Bonjour Tristesse by Sagan has so been my favourite text so far. I love how Sagan used characters we could relate to because of age and gender. The main character was a young girl raised by a single parent. At first, I initially thought that I would relate to this character because I am a young girl who also lost a parent and was raised by a single parent. However, her experience was catastrophically different from mine. Her father was very laid back, and my mother, who raised me, was much more like Anne in the story. My mother was rigorous and always wanted me to put school first before anything. If I put myself in Cecile's situation, I can see how I would like to push Anne away to keep her hedonistic and chill lifestyle. My younger self always dreamed of having a life with no stress. Raymond, her father, definitely influenced her way of living and the idea of love. Her father had a mistress but also was going to marry Anne. Growing up as a young child, this would have affected her way of seeing and understanding love because we always get the first dose of love by watching how our parents love each other. A question I have is, would Cecile maybe have loved Cyril in the end if she didn't grow up with her playboy, hedonistic father?
The way that Cecile schemed her plot to get Anne and her father to part their ways was shocking. I would never think she would use her lover to make her father jealous. This surprising plot intrigued me into reading and finding out what happens at the end. Cecile's story and inner self-thoughts portray her as an immature, scared teenager for her future. As young university students, we can all relate to this, as we are coming of age just like Cecile in Bonjour Tristesse's text. I can relate to her feelings of self-doubt and worries for the future. As a young student, I am worried about what will happen after I graduate and also just anxious about providing for myself and learning to be an adult and one day take care of my child and raise them. Growing up with someone like Anne has made me appreciate the skills I have learnt, and even though the "hedonistic" life is more pleasurable, I am more mature than Cecile because I was lucky to have a mother who cared about my success.
Alyssa, I appreciate that you were willing to share the personal connections you felt to this book, and the way this shaped your readerly response to it. I do have one question (or two, rather):
ReplyDelete"The main character was a young girl raised by a single parent." - was she though? What does she say about the ten years between her mother's passing and the two years she now has spent with her father?
And perhaps a third: What are we to do with this (limited) information? If, that is, we are to do anything at all...
DeleteHi Alyssa! Thank you for sharing your personal experiences and connections to Cecile! It was really enjoyable to read your blog post and I liked how you related it back to yourself and other young people. I definitely agree with you about how Cecile was affected by her father's playboy love life. To answer your question, I think Cecile's pragmatism in her relationship with Cyril was impacted by the example with which her father set. I'm not sure she would have been as pragmatic with her relationship with Cyril if she had grown up with a stable parenthood. But then again, who knows!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Hi.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I liked the title of your post, which is what make me initially read it, as I like a lot how you named the book as an unexpected tragedy, which i believe suits it perfectly. Regarding your question, I think that even though the relationship with Cyril might have been easier if Cecile had a better parent figure, but I do not think that there i enough information on the book to make a statement regarding whether his dad being better, you have made her be with Cyril.