Posted by Steven
on 20/2/2009, 8:42:10, in reply to "Re: Alain Robbe-Grillet, Jealousy - This post contains SPOLIERS"
76.187.98.74
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: Did you guys wonder why the husband would not alter
: the position of his chair on the veranda? I mean, that
: to me says that he respects A...'s house management
: and decoration, he doesn't interfere with the position
: of the chairs, the dinner, the drinks. He sleeps in
: another room. He doesn't question her actions.
:
: Any other spouse would have just moved his or her
: chair to face the rest of the company, instead of
: having to turn his head 90 degrees to see them.
The details in this book are so intriguing that's it's easy to overlook the forest for the (banana) trees--the depiction of the husband's jealousy. He sees only what he chooses to see--the things that reinforce his suspicions--and there are many metaphors for this in the book: the view into or out of a room constricted by a window, the view of A...'s face blocked by her hair, a view blocked by the slats of a Venetian blind, and an object removed from a scene by a flaw in a pane of glass. Everything he sees probably has an alternative explanation, but he chooses to see only what supports his fears.
People react to jealousy in different ways. Some would directly confront the other party as soon as they had the slightest idea of an infidelity, while some would say nothing but begin placing obstacles in the way of the suspected affair. I think I would probably react the same way as the husband in the novel. He deliberately does nothing to change the situation--not even moving a chair--because he wants to let the thing play out until he is absolutely sure, but at the same time he torments himself with worry and doubt, reading the worst possible interpretation into every clue.
We don't know what things were like before his suspicions began, but it's easy to conjecture that he also becomes cold and passive as he withdraws into the role of an observer, thus making the situation even worse by leaving A... and Franck no one to talk to but each other.
The language often sounds to me like that of a lawyer making a case before a jury. The narrator is continually going over in his mind the case against A... and Franck, trying to justify whatever action he ultimately takes. (And I don't suppose we can or should know whether the scenes of Franck's crash and A...'s possible death are real or imagined.)
All of this is not to say that the husband's jealousy isn't well-founded, but we don't see both sides of the story. One thing seems sure, that Franck isn't a very loving husband or father to leave his sick family night after night to go have drinks and dinner at the neighbors'.