My Thoughts on Proust's 'Combray'

Proust’s “Combray” has many different elements working all at the same time. There are many aspects of the text to discuss and infinitely more meanings to take from these aspects. Throughout the text, I had an issue pinning down the tone which Proust was using. He exhibits an interestingly hard to understand to ne,the book, like many modernist works, seems to have no real direction but rather comprises of Proust’s musings of his past childhood. Because of this, the tone and in turn the emotions present are often hard to interpret. Is he happy? Sad? Angry? Often the only clear emotion is nostalgia at most. For me, the clearest emotions I could understand occurred when the author would discuss his “Mama”.

While there are many notable parts of Proust’s work, the most notable to me was the relationship between the author/narrator and his mother. The most evocative emotions appeared to me when the narrator was feeling something about or towards his mother. For example, his language and actions while around other characters was often fairly passive. His reflections on his past were, while nostalgic, often fairly emotionless. As soon as his mother was present however, his emotions seem to change. He becomes more impassioned, the pace of the text speeds up, and he becomes involved in the world around him where he previous had not.

It is clear he has a strong attachment to his mother and in his reflections she can even be perceived as the only thing the narrator cares about. He speaks about his days passing quickly while he waits for the only thing that mattered to him as a child, the kiss from his mother before he went to sleep. She also brings out previously unexplored emotions in him. He gets upset when Swann comes around because he knows it means his mother will pay him less attention. He becomes so upset that he even develops a dislike for the man. He is nervous when he ponders whether he will get a goodnight kiss from his mother, and most of his time is consumed with his ponderings over whether/when his mother will come to him. His actions also change and instead of just letting things happen to himself, or narrating as if they are, he makes his own moves; such as going to his mother after she refused to give him a goodnight kiss even at the risk of being sent away for school.

To me, this relationship was very moving and helped me to understand the text much better. Often, emotion is what draws me to a text, and if the text lacks emotional passion I tend to get a bit bored. This emotion towards his mother is what intrigued me and was definitely something I related to a lot. It was my favourite part of Proust’s work, although his masterful wielding of imagery in relation to his memories was a close second.

I initially forgot to add, but my question is: why do you think the narrator had such a strong relationship with his mother? Why was it so hard for him to be apart from her? Obviously he has seperation anxiety, but what has caused this in your opinion?