L'amant Flashcards
sense of togetherness
nous for speaking about the family in the photo
Il n’ya jamais de centre
pg 14
je ne connaissais pas la jouisance
pg 15
how did her mother try to protect her?
her mother would accompany her to the chauffeurs car (implies wealth) however suggests to the daughter she should be afraid of the foreign world
description of the country pg 17
des fleuves aussi beaux que ceux là, aussi grands
soudain je me vois comme une autre- why and where?
page 19 because she is dressed like a lady in une robe de soie naturelle
how does the dress and hat make her feel different?
she goes everywhere with this hat, but she feels quite insecure
where does she seem to remember all the troubles started from?
from the photo that hey had taken on pg 20 “et puis suviait la difficulté d’avancer encore”
attention to image in the first pages
dressed “comme des malheureux” - a sense that she wants to make her mother happy at this stage
she combed her hair as her mother would tell her to do
“déjà je suis fardée”
Who does she idealise?
The women on the street “qui s’habillent pour rien” “qui font rien”
How does her mother try to control her future?
Sewing, maths, she is cross when she learns her daughter is more proficient at literature
tensions between the mother and the daughter 33
“elle sait bien que l’argent arrive dans la maison”
she is aware that her daughter is her only hope
how does her mother supported her career?
she created a school to help pay her daughters school fees
What drove her mother mad?
Her fathers death, “ c’est lá que j’ai vu la folie pour la première fois”
example of choppy change/ intermittent writing style
she goes from talking all of a sudden about her mother seeing her father in dreams to describing the lover in the limousine
Does the hat work
“il dit que le chapeau lui va bien”
Dés qu’elle a pénétré dans l’auto noir elle est à l’écart de cette famille pour la première fois
pg 44/45
how is there a barrier between the two? They are many senses isolated, outcasts.
they both know they can’t be in the relationship
lots of silence
“je prefererais que vous ne m’aimez pas” 47
How does she describe is body on page 48?
“la peau est d’une somptueuse douceur”
What is the physical separation she talks about, from the rest of the society?
The blinds in the room stops the light from the town coming in on them, the crowds that are always there pose a threat?
56- has to be strong because
Her mother’s depression stopped her from dreaming “Dans ma famille je ne pleure pas”” - he is someone she can share her troubles with about how they can’t eat properly or find clothes
Strong imagery of physical connection pg 57
“il met sa tête sur moi”
Influence of money on Duras’ way of thinking
she forces herself to search for stability that she hasn’t ever had, the money he explains he has appeals to her
we’re never sure if this is the soul cause for her loving him
What induces the fear on the lovers part?
When she talks about her brothers
the fact that she is 12 years younger
What happens at the meal pg 62
“il paye. il compte l’argent […] Tout le monde regarde”
their love is completely fragile, made worse by the environment the grow closer together in, the closer they grow together the further they move from their families
in the presence of her brother he stops being her lover, the domineering influence of her brother, more like a father figure. All the stereotypical roles of the family go out the window
mother and daughter share the journey, they are similar.
like her mother she refers to he brother as ‘tout d’ensemble’
Furthermore she “comment aurait-elle pu taire ce qui était devenu son histoire même” 67
influence of all controlling mother
nothing celebrated in the family, no death is remembered, no christmas celebrated
physical violence “ la mère frappe avec tous ses forces’
brother encourages it
pg 71
what is “le principal de leur vie”
“la misère” 73
Writing is a process of discovery, trying to piece together very fragmented childhood with no centre
remembers that her brother wasn’t there when they were cleaning the house one time- this was when she saw her mother happy for once
later example of fear
“il éprouve une autre peur aussi, non parce que je sui blanche…” as one would assume
(it’s actually because he would go to prison if anyone found out)
Helen lagonelle- the only other white girl in the school
jealous of her beauty
we also see in her analysis of HL a big problem for girls at this age, they have to find someone to marry
How is HL similar to Duras
she will be what her mother wants her to be too, her future is already decided
obsession with image
“HL donne l’envei de la tuer” she is that beautiful
98
Lover goes to care for his father
comes back saying that his father advised him to end it with the young girl
what does she think about them separating
she does agree with his father, she says she refuses to be with him anymore
going mad like her mum?
starts to cry on the terrace when she thinks she sees her mother, this is just after she too had to let go of a loved one
the fact that her mother only photographed her children suggests?
that the colonial world they grew up in had little significance, perhaps it wasn’t central to their existence
What does Rose say about the colonial rule
the young girl reflects on injustice done to her mother by the French ruled colonial government
What does Rose say about the narrators style
that the narration is like a filter, so we never see the whole image
Does Rose say that the mother had an effect on the daughter?
yes during her more formative years
Who says the “ultimate expression of power over her mother is the writing of the novel”?
Martin, this is in response to her mother trying to control her and taking care to demean the heroine
What does Martin suggest is an overriding theme in L’Amant?
the near for power and control, ‘hunger for importance’
Hill says what about the writing style of Duras?
she writes with simplicity and directness, the book is concerned with trying to show how she got where she is today.
how does she situate her love affaire?
she places herself in a vast country, scenery is large eg Les plus grands deltas de la terre
what do they say near the end of the book about marriage
that her mother had difficulties finding a husband and she had it worse than duras. She says that you can’t just find a husband anywhere despite duras believing this will happen anywhere
what is the importance of the photographe nearer the end
to help them to see if they had grown up - none of them respond to her when she looks at them- they never know where they are with her
what didn’t the mother take photos of?
places, clearly the environment wasn’t too significant
what is described about colonial world to being different to france
the food
clothes- leaves the body naked and
when she left him and is look back on how he treated he, what does she think?
that she was his, his child
she calls herself ‘son enfant’
what is interesting about the way she talks about the lover after they split up
she calls him the man from cholen- forces distance between him and her
what does she talk about when her brother dies?
death, the immortality of death
this seems like the main death that has really touched her
