A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot - Essay Example

In A Very Long Engagement, the theme of enduring love set against the destructiveness of the war becomes the reoccurring theme of the book. Throughout the book, even when things look bleakest, Mathilde never gives up hope and continues to search for her love. Her perseverance is eventually rewarded, and the concept of eternal love is vindicated by the end of the novel. It is clear that the two strongly love each other, even though Manech, by the end of the story has forgotten Mathilde due to his amnesia. His constant letter-writing during the war proved his interest and love for her. Throughout Mathilde’s search, the reader is provided with reminders about the theme of enduring love. A Very Long Engagement starts with a chapter entitled “Saturday evening.” In this chapter, the readers are introduced to the setting, which is a French trench during World War I. The author is introduced to five men that have committed self mutilation in order to be sent home, but these men have been convicted of this as a crime. Four of the five men admit what they have done, but Eskimo insists that his injury was accidental. Each of the men’s personalities and backgrounds are provided in order to present the reader with the necessary character information. The reader is also introduced to Mathilde, the finacee of the most youthful of the men, Manech. The reader is presented to her with the sense that she will become a very important character in the book; in fact, her relationship is where the title of the book derives. The next chapter in the book entitled “Bingo Crepuscule Analysis” moves the story forward about two and a half years. The focus of the story shifts to Mathilde. Manech is now dead and Mathilde is still trying to learn about what really happened to him prior to his passing. She therefore travels to a veteran’s hospital in order to find a man who had spoken to Manech the day before he died. Mathilde’s search introduces one of the prominent themes of the novel; that of enduring love and hope. This man is Daniel Esperanza, who is dying. He informs Mathilde that Manech did not perish in combat as the death announcement had stated. What in fact did happen was that Manech planned to have his hand intentionally shot because he was so depressed by the war, and this did occur. He was then convicted of self-mutilation and sentenced to death along with the other men. These men, though, were not shot by the firing squad; instead, the men they fought with were told to throw them over the top of the trench. Furthermore, Esperanza tells Mathilde of Manech’s terrible state of mind; he had completely lost his sense of reality, and many soldiers felt sorry for him. This comment reflects on the ability for people to feel compassion for others even while they, themselves, are also in a difficult situation. Esperanza gives Mathilde several letters and photos that will help her with her search for the truth. In the next chapter titled “The White Widow,” Mathilde begins to analyze the letters. She then comes to the reader in the third person, revealing information about herself. She is disabled, but does not see it as a problem with her life and does not like it when people bring her disability to the forefront. She discusses her hobbies, letting the reader know that her new interest is finding out what happened to Manech. It is in this instant that the reader learns Mathilde does not completely believe that Manech is dead. She still loves with him even though she has been told he is dead; and if he was actually dead, she still admits that she would have married him, as many other white widows had done. Her revelation of her desire to seek out this action demonstrates her enduring love for Manech. The following chapter is entitled “The Good Old Days” and discusses Mathilde’s efforts to reach the people mentioned in the letters she has. She is hoping to discover information about Manech’s death by doing this. She discovers that both Mariette Notre Dame and Valentina Maria Lombardi have disappeared. She immediately wonders if these women know something about where their husbands are, and she begins to believe more and more in the possibility of Manech being alive. This helpful clue then brings Mathilde into her first roadblock in her search, discussed in the chapter “Queen Victoria’s Tuppence.” The family lawyer does not believe the story that Esperanza has disclosed to Mathilde. He decides to look into it, but his mind is already made up about the finalitiy of the issue. Regardless, Mathilde does not lose hope and she is inspired to work even harder. Mathilde’s actions in this chapter continue to reflect on the themes of love, hope, and perseverance present in the novel. Mathilde will not give up the hope that her love is alive, and she believes that Esperanza told her the truth. She finally finds the proof of this when she discovers the erroneous Queen Victoria stamp. The following chapter, “The Mahogany box analysis,” continues with Mathilde’s searching. She now has gotten several letters from individuals whom knew the soldiers and she keeps this information in a mahogany box that manech had purchased previously. This box now serves as a symbol of Mathilde’s hope of finding Manech, and again reflects on the book’s theme of hope and love. She also takes notice of a letter from Veronique, a woman that was hoping that Eskimo was still alive. While Veronique is not on a quest like Mathilde, she still holds out hope for Eskimo. The fight between former friends Eskimo and Benjamin Gordes becomes important here, foreshadowing its importance in subsequent chapters, and ultimately to Mathildes investigation. The next chapter, titled “The Woman on Loan” continues Mathilde’s quest as she goes to Paris to seek out Gordes’ widow and to find out the reason for the fight. Elodie requests to write out the story—the friends fought because Elodie had been “loaned” in order for Biscuit to get out of the war. This man had become desperate to get out of the war. Eskimo, however, had actually been condemned of mutilation, and this had been incorrect. Therefore, Biscuit’s request dealing with his wife and best friend hurt everybody, including Veronique. As the chapter comes to the close, Mathilde is told that Manech’s grave has been found. However, this does not conclude her investigation. The next chapter, “The Mimosas of Hossegor” starts with Mathilde trying to reconcile herself and accept Manech’s death. It appears, though, that Mathilde has still not given up on finding him. In the next chapter, “The Terror of the Armies,” Celestin Poux, who bears the nickname The Terror of the Armies, is located. Mathilde