This week’s reading was challenging for me to understand. The main concept I gravitated towards during “Combray” is his multifaceted relationship and/or reliance on his mother. This is what I want to further unpack (from my understanding) and question in my blog post this week.
Marcel spends a lot of time reflecting on his past memories in these sections of “Swann’s Way”. Most of these past memories have to do with his relationship with his mother. Marcel as a character seems to be very anxious, nervous and uneasy most of the time, especially before bed time. He describes his space and environment in much detail, leading me to think he is either very observant or just very anxious about every detail constantly. His mind is always racing and a million thoughts are being thought even though throughout the book there isn’t much sense of physical or mobile actions bodily verifying his thoughts.
He mentions a lot about how he longs for bedtime kisses from his mother, leading me to assume that he lacks a sense of stability to her. If he truly believed she would always be there to kiss him goodnight, wouldn’t he not worry about it as much? Or is it just a mental anxiety telling him that this ‘routinely’ thing is not certain? Another question I had was regarding his father. Why was his father always so upset and/or bothered by the fact that he wanted a kiss from his mother goodnight? This could be stemmed from a number of things. Jealousy perhaps? Resentment, either towards his wife or his son. It was a little unclear to me where this attitude comes from.
This whole concept/theme reminded me greatly of the Oedipus complex from Sigmund Freud, in which states that the son is in love with the mother at the unconscious level and simultaneously fears his father to be a rival. This concept from Freud was developed in 1899 and this book was published 1913, so it is possible that maybe the author was trying to convey this idea? Whether or not this is true of the author, I do believe the relationship conveyed by Marcel and his mother sometimes seemed to be codependent. This also raises the question, to which extent is it healthy to rely or depend on your parents in your life? Since we are unsure what age the mother and such were in the memory, it is difficult to say or critique this relationship if Marcel and his mother were in a state of development where dependence was very crucial. I don’t know I feel like I am all over the place hahaha.
Hi Tamara, thanks for your post! You mentioned a very good point about Proust’s Freudian psychological characteristics as represented by his attachment to his mother, which I fully agree with. Since Proust’s time was relatively distant from now, I think he had his reasons for this mainly due to his sensitive and young mentality. Also, I think another psychoanalytic factor involved in Combray is the debate between the narrator’s consciousness and unconsciousness. The switch from one to the other further enhances the powerfulness of conveying Proust’s childhood memories, as well as engaging readers and increasing elements of suspense.
Hey Tamara,
You are definitely not “all over the place”. I found your blog post very insightful and easy to read. Whether or not Proust is aware of Freud’s proposal, the Oedipus Rex story has existed long before, in which a king kills his father and marries his mother. If you’re interested, this youtube video is a pretty interesting rundown of the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj7R36s4dbM. This story is mentioned later in the story very briefly (you can command+f) to find it in the PDF version of the text. I looked into this topic as well when reading this text as I was also reminded of Freud’s Oedipus complex theory. I really loved how you included many questions in this post — this reading definitely leaves us with many of them. You phrased them in a way that successfully prompts your readers to contemplate the same questions without sounding unsure of yourself/unconfident.
As for your idea of unhealthy mother and son relationships, I think that it is evident even now. There’s a whole world of “mama’s boys” as well as this idea in many cultures that having a boy is of higher value and therefore boys are treated better by their families. These ideas root back to the idea that men are more valuable in the workforce, particularly in times where employment meant laborious, physically demanding jobs, as men have a physical advantage. Great work, Tamara.
Hi Tamara! I really enjoyed your point about how Proust’s observations and attention to detail could be a direct cause of his anxious nature. I also noticed how descriptive the writing was, but I did not think to connect the two things until reading your post! I had the same question about the fathers behaviour and overall how it almost felt like the family view this nighttime routine as taboo. One thought I had was that it could be due to it being a different time, when men where meant to be more “masculine” and less vulnerable, whereas now a days not only has parenting styles changed, but also the view of gender roles and how men are able to express themselves emotionally has evolved as well.
Hi Tamara!
I really like how you created connections to Sigmund Freud’s studies. After learning those studies in psychology, I defiantly thought about what Freud would have thought about the narrator’s attachment with his mother. This novel also left me all over the place and with many unanswered questions. I enjoyed reading your take and the connections you made to the story!
Hey Tamara!
I loved your thoughts. What struck me about how upset the father would get over his insistence on his mother’s goodnight kisses may have been the cultural context at the time surrounding boys and men. I think there was some mention of the boy being ‘weak’ enough as it was, and that his mother’s attitude towards him didn’t help. The father may have, in a traditional sense, wanted the boy to be more stoic as to be ‘stronger’. Just some thoughts!