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Situational Irony
Definition of Stream of Consciousness
Stream of consciousness is a style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character's extended thought process, often by incorporating sensory impressions, incomplete ideas, unusual syntax... read full definition
Stream of consciousness is a style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character's extended thought process, often by incorporating... read full definition
Stream of consciousness is a style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character's... read full definition
Chapter 22
Explanation and Analysis—No, Maxim. No.:
In Chapter 22, the narrator listens to Maxim testify about Rebecca's death. She slips into a stream of consciousness that underscores her narration's status as a flashback:
No, Maxim. No. You will put his back up. You heard what Frank said. You must not put his back up. Not that voice. Not that angry voice, Maxim. He won’t understand. Please, darling, please. Oh, God, don’t let Maxim lose his temper. Don’t let him lose his temper.
Maxim has just reacted somewhat angrily to the coroner's line of questioning. The narrator does not respond aloud. Nor does she tell the reader what she was thinking. Instead, she reproduces her thoughts directly on the page, without the use of any internal dialogue tags such as "I thought." The effect is that it almost seems like the narrator who has been telling the story the whole time has been overcome with the memory and is experiencing it all over again, live. She is actively worried that Maxim sounds too angry and that he will lose his temper. She is actively pleading with Maxim and with God for a good outcome. It is as though she does not already know how the scene plays out.
The narrator's stream of consciousness here heightens the suspense for the reader, who is invited to sit with the narrator on the edge of their seat. Additionally, the way the narrator gets lost in the sensations of her own story is a reminder that for her, these memories are extremely vivid. She flashes back to them with her entire body, not just her mind. Even long after Manderley has burned down, the narrator remains in its thrall because what happened there was so strange and life-altering. Moments like this one in the novel make it clear why Alfred Hitchcock, known for genre-defining suspense films, was compelled to adapt Rebecca.
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