Dealing with the changes

~Topic B~

Blog Post 4

5-18-15

By: Camden Wilkins

In the final chapters of our book, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, we see a huge change in the main character. The change occurs when her husband Maxim tells her that he was the one who murdered Rebecca, and is afraid that the people of the town will find out about his deed. Maxim becomes very paranoid. Our main character really starts showing a compassion that we do not quite see up until this point, and she comforts him. This whole time, Maxim is depressed and very paranoid for his own safety. They decide that they must leave before anything bad happens, in this we see the the main character truly does have a new found sense of compassion, and demonstrates this by agreeing to run away from the life she has just gotten used to, and go with Maxim. She hinted at a physical love before this in earlier chapters, but never has she demonstrated the love that she shows to Maxim now.  When Maxim and the main character run away with each other, it is like they are leaving so much behind, but at the same time, gaining an entirely new place in their relationship with each other, "kissing as if [they] had never kissed before (348)." In fact, this new love for each other is symbolized in the book as Manderly burns down, showing an end to the way things used to be, Maxim almost ignoring the main character, and the main character still a shy young girl. Maxim and the main character develop such new personalities that they start showing intimacy with each other, instead of being in the same room, but two different worlds.

Blog Post #5

Blog Post #5 Prompt B

Lexi Smith

Lady (our narrator) has changed significantly throughout the book. It is made evident from the very beginning that she is  "so different from Rebecca" (Du Maurier 98) and we can see from evidence provided by the characters that she is indeed extremely different from Rebecca. Although this holds true throughout most of the book, towards the end she becomes a bit more like Rebecca. She is more confident with herself at the end, and she is much less naive to everything that goes on. In the beginning of the book she is always anxious that she cannot fill Rebecca's shoes and this makes her very insecure. Although she feels like Rebecca overshadows her life and everything that she does, at the end of the book she learns that it is a different kind of overshadowing that makes her growth very significant. At the end of the book she realizes that Rebecca is indeed not who she thought she was and this makes her much more confident with herself. She learns a huge secret that changes her perspective on everything. Learning that Maxim killed Rebecca because of everything that she did to him teaches her that Rebecca wasn't this perfect figure that she needed to live up to, but in actuality exactly what Maxim needed (the opposite of Rebecca).  In the end she learns that it is indeed a good thing that she is so different from Rebecca.

A Ghastly Sentiment

A Ghastly Sentiment

~Topic A~

Blog Post 4

5-8-15

By: Scott Acker

Throughout Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier creates an odd sense of forboding around the story's main setting, Manderley. Not only has the lady of the house died tragicaaly and recently, but not everyone is completely over it. In some cases, this leads to some odd character actions. The most glaring example of this is Mrs. Danvers. Not only does she adore Rebecca, the late Mrs. De Winter, but she sees her as perfect in every way and wishes she would return. At the very least, Danvers suggests that this may be true. While the heroine and Danvers are talking in Rebecca's perfectly preserved room, she implies Rebecca might "come back and watch (her) and Mr. De Winter." Not only does she show her odd devotion to Rebecca with this sentiment, but a bit of malice as well. Danvers makes it bvious that she does not like Lady, but she suggests a wishh for Lady to be haunted by a vengeful and jealous ghost.

Blog Post #4- Topic H 
Lexi Smith


Rebecca is a very interesting book with its own unique characteristics that make it difficult to truly compare it to anything else you've ever read. Although it is difficult, it is not completely impossible. I can compare Rebecca to In The Time of The Butterflies by Julia Alvarez because this book is very female led and yet there is a fate (Rebecca in this case) that we know has already happened but her life still impacts others as the book goes on. Even though we know Rebecca is dead, she overshadows the lives of everyone in the book and now we know why. Our supposed hero wasn't as glamorous as everyone thought. Even though our narrator says she believes that her husband thinks "about her night and day" (18.72) we later find that she wasn't a big part of his life in a loving way. I can compare this to Things Fall Apart because even though Okonkwo (our supposed hero) was supposed to be this invincible macho man, we saw he had many issues that he struggled with within himself. Rebecca is supposed to be our supposed celebrity girl that everybody knows about, but we later learn that this isn't true and eventually leads to her death. In the past we have read about many interesting dynamic characters with special traits, but these traits can also relate to Rebecca as well. 

Identity Issues

Identity Issues

~Blog Post 1~

Topic D
May 4, 2015

By Teresa Fernandez

It is so frustratingly obvious how our Lady feels overshadowed by Rebecca. She is constantly comparing herself to the previous Mrs. De Winter and is quite frankly making the story revolve around this dead woman all on her own. Even the slant of Rebecca's handwriting makes our main character feel inferior. After being introduced to other characters, Lady could immediately "picture them saying to one another as they drove away, 'My dear, what a dull girl. She scarcely opened her mouth', and then the sentence [Lady] had first heard upon Beatrice's lips, haunting [her] ever since, a sentence [she] read in every eye, on every tongue - 'She's so different from Rebecca'"(Du Maurier 98) Although these conversations take place in her head, they may not be entirely far from accurate. Lady is being compared to Rebecca but she does little to establish her own person. In fact, she shows Maxim's relations very little personality because she is afraid of stepping out of line. She absolutely needs to establish her own rules--Manderley is her house too--and step out of her comfort zone. Lady cannot pretend to be someone she's not, nor can she hide herself away and pretend all her problems will sort themselves out. However, I don't have much hope for Lady; the novel is titled Rebecca, after all. Sadly, I don't think Lady will ever escape the grasp Rebecca has on her life.

In Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, the unnamed main character, who we call Lady, is constantly overshadowed by those around her. For nearly the entire story, one person or other always casts a shadow over Lady, in being more important or accomplished. At first, it is Mrs. Van Hopper, the woman who pays Lady to travel with her across Europe. Van Hopper is overbearing and a bit self-obsessed, leaving Lady to exist in the background, never her own person. Later, she meets Maxim, a man who is very interested in her. Then, she finally starts to step out and be her own person. Unfortunately, this leads to her stepping into another, more imposing shadow: Rebecca's. The late wife of Maxim is much older and experienced than Lady is, and the hole she leaves with her death is unfillable. Especially to Lady and a servant, Mrs. Danvers. Both are completely aware that Lady can never fill Bebecca's shoes. Even just admitting it to herself makes Lady feel as if "(she) had taken a purge and rid (herself) of an intolerable pain" (123). One of the largest themes developing in Rebecca is trying to escape the shadow of someone else and being your own person.

Blog Post #3 Prompt J -Lexi Smith

Blog Post #3-Prompt J

Although Rebecca is not alive during the time this book takes place, she ultimately overshadows everything in the lives of the characters. Our narrator, who is not named, feels as though she cannot live up to the standards that Rebecca has set. This makes it difficult to overcome her anxiety and insecurities throughout the book. The purpose of not naming our narrator is perhaps that it does not matter who our narrator is; she could have been any girl that Maxim felt suitable as an attempted replacement. It also doesn't matter who our narrator is because Rebecca overshadows everything within the book. It is especially stated that Rebecca is still very present in the lives of everyone when the older woman asks, "Do you think she can see us, talking to one another now? [...] Do you think the dead come back and watch the living?" (chapter 15, page 45 PDF) Everyone feels as though Rebecca is still watching over everything and it is especially present in our narrator who feels as though she cannot live up to the standards of Rebecca and it makes her feel as though she's living in the shadow of Rebecca.