Memory and Recollection in Rebecca: A Close Reading Janelle Askew College

Daphne du Maurier’s gothic romance novel Rebecca touches on a young woman, who remains unnamed throughout the novel, and her self-inflicted life of misery. Being recently married into a high social class, the protagonist, Mrs. De Winter, faces internal and external struggles with her new surroundings. She must deal with her husband, Maxim, continually showing signs of indifference to her, Ms. Danvers, the head housekeeper, who is the physical form of her deepest fears and insecurities, and Rebecca, Maxims late wife, who's memory cast an everlasting shadow upon her as she is being introduced to her new life. Throughout the novel Rebecca there is a lot of focus on the compelling memory of Rebecca and Mrs. De Winter quest to overcome it, as seen in chapter two, when Mrs. De Winter mentions “we have both known fear” and “we all of us have our particular devil who rides us and torments us”(Du Maurier, 5). This focus is provoking because it foreshadows Mrs. De Winter disposition, in regard to Rebecca, throughout the novel. With the eerie presence of Ms. Danvers, the constant tales about Rebecca, and innuendos the author gives by naming the novel about Rebecca, is it easy to recognize how Rebecca’s memory is so compelling it will...