Week 6 - Francoise Segan "Bonjour Tristesse"
This week, I chose to read Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Segan.
At the beginning of the novel, it mentioned how the protagonist’s mother has passed away for fifteen years and her dad seems to have many relationships after that, as “he was young for his age, full of vitality and possibilities” (p3). It even took her “longer to realize that it was a different one every six month” (p3) when her dad told her he was living with someone.
When Cecile saw Cyril, a university student, she mentioned how she “does not care for younger people, but much preferred [her] father’s friends, men of forty, who to me with courtesy and tenderness and treated her with the gentleness of a father or a lover”(p5). The fact that she is into older guys around her dad’s age made me wonder if it is because she longed for fatherly love or if it is because her dad is the ‘only one’ she has. Which caused her to want to date guys around her dad’s age because of their ‘father figure’. This also explains what Cecile meant when she said she knew Elsa “would not get into our way” (p4). She seems to be able to accept Elsa because Elsa would not get into her relationships with her dad.
I found Cecile’s father’s behaviour selfish. As he invited Anne over to join their vacation just because he wanted to. He didn't think about how the situation would be if he invited Anne over since Elsa is also there with them. He should have talked and discussed with both Elsa and Cecile before inviting Anne. He also did not mention to Anne that Elsa is also there. After Anne arrived at the villa, her father began to distance himself from Elsa. He didn't even realize that he was wrong even when Cecile blasted out what he did “You take a red haired girl to the seaside, expose her to the hot sun which she can't stand, and when her skin has all peeled you abandon her.” (p38). Without realizing the problem, he then told Cecile that he and Anne are getting married the next day. If he is thinking of marrying Anne, he should have ended his relationship with Elsa first. He should also talk to his daughter first before making the decision, as it will not only impact him but Cecile as well. On the other hand, Cecile is also being very selfish. She created a plan to separate her dad and Anne just because she is afraid of losing her ‘normal life’.
My questions for the class are: As Anne felt she had some responsibility for Cecile, she told Cecile thatshe should not see Cyril again. Do you think Anne has the right to interfere with Cecile’s relationship or
life? Another of my questions is: Do you think the reason ‘being afraid of losing normal life’ justify
Cecile’s plan and what she had done to others?
Hey Celine, I think your point about the father being selfish is important, his behaviour towards and discussion of women in front of Cecile is inappropriate and was bound to end up causing problems. I think Anne's attempts to act like a mother to Cecile were important, despite being unsuccessful, but it reflected the way that Cecile has never had any proper guidance resulting in her countless self interested acts. I think Cecile's life has always been chaotic and the structure and stability Anne offered was scary, however, I do not think Cecile was justified in doing what she did, but I don't think she knew any better about how to deal with her emotions in a healthy way.
ReplyDeleteCeline, I enjoyed reading how you felt about the characters (particularly in the last and longest paragraph of your post). In fact, this made me recall what Jon said in his lecture on Sagan: "We may think that reading a text is an exercise in interpretation, in seeking out whatever
ReplyDeletehidden, even secret, meaning it might contain. But in practice, our experience with a book
is usually marked more by how it makes us feel" (1). I don't know about you, but I am noticing these strong feelings and reactions to be a trend in the Sagan blogs thus far....
Hey Celine, I enjoyed reading your blog and I also agree that Raymond’s behavior was extremely selfish and he doesn’t seem to care about anyone else but himself. Similarly, Cecile is also selfish like her father as she creates a plan to break up Raymond and Anne, along with using Cyril. I believe that her fear of losing her normal life doesn’t justify any of her actions and behaviors. Her feelings of fear are justified however, her actions were completely out of line. She manipulated and used people to fulfill her desire of not wanting her father to marry Anne, so her life would stay the same.
ReplyDelete