Tension And Stress In Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca

Intro: How we view a situation greatly effects how we deal with it and the outcome. Our minds are great at helping us overcome difficult problems by making it smaller and taking it piece by piece so we don't feel overwhelmed. However it can also hinder us by making the problem bigger that it really is. This creates more tension and stress ultimately making the problem more complicated. Our decisions are also made by what we believe that is important and what we fear. This is the theme of Daphne du Maurier's book Rebecca. Many of the characters have an obstacle that plagues their thoughts, ranging from ideal goal that some wish to accomplish, weigh our responsibility in jobs and relationships, then there are others that just trying to get

Ranging from primal instinct to have enough food and water in order to survive, to getting a promotion in your career, or to become the fastest person in the world records. In Rebecca our narrator's goal was the same that may children dream of. She wished to grow up. She wish to have elegant, confident, and mature personality. She is aware and knows of some social ques that will show others of her mature understanding, however she is to shy to perform those actions. In situations such as when she accompanied Mrs. Van Hopper to lunch with Maxim and upon Mrs.Van Hopper making a fool of herself the narrator thought "Had I been older I would have caught his eye and smile,"(16 Maurier). We see her constantly uses "if only I had been older" then she would be treated differently. She wouldn't be a shy, timid, caring, school girl that everyone saw as a young child that needed to be guided, protected or blatantly ignored. When she married Maxim, she was quickly exposed to the greatness her predecessor, Rebecca. Rebecca is everything the Narrator is not. Rebecca is elegant, coning, clever and mature. Rebecca was older and had years of preparing and experience with living an upper class lifestyle and dealing with people of type of people. The difference between them is visible as night and day, and everyone had no problem comparing the

de Winter's insecurity lies at the heart of the novel. It is vital the narrator should have a shy, introspective nature, other wise she would not be intimidated and awed by this dead Rebecca"( Towend 3). If the narrator had put her foot down a few time with simple thing like asking for to break the schedule and light the fire place in a room when she feels cold, or arrange the flower in the morning room the way she wants to instead of following tradition and being overly worried of pleasing everyone else but herself then she would truly fell like her own person. Something she hadn't realized until after Maxim had revealed Rebecca had no place in his heart, but he loved the Narrator. Those words gave her confidence and maturity. Even though she was staid humble, kind, and sincere, she gained the strength of confidence and finally broke Rebecca's chain. She began making changes in the menu to her liking and stud her ground against Ms. Danvers. "I was not changed. But something new had come upon me that had not been before. My heart, for all its anxiety and doubt, was light and free. I knew then that I was no longer afraid of Rebecca...She could not hurt me."(Maurier 284-285). However sometimes our dreams and responsibilities come with a high