Themes The House in Paris
1 themes 1.1 time 1.2 stasis 1.3 betrayal , secrecy 1.4 motherhood 1.5 houses themes time the past , present intertwined in house in paris, , middle section, past, imagined history. characters in past have in mind future characters , events. example, hours after conceiving leopold, karen thinks son if exists: idea of you, leopold, began present her. thought of karen s is, in end, leopold s, since imagines these events; reader learns leopold s past while does, simultaneously gaining information disconnected fragments derived combination of hints , opinions filtered through experiences in house in paris. bowen herself discussed bendability of time in essay published in 1951, in discusses factitious memory : 1 route past (or idea of past) factitious memory. say, art made seem remember have not known. stasis throughout house in paris, characters not go anywhere, either geographically or emotionally. marian kelly sees bowen s narrative structure deliberately slowing down plot: mi...