize the narrator’s memories and sense of time. He says how it “gave all the occupations, all the hours, all the viewpoints of the town their shape, their crown, their consecration” (p. 66). I like how the steeple acted as an anchor for his memories. It reminded me of how in real life, certain places or buildings can hold so much meaning, bringing back routines and emotions without us even realizing.
Discussion Question:
Is there a building or place in your own life that holds memories in a similar way that the Combray steeple does for the narrator, even if it’s something that you don’t think about very often?
Hi Emily! Interesting analysis, I agree with you that the way the narrator relation with his mother is built can definitely be read as Freudian or Oedipal.
I like how you highlighted the steeple role in the creation of memories. I think that is another object that carries with him a myriad of memories and feelings.
Yes, my parents’ house holds a lot of memories to me. Good job! Please share these ideas on class, they will definitely be interesting to your classmates.
See you tomorrow,
Julián.
Hi Emily, I find it very interesting how you’ve explained your thoughts on the relationship with the mother from the start to the end and not just what you thought about it after reading the whole thing. Very interesting perspective!
Hi Emily, I thought your mention of Freud and the narrator’s relationship with his mother to be really insightful. Now that you said it, I can clearly see how it could be read that way and totally agree. I thought it was interesting how the father was the one to grant the narrator comfort instead of the mother, and how it adds another layer of depth to the dynamic. Thanks for sharing!