"For a long time I used to go to bed early. Sometimes, when I had put out my candle, my eyes would close so quickly that I had not even time to say ‘I’m going to sleep.’ And half an hour later the thought that it was time to go to sleep would awaken me; I would try to put away the book which, I imagined, was still in my hands, and to blow out the light; I had been thinking all the time, while I was asleep, of what I had just been reading, but my thoughts had run into a channel of their own, until I myself seemed actually to have become the subject of my book: a church, a quartet, the rivalry between François I and Charles V."
Clearly, Marcel Proust, the author of "Swann's Way," is extremely detailed in his first sentence. The narrator, Marcel (no significance to the author), explains how a long time ago, he used to go to sleep earlier than he does now. And when he would go to sleep early, he would fall asleep very quickly to his own surprise. However, after a bit of time, he would find himself awake again and again. And after a while realize that he has become apart of various stories. All dreams that he vividly remembers.
"My sole consolation when I went upstairs for the night was that Mamma would come in and kiss me after I was in bed."
This is a quote from Marcel. This is the perfect quote that explains his requirement of his mother's goodnight kiss. Without his mother's soft kiss, Marcel's nervous ailments and anxiety worsen and he is entirely unable to sleep. His entire evening awaits this exact moment. Despite his mother being okay with this, Marcel's father does not approve of these actions and wishes Marcel would just grow out of it. However, it is difficult for Marcel to rid himself of the love and affection.
"...nothing could be more unpleasant for a stranger coming in, who would be led to think that people were saying things about him which he was not meant to hear"
Marcel's family slightly disagree with Swann's choices in life. As a result of this, the family must be mindful of their whispers and thoughts. Swann's arrival to their house is always very random and unknown; therefore. it is frightening to them that they might be talking about him when he enters. In this quote, it seems like they are calling him a "stranger," but in fact, Swann is not a stranger and Marcel was just speaking of the aggregate... or was he?
