The representation of the concept “house” in Esther Freud's The sea house

Esther Freud’s novel The Sea House , which is distinguished by its plot organization, thematic and figurative system [Malashenko 2018], presents many names of houses: Fern Cottage, Sea House, Marsh End, Heron House, Hidden House. However, the central image of the novel is the name Sea House. In the novel, the phrase “Sea House” represents not only the location of the house, but also acquires a rich symbolic content. For example, the lexeme “sea” in addition to its basic meaning – a water space with salt water – in the work of Freud acquires new meanings. The sea symbolizes strength, the starting point of a new life, change, rebirth, and escape from loneliness. It is endowed with human qualities: its character, mood, habits. This is a silent witness to the ongoing love drama between the characters of the novel. The description of the sea adds shades of colour to the image of the main characters, affects their mood and feelings, brings happiness or sadness into their lives, distracts or worries, calms or scares:

Before them was the sea. A high grey bank of water, so wide and spacious it rolled round on three sides to meet the sky. She (Lily) had to stop and marvel at it, acknowledge the effect it had on the muscles of her eyes, and she wondered if you would ever get used to seeing to the horizon, after spending a lifetime of having your vision cut short [Freud 2004: 127].

The sea in the novel symbolizes the transition from the past to a new life, which one of the characters hopes to spend in a different way:

If the tide could only turn, take the house with it, drift them to a hidden slice of land. Take them to Holland, Belgium, take them to

Australia, where they could start the second half of the century in peace [Freud 2004: 247] .

In the novel the author uses colourful descriptions of the sea such as molten gold, a sheet of silver, blue stripe, rough brown . These examples demonstrate the author’s desire not only describe the sea, but also compare its colour with the feelings of the main characters. The author draws a parallel between the relationships of the characters and the state of the sea.

The sea had calmed as they’d been sitting there. It was so beautiful she felt a pull inside her, as if the tide were drawing out her heart [Freud 2004: 112].

The sea was rolling just behind the skyline, calling her, magnetic in its roar [Freud 2004: 6].

The above examples show that Esther Freud skillfully uses different means of expression to describe not only the landscapes of a small English village, but also the feelings and emotions experienced by the main characters of this novel.

It is quite obvious that the sea, being an integral part of the British landscape, has had a huge impact on self-awareness, language semantics and communication activities. Thus, in the work of the English writer, the “sea” is a semantic formation marked by linguistic and cultural specifics and characterizing the carriers of the English ethno-culture.

A detailed description of the water elements by Esther Freud gives a deep psychological understanding of human nature. The sea is the background of the events taking place, since people’s emotions are manifested through it, and the internal psychological and emotional state is mixed with this water element or opposes it.The phrase “Sea House” in the novel clearly has a great imaginative potential and expands the concept “house”. It is known that the core of the meaning of the concept “house” is “the building in which people live”. It is noteworthy that Esther Freud separates the concepts of “house” and “home” in denotative and connotative terms:

All his life Max had dreamt of houses…But even before the move from Germany that was likely to have shaken him, he’d been dreaming of his home [Freud 2004: 2].

Exploring the representation of the concept “house” in the novel, it is important to emphasize that the author considers houses both as an architectural structure and as a means of reflecting the inner world of the characters. In this regard, the descriptions of houses have an expanded and detailed expression in the literary text. Esther Freud draws the reader’s attention to the exteriors, interiors, colours, shapes and even the smells of houses. The writer assigns an important role to the theme of colour as one of the basic characteristics of the house. This is how the house where Lily lived is described:

Lily’s cottage was decorated in every shade of brown. Brown carpet, pale brown walls, a sofa and two chairs in clove and amber stripes. Even the curtains had clusters of hazel and beige flowers [Freud 2004: 5].

In theory, the brown colour symbolizes stability, reliability and wisdom. This is a natural colour that can help you find balance. In the novel, Lily, concerned about her relationship with Nick and her place in life, finds temporary stability in Suffolk.

Symbolizing purity, light and absolute, the white colour is used in the description of the house by the sea. This symbol correlates with Max’s mood and dreams of a bright future together with his beloved:

Once white, and almost square, its stilts were higher than the others, its door looking out to sea [Freud 2004: 118].

Grae’s house is represented by a small number of lexemes, which emphasizes its insignificance in the novel:

A tiny kitchen, neat and tidy, and a sitting-room with a patterned bedspread thrown over the sofa [Freud 2004: 69].

The description of Nick’s apartment is characterized by coldness, inaccessibility and closeness. There is no place for comfort and love in the apartment:

Long and lean with sleek pale floorboards, white walls, and a kitchen as streamlined as a ship. There were oil-blue doors hiding everything from view, so that if you went hunting for a teaspoon, or the fridge, there was nothing to give even the smallest clue [Freud 2004: 141].

Also included in the description of the houses is the smell parameter: each house has its own smell, which complements the image:

The house didn’t smell of Heiderose, exactly, but it smelt just the same [Freud 2004: 59].

The flat was dark and damp, and smelt ever so slightly of gas [Freud 2004: 124].

Fern Cottage smelt unpleasant. Musty, moldy even, as if all that brown furniture was never intended to withstand so much heat [Freud 2004: 155].

In the narrative, there is not only a physical description of the house, but also a subjective assessment of the houses - we are faced with images that appear in the minds of the characters. For example, Lily, looking at Grae’s house, sees it as follows:

From time to time she glanced up at Grae’s house. It was clear there was nobody at home, but it looked worse than empty. Closed. Abandoned even [Freud 2004: 156].

According to Esther Freud, houses can influence the inner state of the characters. So, for example, Nick’s apartment in comparison with the Fern Cottage seems to Lily intimidating, lifeless, but here she feels “alive”:

At Fern Cottage she’d become accustomed to lying in a pool of water, drifting and dreaming and thinking about nothing at all, but here, in the funnel of Nick’s shower, she felt her body blazing into life [Freud 2004: 141].

After a chain of events that changed Lily’s worldview, Fern Cottage no longer seemed to Lily her “home”:

She felt deflated. She could hardly admit it, but she'd been hoping to be welcomed home. She was lonely here, this wasn't her home, and to steady and distract herself she reached into her bag and drew out her envelope of letters [Freud 2004: 156].

Through a number of contextual characteristics, Esther Freud identifies the concept “house” with the concept of human mental balance and calmness, thereby expanding the artistic concept “house”. However, houses are not an end in themselves in the acquisition of happiness: Lily grows cold to Fern Cottage, and Max experiences the destruction of the House by the sea. The characters realize that their homes are where their loved ones are, which reflects the content of the “home” concept.

Thus, the concept of house in the novel, represented by the lexeme “house”, includes a basic meaning and is characterized by imagery, emotional colouring and reflects the individual picture of the world of Esther Freud. The concept “house” incorporates part of the content of the concept “home”. According to Freud, the house is a means of expressing the everyday life of an Englishman in the province and the character of its inhabitants. In the work, the house acts as a symbol of life itself with its impermanence, illusory stability and the inevitability of changes.