The narrators immaturity really shines through even more so in these next few chapters. For starters, she easily allows herself to feel very awkward and has through the whole book. Even Mrs.Danvers being quite kind and speaking with her in the west wing brought her to feel "vaguely uncomfortable" (93). She also continues to have some sort of idea that their marriage is real, or so it seems. She mentions that when his family came to visit, they had "spoilt" their day, and she felt like a "fool" for slightly disrupting Beatrice's water. She is very hard on herself. In terms of the family, there is an extreme competitive aspect, particularly between Beatrice and Maxim. Maxim rebuts to their comments about his health by mentioning he is "always very fit" and "never had anything wrong" with him in his life(95). To me, this was very strange, I feel like we haven't quite seen that side of Maxim before, that arrogant side and it seems to come out particularly in these two chapters. The siblings argue about extremely catty things and it becomes clear that Beatrice in particular constantly likes to mess with people's heads. Which brings me to my point of her making the narrator feel extremely inferior to Rebecca, and because of her young insecurities, it works. The narrator mentions as Beatrice and she begin talking that there is a "tiny doubt in her voice that made me afraid" (100). She immediately allows Beatrice inside of her head. Then, the comments continue, in reference to her hair, to her clothing, to Maxim changing, and it is very clear that although the Narrator has already changed from the "school boy" (31) we had in the beginning of the book, she still cannot be Rebecca. Beatrice then mentions that Mrs.Danvers dislikes the narrator and resented her being at Manderley because "she simply adored Rebecca" (102) and as the narrator already knew, "you are so very different from Rebecca" (107). After this conversation, when Maxim and the Narrator go to the shore and Maxim refers to her as "my good child" (117) which isn't quite what I would call a romantic name to call your spouse... He clearly begins to feel doubt and regret for bringing the narrator back with him: "We ought never to have come back to Manderley. Oh, God, what a fool I was to come back" (118). Finally, the end of the chapter, we see the tension and the chapter mist off and end with a smile from Maxim. "The smile was my reward. like a pat on the head of Jasper" (120). She compares her relationship with her husband with the relationship of an owner and their dog.
More or less, it is very clear that the narrator is extremely immature still and Beatrice knows how to get inside people's heads. Because of this, the Narrator begins to compare herself to Rebecca even more than she already had, particularly when it comes down to her relationship with Maxim. Finally, although she believes their relationship is real in some parts of the story, she contradicts herself in pointing out that he not only refers to her as "child" but also treats her similarly to the dog.
I think that they are just creating a doomed situation. They like to sweep things under the rug or however that saying goes. They don't look at things under the surface, but they have reasons for not doing so. As you mention, the narrator is very immature and Max is experiencing pain and loneliness and they both try to put these things aside but they are not things that you can just overlook and therefore this is just doomed.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Alayna. I would argue that both Maxim and the narrator only half want to get married. Maxim wants/needs a companion (Like a dog) and our narrator wants to get away from hers. That's pretty much the only common ground the two newlyweds have-not even the need for a wife or husband but the need for just someone to hang out around. The biggest difference between the two I would say is that Maxim may have had too many experiences with a significant other while our narrator has had too few. The relationship was doomed before it had even started.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you, but I also agree with Callie about the narrator being exceptionally hard on herself. I found it strange how she continuously is angry with herself; yet, I think this may just be another sign of her immaturity. However, maybe she feels she doesn't live up to the standards Rebecca left, thus making her feel insecure.
ReplyDeleteI agree mostly with sully and Callie because the narrator just puts herself down and doesn't give herself a chance. She sets herself up for not being successful and not getting anywhere because her self esteem is very low.
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