Jealousy, like many carnal vices, is a reoccurring sentiment which often manifests as the repetition of a painful scenario over and over again in the mind. As such, it requires a significant amount of willpower to overcome, a choice to let go of the sore longings straining every thought and rest instead in contentment. It is a battle that must be fought; one that if left unaddressed can give way to insanity, depression, and darkness. Alain Robbe-Grillet’s book Jealousy is the perfect depiction of this occurrence. The author replays several scenes so frequently throughout his book that it becomes difficult to distinguish the reality of the situation from the distorted and envious memory of the narrator. It is told from a distanced perspective, as if the speaker stands behind his frequently-mentioned venetian blinds, looking out on to the scenario again and again and dwelling on it endlessly. Among the many repeated scenes, there is one that stands out from the rest. While most of the scenes revolve around A… and Franck’s encounters, this one draws the audience into a deeper place within the narrator’s chaotic, jealous mind; it is the description of the banana tree farm and the native man squatting by the water.
In the early scenes of the book, the author provides a strikingly detailed depiction of the banana garden behind the plantation’s veranda, which he repeats in lesser detail throughout the book, indicating that the meticulous information is necessary and critical in understanding the meaning of the text. Among the many observations within this scene, there are several that offer significant insight into the speaker’s thoughts. The first is the garden itself. The image of a garden often serves as a symbol for relationship, particularly a marriage relationship, as is the implied case for the speaker and the character A… in the story. In order to have a flourishing garden, one must nurture it by watering and tending it with care. The same applies to a marriage relationship. It is intriguing that the banana garden is clearly less than a flourishing orchard, but rather an asymmetric, shaggy, and overgrown tree farm. The author takes great care describing the state and structure of the garden, which appears to be a direct correlation to the state of their marriage relationship, an imperfect, dry, and tangled affair.
Another notable item in this scene is the color scheme of the garden. A banana orchard offers primarily green and yellow colors to the imagery of the story. The color green represents envy and the color yellow often signifies deceit. It then becomes fascinating to view the marriage relationship through such a colorful lens—a garden of envy, producing fruit of deceit. Throughout the book, the color yellow arises always along with A…’s character, which supports the hinted thought that the narrator believes her to be an active participant in an affair, deceiving her husband. It is evident that it is the speaker who experiences jealousy, which makes clear his part in the garden, the green tangled vegetation. As a yellow banana grows from a green banana tree and not the other way around, the author seems to imply that in this scenario, A…’s deceit was a product of the narrator’s envy. Such a prospect seems to be backwards, however, indicating again the complexity of the situation and the insanity of jealousy itself.
The final image that offers more insight into this complex idea of jealousy is the native man crouching down by the murky water. The word choice defining this mysterious character uncovers an idea that he may be a representation of the jealous speaker himself. The term “native” implies that one is the rightful possessor of a territory, but has had his position overthrown by another more powerful or influential. Similarly, the speaker who is likely the husband of A…, rightfully possesses the title of her “lover.” It is his territory. However, as he believes her to be having an affair with another man, he is portrayed, or even sees himself as having been robbed of his position and left as an outsider looking in, trying to make sense of it all. The native man looks into a stream that is murky even though it is extremely shallow, like their marriage and the situation before him. He studies it as if he is trying to understand the impossible. However, the one who is unwilling to fight against jealousy, allowing it to fester and boil will continually find himself in this place, always trying to make sense of confusion and chaos, giving way only to deeper turmoil and insanity in the mind.
October 17, 2018
Works Cited
Robbe-Grillet, Alain. “Jealousy.” Grove Press, Inc., New York, 1965.