Prophetic Dreams
~Blog post #1~
Topic E
April 17, 2015
by Teresa Fernandez
Chapter One opens with a poignant dream beginning on the lawn of Manderly, a setting which haunts the characters' past (Mr. de Winter's avoidance of the topic in the restaurant), present (the narrator is very curious about it), and future (our main character, whose name seems to have been left out, continues to dream of it), and we don't yet know why! The dream was unsettling at the least as her future-self struggles to remember how it "might have been, could [she] have lived there without fear"( Du Maurier 3). Why is the narrator so haunted by this place, what secrets are buried beneath this "sepulcher" of a house (3)? Why is it that when "the leaves rustle, they sound very much like the stealthy movement of a woman in an evening dress... the patter of a women's hurrying footsteps"(9)? Lastly, why does she seem relieved as she describes this once beautiful place as a "desolate shell, soulless at last, unhaunted"(3)? Introducing Manderly in this nightmarish context only adds to the mystery. We know something happened here that forced Mr. and Mrs. Maxim de Winter to abandon the house, and it sets a theme of foreboding and suspense for what's to come.
Interesting idea. I didn't really pick up on how the narrator is actually relieved at the state of the house in her dream. Now that it is mentioned, I can see that there is a sense of terrible memories based around Manderley. The narrator seems to have had to flee from this place in the past, making me curious as to why and what has happened since then in the book.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem a bit ironic that the unamed narrator is somewhat fond of Manderley, or at least that's the sense I got. She is afraid of it and what happens there, but at the same time, she has good memories of the mansion. She seems to be very conflicted about everything related to this place.
I would give you a B or B+. Your examples were very nicely used and I was impressed with your overall idea of the passage, but I thought you could have done a more CRC approach and explained more of what you thought about your quotes. It is most clear,
ReplyDeleteconcise, and easy to understand but could use more analyzation and synthesis.