Proust attributes Aunt Léonie's physical incapacitation to hypochondria. Could it be that the basis of her problem was agoraphobia, the fear of leaving the house? Perhaps the hypochondria gave her an excuse, a reason for her seclusion.
"...aunt Léonie...since her husband's (my uncle Octave's) death, had gradually declined to leave, first Combray, then her bedroom, and finally her bed, and now never 'came down,' but lay perpetually in a state of grief, physical debility, illness, obsession and piety."
Although later he writes, in the same paragraph, "My aunt's life was now practically confined to two adjoining rooms, in one of which she would spend the afternoon while the other was being aired."
And she never actually complains of a specific ailment in the pages devoted to her, that I can recall.
While we are on the subject of aunt Léonie, remember it was she who served the tea and madeleine cake to our hero, the significance of which is a major theme in the final volume, Time Regained.
There are so many reasons one isolates oneself. Sometimes people use isolation to become the Queen Bee. Everyone else who cares about them has to circle around them. It is a means of control over others and control of your own world. They still participate in the world but it is on their terms only. Often in the past when women had no other power, retiring to one's isolation was a way for them to generate that power. Having wonderful, appealing things around them ( candies, pastries, money) was one way of drawing people in.
ReplyDeleteMJSH
Great point of view. Insightful. I will go back and reread those pages and see if I might have missed something interesting because I wasn't looking for it.
DeleteI think it was a combination of agoraphobia, self pity,
ReplyDeleteand maintaining control.
Also, a way to feel loved
and appreciated, and being the boss.