Blog Post #5
Topic F
May 15, 2015
By Kaeleigh Foecking
In the scene leading up to the end of the novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, suspense grows more than ever before in the novel. Du Maurier uses intense yet vague imagery to build suspense, giving the reader a sense of foreboding. In this scene, the main character and Maxim are driving home to Manderly after investigating a lead in the case of Rebecca’s alleged suicide. Instead of boarding for the night and continuing the trip home in the morning, Maxim is very anxious to get home and opts instead to drive through the night and arrive home early in the morning. While driving home, the main character describes vivid nightmares, flashes of previous events in the novel. With growing suspense, the scene builds up to a climax when Maxim and the main character discover that “the sky on the horizon [is] not dark at all. It [is] shot with crimson, like a splash of blood. And the ashes [blow] towards [them] with the salt wind from the sea” (du Maurier 386). With those words, the novel comes to an end. By describing the surroundings in vivid detail, du Maurier uses the imagery of this scene to freeze time, stuck in the moment when the car tops the hill and the couple discovers Manderly in flames. Not only does the imagery seem to freeze time, but it also creates a feeling of fatality and finality. By describing the sky as looking "like a splash of blood", the reader knows that this is the end of Manderly as well as Maxim and the main character's life there.
I agree that the last words are significant in the ending of Manderley and the main character's and Maxim's life there. du Maurier's use of the word blood to describe the sky really shows the final death of Rebecca and Manderley, which is what needed to happen in order for them to be happy. In a sense, the nightmares the main character was experiencing before they see Manderley in flames is the last of Rebecca; the last time she can hurt the main character. Now that Manderley is gone, Rebecca is gone. Their troubles are finally over, and they can now start completely fresh.
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