I felt that the novel, The House in Paris, was unsuccessful in fulfilling its job in creating the relationship between Leopold and his mother to portray the theme of motherhood that is supposed to be a main focus in this novel. This novel instead focuses on the concept of time while alternating back and forth between events of the past and present. The manipulation of time was a prominent writing style during the time this novel was written, used to deepen the reader's understanding of the novel and characters. This novel uses the concept of time to build an anticipation of what will happen in the future but never quite makes it to the point that the reader has been waiting for throughout the entirety of the novel.
Throughout this novel we see importance placed on the concept of motherhood through Leopold and his hopeful relationship with his biological mother. Leopold has been told that his mother will be coming to Paris to meet him for the first time, to which he builds an idea of his mother in his head and fantasizes about the future relationship they will have. We never get to see this concept develop further though, because Leopold never meets his mother and so there is no relationship to be built in the novel.
The novel instead seems to focus on the concept of time and how events of the past have shaped the lives of these characters in the present day. As Maria Kelly says in her article, The Power of the Past: Structural Nostalgia in Elizabeth Bowen’s The House in Paris and The Little Girls, this concept of time created by alternating between past and present creates a sense of nostalgia and adds to the narrative of Leopold and his mother’s lives. Looking into the past we see that Leopold’s mother gave Leopold up for adoption as a baby, possibly because she didn’t think she would make a suitable mother, and that she was not involved in Leopold’s life from then on. It is questionable if Leopold’s mother ever plans to be a part of his life because she doesn’t come to see him in Paris when she is supposed to. We see his mother’s hesitation when she takes off her gloves and is indecisive about seeing Leopold, and here we are led to wonder if maybe she is afraid of what motherhood has in store for her and that maybe she still feels that she is unfit for such a role.
At the end of the novel when we are shifted back into the present again, we are left disappointed that Leopold is still yet to be reunited with his mother. The novel builds up an anticipation of Leopold finally meeting his biological mother and having a loving relationship with her, but sadly it never happens. I feel that the novel’s ending is really unsuccessful because it leaves questions unanswered and doesn’t satisfy us with the ending that we would all like to see, Leopold being reunited with his mother.
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