Rebecca is a novel about a young girl who doesn’t know who she is. This novel follows the narrator on a psychological quest for selfhood, and her struggle against an invisible enemy. In the beginning of the story, she is a shy, insignificant little girl. She learns and grows to eventually become the confident Mistress of Manderly.
Before the narrator goes to Manderly, she is young and timid, “with straight bobbed hair and youthful unpowdered face… trailing in the wake of Mrs. Van Hopper like a shy, uneasy colt.” She is very awkward and still searching for her purpose and identity. Obsequious to Mrs. Van Hopper, the narrator is portrayed as the daughter of this maternal figure. She lacks a strong will or any sense of authority. She fades into the background of the busy social surroundings that Mrs. Van Hopper brings her into. Unable to take action, she is unsure of accepting Mr. De Winter’s proposal and even leaves it to up him to inform Mrs. Van Hopper of her leaving.
Once she reaches Manderly, it is apparent that her lack of confidence is a significant problem. She feels adrift in the vast halls of Manderly. She loses her way frequently, constantly asking servants for directions. She constantly feels nervous, worrying that the servants are laughing at her. When she breaks the ornament and is forced to apologize to Mrs. Danvers, she almost appears like a child that has been caught being naughty. She is not only failing to act the part of maxim’s wife, but also as an adult. The narrator’s inability to assert her authority shows her failure to accept who she has become. When Mrs. Danvers calls on the house telephone and asks for Mrs. De Winter, the heroin, without thinking, replies, “I am afraid you have made a mistake… Mrs. De winter has been dead for over a year.” In her mind, the narrator cannot accept that she, and not Rebecca, is the true Mistress of Manderly. The narrator allows herself to trust Mrs. Danvers and follows her suggestion for the dress she wears to the ball. She does this to try to be original, daring and surprising. She is trying to carve an identity out for herself. Ironically, instead of distancing herself from the specter of Maxim’s dead wife, the narrator puts herself in Rebecca’s clothes and walks in her footsteps. The narrator feels that Maxim’s memory of his old wife is stronger than his love for her, the new wife. Finally, Mrs. Danvers urges the narrator to commit suicide by jumping out of a window and the narrator seems to lack the strength to resist her. She constantly feels inferior to Rebecca, and feels that she has failed, both in her marriage and in her quest to make Manderly her own.
The Essay on Wuthering Heights The Narrator
Emily Brontefs Wuthering Heights, starts off with confusing opening characters and she uses Wuthering Heights as an introduction for the readers and to show the complex relationships the characters have among each other. Bronte uses a peculiar style of narration, she uses second and third person narration throughout the novel. Nothing is ever associated by a perspective of a single observer. In ...
After many months of unnecessary intimidation, The narrator learns that Maxim never loved Rebecca, and with this knowledge she also gains the confidence that she needs to assert herself and become who she truly is; Mrs. Manderly. For the first time, she actually seems at home at Manderly. She orders servants around, alters the dinner menu, stands up to Mrs. Danvers, and establishes her authority as mistress of the house. The truth about Rebecca has freed the narrator to feel confident of Maxim’s love, and to feel confident of her own place at Manderly. This new certainty saves and transforms their marriage and allows her true self to come out. She finally has overcome the shy, incompetent part of herself, and completed the psychological quest for her own selfhood.
The lack of a name symbolizes her search for identity. The fact that she remains unnamed throughout the novel is indicative of her continuing quest to find her true self. In the beginning she is just a note in the background music, and in her first months at Manderly, she is eclipsed by Rebecca. It isn’t until she is confident of Maxim’s love that she can be confident of her place at Manderly and confident of her place in the world.
The Essay on Painting Place Things Love
Second Draft Melisa Bi lic 8 th period TITLE: Shepherdess with her flock in a Barbi zon landscape ARTIST: Charles-emilie Jacque Medium: Oil on Canvas Date: (1813-1894) The painting i was look in at that caught my attention the most was the one above. The painting was of a woman in a deserted place with the greenest grass, light blue sky with a couple of clouds coming in like it was going to rain ...
