From The War by Marguerite Duras
2/19
347
From The War by Marguerite Duras
In the selected passage from The War, Duras writing is very scattered as she recalls the flashing images from her time trying to find her husband, Robert (232). I actually had some trouble following along with this reading, and I believe that it is because her style of writing reflects the chaos of the events she describes. While the reader tries to piece-together the situation, Duras is trying to make sense of her past herself. There are some moments where she can’t understand why certain events or feelings took place (237). Perhaps it is because of the trauma she received from the time she describes.
She stands night and day waiting to ask any returning prisoners if they might know where her husband is (233). We follow her train of thought and quickly become tired as she describes her exhaustion. We feel sympathy for those she sees and describes that suffer mistreatment or those who know they will die soon. Duras writes, “Every five minutes I want to give up,...” (233). After attempting to find Robert so long, her memory fades, the days blur together, and she starts to lose hope.
After finally being reunited with her husband, Duras is not able to process her emotions and must immediately start fighting against the death that awaits her weak husband who barely survived Dachau concentration camp (241). I can’t imagine watching someone I love go through this pain and become so weak. Wondering everyday if Robert will live or not, Duras becomes much weaker herself (242).
“He’s sitting in the shade in the sitting room near a half-open window, in an armchair, surrounded by his cushions, his stick beside him. His legs look like crutches inside his trousers. When the sun shines you can see through his hands” (243). This quote from the passage struck me. It seems as though Duras cannot recognize her husband. Perhaps he is a ghost and has already died. This creature who vaguely resembles her husband, is her reason for fighting, and this concept toys with her emotions as he sits on the line of death and life.
I agree, I think that this piece was especially chaotic due to the nature of what she was writing about and when she was writing about it. With it being so much later in her life, you can see throughout the piece how she is learning to grapple with what she endured and saw, making sense of her trauma and the things she didn't understand at the time they occurred. It is also so sad to see her become so weak and have to rebuild her life much similarly to that of her husbands-- it is almost like both of them were fighting against death in different forms.
ReplyDeleteI'm very glad that you brought up how it was kind of hard to follow along towards the beginning. I also had a hard time following the reading at this time but did not know why. It makes sense that the way Duras chose to write would be scrambled to match what she was going through, so thank you for pointing that out.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely say that Duras has been through a lot of trauma and that she does a great job of getting her visuals across. She has had to endure so much pain from herself being in prison, to trying to find her husband again, and then having to see him near death once they reconnect.
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