Question: In what ways can Fraser-Cavassoni’s narrative be seen as a personal journey for the writer?
Within the text “Understanding Chic”, from Paris Was Ours, by Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni, the descriptive language can be seen as a very personal journey for the writer. The fact that Fraser-Cavassoni visited Paris often, and then proceeded to live there in her 20s, plus living there permanently now, suggests that this particular piece of writing is going to personal, as it describes her first memories of her first time in the city of love.
Within the opening paragraph, the writers and the readers first impression of Paris is the smell of the food, which sets a scene within the reader’s head of a stereotypical Paris scene like see within the movies. Fraser-Cavassoni describes the smell of the food by being “struck by the smell of baked baguettes wafting”. This metaphor describes the rich smell of bread, and creates an image within another’s head, hence making them smell what she was could. However, the verb “struck” distorts the ideal too-good-to-be-true image of Paris that people would expect. The verb implies the sudden force of smell thrusted upon the visitor, and has connotations of violence. This could suggest that Paris has a secret identity that tourists don’t see that often. It also links with another point further on in the extract about violent behaviour, and that the violent striking of the smell is attacking the visitor as soon as they enter the city, which could be viewed as intimidating. The audience then believes that Paris is quite deceiving, as violent words have been used very early on to state that. Also, it shocks the reader as this smell has been forced upon the narrator to create the stereotypical image, so that the real Paris can stay hidden away from the tourists. This quotation proves that the narrator went on a personal journey whilst writing it, as she remembered these details so clearly, indicating that Paris had invaded her mind as soon as she entered the city, which is how she wants the reader to feel whilst reading this article.
After visiting Paris, the narrator returned home with many stories; however she described herself as being the “Paris Bore”. This quotation suggests that she had told so many stories, possibly some over and over again, implying that Paris had a personal effect on her. She was missing Paris, therefore had to re-live it by retelling her stories to her family over and over again. Instead of leaving “bore” as an ordinary noun, Fraser-Cavassoni has capitalised the noun to make it a proper noun. By capitalising “Bore”, she has branded herself or given herself a title, due to the fact that she is always talking about Paris, therefore she has become known for her stories that are boring everyone. She is labelling herself, as she has become an outcast from her own family, suggesting that even the narrator has distanced herself from her ordinary life, as she wants to be in Paris with all of her stories. The title she has given herself also suggests that she has recognised that everyone is bored of listening to her; however she doesn’t seem to care and just wants to relive Paris all over again. The verb used earlier on in the sentence, “returned”, also creates the idea that she had been taken away from her boring ordinary life, to the wonderful city of Paris that has memorised her. This allows the audience to become annoyed at the narrator and imagine how her family easily gets bored of her telling the same stories over and over again. The personal journey for the narrator explores her emotions and how she is missing Paris after spending ten days there, and how her trip impacted her that much that she decided to live there.
Further on in the extract, the narrator notices how the Parisians are rude and arrogant towards tourists, on the contrary take more pride in the idea of gourmonde. Fraser-Cavassoni uses the quotation “respect for vegetables…lined up like jewels”, emphasises the point that the Parisians take more pride with the idea of gourmonde rather than being nice and kind. The simile “lined up like jewels” state that food was highly valued more than people, which is how Parisians act all the time. This is odd as it doesn’t represent what a tourist’s idea of Paris is, which makes the audience re-evaluate what they originally thought Paris was like. The noun “respect” also shows that Parisians care more for food than people, as they respect the food they cook, and are careful when presenting it as it is their pride and joy, whereas they disregard other citizens and tourists and they believe they are superior to everyone else. This again comes to the idea of gourmonde – how the Parisians take pleasure in eating food. This makes the audience see the Parisians for what they truly are, snobby, arrogant and believe they are superior to everyone else, especially tourists. However, it still seems that the narrator is in love with Paris and that she wants to be a part of this society. Although Paris to the audience now doesn’t seem like the stereotypical place, and the Parisians are rude and abusive, the narrator still seems to be in awe of how their society works, and admires how they present their food like jewels, and take pride within that. This further suggests to the audience that Paris has captivated the narrator, which is why it is told to be a magical city, despite the reality of it.
In conclusion, Fraser-Cavassoni uses descriptive language and many verbs and nouns to describe how wonderful Paris was when she visited, henceforth showing that this personal journey changed her life as she wanted to be a part of Parisian society, become ‘chic’ and move to Paris, which she did eventually do.
Kayleigh Jones 