quickly becomes friends with this man because she knew that he helped Manech; her desire to become immediately close to this person demonstrates her desire to draw close to Manech however she can. Celestin tells her everything he knows about the deaths of the five men, although this still does not cause Mathilde to give up. However, Celestin does have to admit that he did not see Manech actually die. The story continues in the chapter “The Other side of No-Man’s Land,” continues with Mathilde still full of hope, regardless of all that she has been told. Then, suddenly, Heide Weiss confirms the death of all five soldiers, crushing Mathilde. Still, Mathilde keeps her hope—as this theme of the novel is constant throughout the book. Then, Mathilde gets news about Tina Lambardi’s death, which throws yet another twist in the plot. In the next chapter, “The Lovers of Belle de Mai,” Tina helps Mathilde by giving her the information she needs to proceed. Pierre-Marie was correct about the pardon, so know Mathilde is aware that the battalion commander kept the pardon a secret. Tina further discovered the man carried by the man wearing the German boots was wearing a red glove. The red glove was given to Manech by Celestine Poux. Mathilde becomes very emotional and hopeful, and the climax of the plot has come to a head at this point. All of her hope is nearly supported, and the main character is nearly vindicated. Mathilde suspects that Manech has taken the name of Jean Desrochelles and was carried to safety by That Man, who had switched boots with Benjamin Gordes after Benjamin died. The next chapter, titled “The Sunflowers at the End of the World,” Mathilde gets another letter. She finds out that Benjamin Gordes was discovered lying in a cellar, and considering the French soldiers exclamation, one of the condemned men might have also been seen alive in the cellar. Seven years have now passed, and Mathilde is able to find out the information she has been seeking all along. The name of Benoits farm symbolizes both where he has been and where he now lives. Benoit was once condemned to death and left to die a horrible death, literally, the end of his world. Yet he survived and made a new life for himself; however, he will never have a complete life. His wife must tell others that she is a widow, and that he merely works for her, and his own son does not truly know that his father is nearby. Therefore, the end of the world as he knew it did indeed occur. Manech, also, did indeed survive no-mans-land and it was Benoit who carried him to safety. Benoit had been a hard man throughout his stint in the army but felt great compassion for his fellow condemned man. In order to pass undetected, Benoit switched identities with the fallen Benjamin Gordes and switched Manechs identity with a young, dead soldier by the name of Jean Desrochelles. In theory, if Mathilde finds Jean Desrochelles, she will succeed in finding her Manech. The following chapter, titled “Lieutentant-General Byng at Twilight,” shows Mathilde finding Manech. Another woman, Juliette Desrochelles, was also fueled by love in her actions to keep Manech a secret, but unlike Mathilde, who has loved Manech since they were children, her love was selfish. Juliette only thought of her own happiness when she hid Manech from his true family. Of course, perhaps Manechs fragile state of mind proved it difficult for Juliette to tell him the truth; his parents died never knowing that their son was alive. Juliette, a woman who lost both her husband and son, should have felt empathy for Manechs family, and sacrificed her own selfish desires to once again have a son. Juliettes deception is further played out when she writes an anonymous letter to Mathilde, hoping that she will give up her search. On the other hand, Mathilde proves that her love for Manech is pure and unselfish as she prepares herself to move from her beloved home to be near him. She also does not seek revenge on Juliette, for denying Manechs presence all of these years; rather, she treats the woman simply as a mother-in-law. The final chapter, entitled “Monday Morning Analysis,” concludes with a description of the Newfoundland soldiers discovering and burying five men who had been found dead in no-mans-land. It is described that one of these men did not have an injury to his hand. This was the man who wore Manechs identification, as Benoit did not have time to rap the fallen soldiers hand, as he did with the man with whom he switched identification. Mathilde has uncovered the truth of the seven years following the night at Bingo and so the story ends with a flashback to the true and final events of the night at Bingo Crepescule. The main theme of this story is the enduring nature of love, and the hope that love can bring. This theme is set against the war’s destruction. Mathilde is the ultimate symbol of this; she works very hard and spends seven years of her life trying to find out the truth about her finacee. It is clear her love was reciprocated. During the seven months Manech was at war, Mathilde received sixty-three letters and postcards from him. She has read these so often she could recite them all word for word. When Mathilde rediscovers Manech, although he does not recognize her because of his amnesia, his first words to her are exactly the same as those he spoke when they met as children: "You cant walk?" This is a significant moment. So much has been destroyed and yet here is a hint the two young people can start again, almost as if nothing has changed. Love can survive, even under such awful circumstances. They must rebuild and get to know each other again, but they can still have a future together. Although the author chooses not to elaborate on how their renewed relationship develops, the reference to Mrs. Desrochelles as Mathildes future mother-in-law makes it clear that Mathilde and Manech do eventually marry. The same inference is conveyed by the narrators comment, as Mathilde gazes at her fiancé: "Life is long and can still carry a great deal more on its back." The love theme can also be seen in the story of Tina and Nino (Common Law), even though their story is much darker. It is like a reverse image of the idyllic love between the admirable Mathilde and Manech. Nino is a pimp and Tina a prostitute, but her love for him and her dedication to finding out the truth about what happened to him are no less than Mathildes. It is implied that even though Tina and Nino led lives that most would regard as disreputable, the love they shared was no less valuable or intense than that of the other couple. There are all kinds of people and all kinds of love in the world, and it is love that is the antidote to war. Read More