"I knew it was not just me personally she hated, but what I represented."

This chapter begins a little different than the rest.. We talk about Mrs. de Winter's...undergarments... and how the different maids treated them. She was assigned a new maid, Clarice, who she felt extremely comfortable around since she was level-headed with her. She accepted, and praised, her for who she was and anyone but. Alice, on the other hand, judged her clothing, the way she dressed, and so forth. Mrs. de Winter goes on a rant about how she feels bad for Mrs. Danvers because she took Rebecca's place and she knows how hard that must be for her...different.

Mrs. de Winter is trying her hardest to be her on person and to avoid doing the same things with things that Rebecca had once done, but it seems as though the house servants are always standing in the way. Every time she tries to do something, or put something somewhere, they inform her where Rebecca would put it.

Beatrice sent their wedding gift, which was a four volume set of A History of Painting. She liked the idea of the books and was appreciative that Beatrice went to London for them. Beatrice even signed the card, "Love from Beatrice" (141). She must really like Mrs. de Winter after all!

Janitor drama! (Hello, THS!) Frith informs Mrs. de Winter that Mrs. Danvers has accused Robert of breaking of the expensive china pieces in the morning room. It turned out that Mrs. de Winter had actually done the crime, had put the pieces into an envelope, and stuck it in the back of her desk drawer! Maxim didn't like the fact that she did this; thus, he made her confess in front of the maids. He also doesn't like that she is afraid of them, as he feels she should be above them. This part in the book shows the modest of Mrs. de Winter. She doesn't treat them as though they are her servants, because she knows what it's like to be a servant from her experience with Mrs. Van Hopper.

Mrs. de Winter says something that causes Maxim to become "dark and queer" (147). She said to him that the only reason he had married her was because "you know I was dull and quiet and inexperience, that there would be never any gossip on me" (147). This triggers a major uproar from Mr. de Winter. He questions her about what she has heard, what she was talking about, etc. It seems as though she has really hit a nerve! What could Mr. de Winter be hiding that he is afraid his wife has heard about? Really nothing too shocking.. Just that he shot her in the heart, cleaned up all the blood with water from ocean, drug her body to her boat, sunk the boat, and left her there as fish food for ten months. Or, is it just the idea that he's afraid someone has gossiped about Rebecca, who he is still so protective over? Not quite.

Vocabulary:
gauche (150)- lacking grace or tactics in social circumstances

Literary Devices & Important Quotations
Characterization