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: middle section moves backward , produces stasis interrupts forward momentum of text . in past, karen years maintained unrequited, hopeless love max, when became involved, not enjoy fulfilling relationship him. instead, remained tethered caste: had been born , making marriage inside class in england changes least of all....this world wished escape but, through marriage, meant inhabit still . in more recent present, mme fisher has been putting off sale of parisian house until death, although acknowledges has been waiting die decade. also, reader learns leopold s development , maturity have been continuously stunted adoptive family, have kept him in state of perpetual dependency. both , text s other child, henrietta, remain in transit throughout entire novel, never arriving @ destinations. finally, karen prolongs reunions leopold , naomi, both of whom have been waiting years see her; on lesser scale, henrietta s grandmother, in letter kingfisher (that is, naomi fisher), claims has been waiting visit her.

betrayal , secrecy

the novel concerned throughout betrayal , secrecy. karen betrayed mother not revealing aunt violet s terminal illness during remaining weeks of life; in fact, narrator reports karen did not ask herself why had said nothing. mme fisher betrayed naomi encouraging max choose karen, enabling max , karen begin affair , betray respective fiancés, while karen betrayed naomi well: when karen admonishes max, cannot naomi, max responds, did think of her? maud ellmann asserts karen loves max precisely because woman s . later, after karen has conceived illegitimate child, mrs. michaelis betrays husband sending karen on year of supposed european travel , study, karen further betrays ray secretly giving birth , giving away illegitimate son. in present, karen still betrays father, desperate grandchildren, hiding grandson s existence. ultimately, karen betrays leopold @ eleventh hour when refuses meet him in paris, betrayal underscored repeated message leopold, mother not coming; cannot come. because of karen s betrayal of leopold, bennett , royle qualified house in paris bowen s rigorous , unremittingly clairvoyant elaboration of structure , effects of psychic trauma. house in paris propose call traumaturgy, both work , theory of wounds. finally, ray betrays grant moody foster family stealing leopold @ novel s close. there secrecy throughout text that, according marian kelly, bowen forces readers position of detective making constant deduction @ level of both conversational references , character psychology central element of reading novel .

motherhood

elizabeth bowen classifies motherhood central problem in house in paris. machinations of mme fisher, of course, worst of of novel s mothers. in past max recalled of mme fisher, acted on me acid on plate, while karen thought, woman sells girls; witch. after mme fisher contributed max s suicide, daughter naomi saw then, evil dominated our house. in fact, neil corcoran sees mme fisher quasi-vampiric, since indeed draw blood max, when slits wrist in house in front of her. additionally, mrs. michaelis presented apathy , detachment daughter, although karen went far classify mother ruthless. @ 1 point, karen aware mother s passive-aggressive parenting caused key power shift between them: has made me lie week. hold me inside lie till makes me lose power felt had. aware of these troubling examples, in present karen longs correct abandonment , natural mother leopold, son realises not lend herself him. neil corcoran calls leopold s reaction mother s failure novel s concentrated expression of psychological , emotional wounding parentlessness. bowen s attention motherhood continues throughout oeuvre, attending difficult maternal figures mrs. kelway in heat of day , lady naylor in last september, example.

houses

houses loom large in bowen s work (as evident in bowen court, 1946 book memorialising ancestral house, bowen court, 1 of irish great houses, forced sell , subsequently demolished) , in house in paris main setting house naomi , mme fisher live, characterised full, stuffy, , oppressive: inside of house—with shallow door-panels, lozenge door-knobs, polished brass ball on end of banisters, stuffy red matt paper stripes artfully shadowed appear bars—was more novel henrietta, antagonistic, though had been invented put out. felt house acting, nothing seemed natural; objects did not wait seen came crowding in on her, each amounted aggressive cry. naomi s deceased aunt s home in twickenham described, though there suggestion of future redemption: aunt s house hollow, dead. else move in @ once, , here next spring, no doubt, enjoy cherry. third house home of colonel , violet bent lived in rushbrook, house in ireland karen briefly visited before returning michaelis home in chester terrace, regent s park, london. irish home replacement of earlier great house, ancestral home of colonel bent, burned during irish war of independence.