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Stream of Consciousness
Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis:
Du Maurier's style in the novel is highly descriptive, and she is a master of "showing" instead of "telling." She makes heavy use of imagery to plunge the reader straight into the narrator's flashbacks to her life at Manderley. One example occurs in Chapter 11, when the narrator describes what it was like to receive a flurry of visitors in her first weeks at Manderley:
The agony of those wheels on the drive, of that pealing bell, of my own first wild rush for flight to my own room. The scrambled dab of powder on my nose, the hasty comb through my hair, and then the inevitable knock on the door and the entrance of the cards on a silver salver.
It is surprising to notice that there are no verbs at all in this passage to indicate narrative action. By the end of the two sentence fragments, so much seems to have happened. The narrator accomplishes this strange feat by engaging the reader's senses and emotions. Physical and emotional sensation blur together: the sound of the wheels is the feeling of agony. The reader can hear the doorbell and see the narrator rush off to her room, but the "scrambled dab of power," the "hasty comb," and the "inevitable knock" produce for the reader not only an image but moreover a feeling of suspense. The shoe is about to drop as yet more acquaintances come in to size up the narrator. With no verbs and only two sentence fragments, Du Maurier captures the events of the narrator's life for weeks as she hosts everyone in Maxim's elevated social circle.
Du Maurier does not always slip into sentence fragments like this, although this is far from the only time she does. This kind of imagery, which engages the reader's whole body and all their emotions, is common throughout the book, even when Du Maurier employs verbs. Through her vivid language, she invites the reader not only to visualize but also to feel the memories she is describing. This style allows the book to maintain a high level of suspense throughout. It also allows the book to make the point that memory is often a multi-sensory, all-consuming experience. Sometimes, to remember something is to experience it all over again.
Related Themes:
