The Writer As Explorer

This story is full of confusion and mystery, yet has a backbone of clarity and reason. Fabius, the house’s cook and long time friend of Carmen’s great grandmother, Claudine, seems to poses much knowledge, but he expresses it subtly. We know from his long relationship with Claudine and extensive travels that he must know more than he lets on. Fabius is a quiet man who keeps to himself, maybe unwilling, or just uninterested in sharing what he knows with others. Near the end of the story when he speaks with Colleen, we learn how Fabius cares for Colleen. He makes her a more elaborate than normal dinner and asks to share a seat with her. Over dinner, he explains her mother’s history and the history of their people (the Basque’s). Fabius relays details of Colleen’s mother’s death, more so her near death, and explains how that will one day happen to her, and how that is happening to him now. The Basque’s inexplicable death process, along with the inexplicableness of the house’s shapeshifting, keep the reader hooked by forcing them to constantly be asking questions. Is something wrong with their house? Does this happen to other people too? Why is Fabius so quiet? Why did he ask to sit with Colleen? Why didn’t he tell anyone he spoke english? The secrets of the characters, the house, and the Basque heritage encourages readers to provide their own answers, just as Colleen does when comparing the editions of Rooms By The Sea. I believe, like Colleen, many of these questions are answered with Fabius’ explanation of Basque’s deaths, though still leaving some open-endedness as to the state of the house once Colleen leaves, where Fabius will go now that his life is over (though it isn’t), and what will become of Colleen now that she is alone with her art.