In the final pages of “Place Names – The Name” the narrator watches the mother of the young girl whose name fills his every waking moment ever since their chance meeting at the Champs-Elysées. Her name is Madame Swann, and she is stylishly dressed, alone, and meeting a unidentifiable man dressed in gray. Priorly condemned as morally scrupulous by the narrator’s mother, the scene of the woman going out to meet a man other than her husband incites intrigue and suspense. Has Swann truly found two separate and equally unfaithful women or has he succumbed to the love of the first. The women’s name is Odette, and she is the woman who has tormented and cheated upon her lover for years, all the while claiming innocence with her docile and eloquent demeanor. This is the woman who the secondary protagonist of the novel, who we have watched suffer at her behest, has married.
The acceleration of an affair into an actual union not only shocks due to its origin but the ridiculous and cruel treatment of Swann by Odette. Their relationship began in the social turmoil and drama of the Verdurin’s salon in which only the proper opinions of art and culture and deemed acceptable, and any opposition or outside involvement beyond the circle of friends is viewed as betrayal. To know the prime minister was not an honor to the Verdurins, but an affront to their own prestige and self-conceit for offering another source of pleasure than themselves for the lives of their acquaintances. Thus, when Swann accidentally announces his lunch to meet with a head of state, he must quickly condescend of the party’s inevitable boredom and slowness which will only serve to inspire his return to the Verdurins, Odette, and their circle of friends. To win Odette, Swann must endear the members of her circle, but to do so he must also sacrifice his connections with the outside world leaving him isolated and socially dependent on his lover despite the instability and constant infidelity of their relationship. Swann therefore, sacrifices his social circles to obtain the unobtainable, the women who does not wish to be kept. Three essential claims on the nature of human interaction can be drawn from the Swann’s submission to his affair with Odette.
- People want what they can’t have.
- People will act in opposition to their own values and desires to please others whom they deem desirable or exclusive.
- The inclusion of outside ideals or identities in an exclusive community or group threatens the integrity and power of the group’s dominant ideology.
The first is obvious. Swann views Odette as undesirable and opposed to his usual type until he manages to construct a comparison between her and ancient artworks due to their similar simplicity and softness of features. At the beginning of their affair, he holds little interest in her and only frequents the same salon as her come late int he evenings after already having visited with the barmaid who he repeatedly defines as much more attractive to him than Odette. However, one evening he arrives too late to dinner and finds that his plaything has not waited for him inciting an inversion of their positions in their relationship. The mere thought that Swann might be uninterested or have other prospects drives him to insanity as he searches for her presence in a number of French cafes and taverns. When they are finally reunited, Swann loses his prior dominance, begs to fix the flowers on her dress, and ensures that he sees to her every need initiating a dynamic that enables Odette’s infidelity and his refusal to believe or acknowledge either which protects her. Odette becomes desirable when she becomes unobtainable like the ancient painting of the Greeks and from that moment on Swann is enslaved to her whims and manipulations. The pursuit of the unobtainable cages Swann in misery that only the forfeiting of what he wishes to win but can not can possibly remedy.
The second rule of human interaction is revealed by Swann’s sacrifice of his own social circles and ideals to please the Verdurins. Swann had a vibrant social life and constant introductions to new women and acquaintances before he met Odette, the woman who becomes his keeper. Swann refuses the company of other, not only because all of his time goes towards the Verdurins, but because anyone whom they have not approved of becomes a stain on his reputation. In one instance, Swann expresses admiration for the intellect of another woman whom the Verdurins have never met, but his admission only leads to strict insult. His belief in the repute of a character beyond their exclusive social circle paints hm as disingenuous and disloyal for how can a man dare associate with two separate groups of individuals. Further, Swann shows a sacrifice of his own opinions to please this judgmental crown. His attitudes towards music morph into those of Odette’s no matter his prior mockery of her uneducated and disinterested reception of music. This submission to the ideals of another through which opinions not his own now govern his life depict the dangerous tendency for individuals to sacrifice themselves at the behest of others, particularly those whom they value as better.
The final observation of Proust’s work emerges as a constant theme in which outside identities, persons, and ideas constantly insult the members of Odette’s circle, but in the last section of the volume titled, “Name Place – The Name,” the threatening nature of things or concepts which are “other” imposes itself on ethnic identity. The story has reverted to the life of the narrator, whom many critics simply refer to as Marcel, and he encounters Swann at a party allowing for opinions of Swann’s character to be revealed beyond the notably pathetic and submissive self he shows in his pursuit of Odette. The young narrator overhears a criticism of Swann’s character in which his superfluous and rich lifestyle and character are attributed to his Jewish identity, an aspect of his character not formerly mentioned. This characterization relies on abundant stereotypes of Jewish people and serves to further separate Swann from the salon he seeks. Suddenly, the aversion to him for seemingly no reason makes an abundance more sense as the truth of his isolation being partially a result of prejudice and anti-semitism is revealed. Swann was viewed as not good enough, not due to his enunciation of independence at the onset of their courtship, but his ethnic identity which inherently separates him from the other Parisians. Further, his condemnation takes on a much darker implication. Outside ideas threaten the salon hostess, just as diverse identities threaten a white majority.
Thus, Proust’s text expresses a variety of themes surrounding exclusivity, identity, and desire. He does so by writing of the yearning of a bourgeois man after a coquettish woman and his pursuit of her. On the surface, the novel is a tragic romance which only reaches a more tragic end when the narrator reveals Swann and Odette’s eventual marriage, but even a brief analysis of the events of the novel evokes questions on social hierarchies, exclusivity and the dangers of dominant ideologies. The priorly discussed allure of exclusivity which provokes the neglect of personal ideas and responsibilities appears as a detriment to Swann’s own livelihood, but reveals essential characteristics of human nature. Further, these characteristics influence every facet of our lives, our culture, and our politics, making an awareness of them essential due the clearly dangerous implications and impediments to free thought that they pose.
Aubrey Wallen Literary Journal and Papers 