Molloy: Reflections

I finally finished Molloy and I loved it. Beckett's writing is disturbing, sad, phallic, demented and so essentially human that, in the end, he's created a truly beautiful work of literary art. The end was the saddest part, and yes I did cry a little like everyone else.

The first indication I got of Moran's personality was that he was slightly paranoid. On page 96 he talks about how the priest keeps a list of faithful people and unfaithful people. On the next page, he expresses worry that his maid will poison him.

On page 100 he says "Perhaps he was thinking of the kiss without a moustache." I had to stop and wonder what he meant by that...I'll let you know when I figure it out.

On page 112 I loved his explanation of deja vu "strangers who are not entire strangers, through their having played a part in certain cerebral reels." Another passage on that page really reminded me of Nobokov (I didn't take the class, but I did read Lolita over the summer out of curiousity): "I was compelled to admit that I should have said Molloy and that in saying Mollose I was at fault."

Even though Moran talks badly to his son, there are countless indications in the book that he loves Jacques. For example, page 120: "Did he love me then as much as I loved him?" Page 123: "What would I have done that day without my son to distract me?" Page 157: "Happily the weather was fine and I was no longer alone."

He also expresses loneliness. He recounts the death of his wife, and expresses regret that Youdi had never sent him to find a woman.

My favorite part about the novel was the bittersweet ending. It reminded me of the end to one of my favorite movies (which I, coincidentally, watched this Valentine's Day Weekend): Jean Cocteau's La Belle et La Bete. It is a beautiful old film that they have at the Public Library to check out. Everyone should watch it; the effects are actually pretty cool for the 50's! Anyway, at the end of the movie, the beast changes into a man, but you can see the tinge of regret in Belle because he looks like a man she disliked. She came to love the beast. Similarly, I was happy that Moran became a gentler man at the end of the book, but I came to love the slightly abusive, angry, cynical, and human Moran from earlier in the novel.