Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Foreshadowing: Odette

We have been twice introduced to Odette without Proust revealing her name; both brought her morality into question.

First, uncle Adolphe scandalizes his family by getting caught with a nameless woman of a lower sort, and with whom our hero falls in love and gives her the pet name, the "lady in pink."

Second, she is the "woman in white" who calls for Gilberte to come to the house when our hero's family walks by.

Our hero does not recognize her as the same woman he met at uncle Adolphe's.

I can't remember when or how our hero figures out Gilberte's mother, the "lady in white," is also the "lady in pink," but I know it's coming. How fun to look forward to it. In what beautiful way will Proust unfold the truth?

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