While
I feel like the other discussion posts have covered most of the thematic
elements of Mary, one that may be a
little general but, in my opinion, is still pertinent is the use of
expectation. I’d like to focus on four characters, Klara, Podtyagin, Alfyorov
and Ganin. But to me what makes the novel great is that only one of these
characters, Ganin, actually overcomes his expectation and thus proceeds calmly
and happily at the end of the novel.
Klara
serves as that unfortunate, somewhat over-well-intentioned character endlessly
searching for someone to love. Almost in complete juxtaposition the passionate
love story of Mary and Ganin, Klara weeps after she realizes her last words to
Ganin and, earlier, feels somewhat empowered to be the courier of messages
between Ganin and Lyudmila (something most people can’t stand). Her expectation,
by the end of the book, to find someone like Ganin or Ganin himself is horribly
unfulfilled.
Podtyagin’s
failed expectation is clearly manifested in his failure to travel. To be aware
that one is dying, bound by fate to stay put, and thus unable to fulfill a
single desires to go to France, is also perfectly contrasted by Ganin’s freedom
and youth.
Next,
we have Alfyorov. Nabokov clearly enjoys mocking this character and fittingly shows
him unable to adequately ready himself to meet his wife. By the of the novel,
not only is reader convinced that Mary and Alfyorov do not have a strong
history like Ganin and Mary, but also that Alfyorov is generally a much lesser
person than Ganin (as shown by his drunkenness). The failed expectation is that
he never sees his wife in the novel, which I interpret as “it’s not worth
showing.” My assumption is that if Nabokov were forced to continue the novel,
we would have seen a strained and imperfect marriage.
So
who is Ganin? He’s the character that achieves everyone else’s goals. He knows
love, understands and can handle himself within a relationship, is traveling to
new experience new aspects and never succumbs to a vice like alcohol unless
willingly. While everyone else talks about his or her wishes, he remains unsure
and keeps his plans relatively flexible and without firm expectation. Only with
this attitude, which I presume Nabokov enjoys, is he able to live freely and
happily.
What an intriguing post, Gabe! I did not notice the theme of expectation when I read the novel, but now that you have pointed it out and explained how it applies to these four characters I definitely see it. I agree that Ganin seems at peace with himself at the end of the novel. Personally, however, I felt somewhat disappointed by the end of the novel. I was expecting (there's that theme again) something more. Maybe that is part of Nabokov's point though: that Soviet exiles are always expecting something more or longing for something they cannot have.
ReplyDeleteGabe, I agree with you when you say that Ganin is the character who achieves everyone else's goals, but I am not sure if he achieves his own goals, or if he actually has goals. As you also mention, the ending of the novel showed me that Ganin is just as undecided as always. He seems to be acting like the first time when he left Mary, because he is not sure of his feelings and his wishes. For the moment, it looks like flexibility is helping him, but for how long will this attitude work? I feel that Nabokov is presenting Ganin as a lost Russian soul in the whole wide world, but I don't necessarily see him as happy or free after he takes the decision to leave without meeting Mary.
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