A reflection on Proust's "Combray"
After reading part 1 of "Combray" I felt sympathy for the narrator and also worried about the way he processes his emotions. In the initial pages of the story, the narrator speaks in much detail of how in his sleep he becomes transported into different memories. It seems like he is being haunted by his past as he cannot escape these dreams. He would often go back to his childhood to relive bad memories.
Although it was only the one memory of his summers in "Combray", the detail put into it made it so the reader could be shown the different family dynamics as well as the narrator's distinct personality. When his father sends him to bed without a kiss from his mother, dismissing it as absurd, the boy becomes filled with sorrow. His mother's kiss was described as “the concession she was making to [his] sadness and agitation,” (13) and without it he let those emotions consume him. He first sends a note down to his mother asking her to come up and say goodnight and after his request was denied, he made a second plan to wait for her to come to bed and catch her in the hall. He knew this would result in severe consequences but he did it anyway because he was dependent on these rituals. When his father came up and saw what was happening, the narrator braced himself for punishment but was surprised when his father showed him sympathy and let his mother stay the night in his room. This surprised me as well because of the father’s initial descriptions of being strict and against this ritual. His change of heart when seeing his son in distress gave me a new perspective on the father. At first, I thought he was cruel but then realized that he was just trying to better his son by setting boundaries and trying to teach independence.
I noticed the narrator is a very sensitive child who experiences life differently from those around him. He is often nervous and has an introverted personality. I’m wondering what connections this can be made to his family dynamics and if it had anything to do with his upbringing or if it was just the way he was wired.
Going back to the scene of the narrator refusing to go to sleep without a kiss from his mother. My question to the class is: Were the narrator's parents in the right to set these boundaries for their child? Or is it more important to tend to the child’s emotional wellbeing?
Hi Megan! I also felt sympathy while reading about the narrator's attempts to get a goodnight kiss from his mother. I really felt his desperation with how much he valued this one kiss and how he far he went to get it. It was interesting to read how your initial impressions of a character changed as you continued to read the novel. I think that it's important to set boundaries for children, but at the same time, different kids have different emotional needs and suppressing them can sometimes only hurt them more than benefit them. I suppose that a balance is important and it simply depends on each child as much as it depends on each situation.
ReplyDeleteHello! Aspects of the narrator's personality stood out to me, too. I think his anxiety is made very clear by his need for rituals, like the good-night kiss, and through his intense dreams and reflections. I find it quite sad that the actions that his parents take are mainly to help him "grow out of" this anxiety, rather than to address the deeper issue.
ReplyDeleteHi Megan,
ReplyDeleteI also caught myself sympathizing with the narrator. His childhood trauma has greatly impacted him. I was also surprised when his father had a change of heart to his son's night time ritual. I believe it's good to set some boundaries, but there needs to be a balance in catering to the child's emotional well being. A child's mental health should always be considered when setting those restrictions as it will affect future behaviour.