# II explained — In Search of Lost Time > Chapter companion for In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. ## What happens The narrator reflects on his diminishing grief for his grandmother and his reawakening desire for Albertine. He observes the changing seas of Balbec, now seen through an artist's eye taught by Elstir. The chapter also explores the secretive pleasures of M. Nissim Bernard at the hotel, his pursuit of young waiters, and the narrator's friendship with the maids Céleste and Marie. ## Themes in this chapter ### Memory and Time The narrator's grief for his grandmother fades over time; dreams show her recovering, indicating the erosion of memory and the passage of grief. ### Desire and Illusion The narrator's desire for Albertine revives amid grief; M. Nissim Bernard's secret pleasures at the hotel are built on illusion and ritual. ### Identity and Self The narrator's perception of the sea changes due to Elstir's influence, reflecting a shift in his own identity and way of seeing. ## Character check-ins ### Marcel Reflects on his grandmother's death and his waning grief; experiences renewed desire for Albertine; observes the sea with a new perspective; visits the maids Céleste and Marie. ### Albertine Simonet Begins to inspire a desire for happiness in the narrator; he longs for her to resume their former amusements. ### Marcel's Grandmother Appears in the narrator's dreams as an invalid recovering; her death is still mourned but grief is diminishing. ### M. Nissim Bernard Returns annually to Balbec for secret pleasures; pursues a young waiter at the hotel; maintains relations with the director and Aimé. ### Françoise Mentions her term 'coursers' for the maids; her language is contrasted with the hotel's nobler terms. ### Elstir The narrator's eyes, taught by Elstir, now see elements of the sea he previously rejected. ## Key lines > In my fear lest the pleasure I found in this solitary excursion might weaken my memory of my grandmother, I sought to revive this by thinking of some great mental suffering that she had undergone; in response to my appeal that suffering tried to build itself in my heart, threw up vast pillars there; but my heart was doubtless too small for it, I had not the strength to bear so great a grief, my attention was distracted at the moment when it was approaching completion, and its arches collapsed before joining as, before they have perfected their curve, the waves of the sea totter and break. The narrator worries that enjoying his solitary walk will make him forget his grandmother, so he tries to recall her suffering, but his heart cannot sustain the grief, and the effort collapses like a wave before it crests. _Illustrates the theme of memory and time, showing the fragility of grief and the difficulty of sustaining emotional pain._ > And yet, if only from my dreams when I was asleep, I might have learned that my grief for my grandmother’s death was diminishing, for she appeared in them less crushed by the idea that I had formed of her nonexistence. The narrator's dreams reveal that his grief is fading, as his grandmother appears less burdened by the idea of her own death. _Highlights the subconscious processing of loss and the gradual healing of grief._ > Incapable as I still was of feeling any fresh physical desire, Albertine was beginning nevertheless to inspire in me a desire for happiness. Though the narrator cannot yet feel new physical desire, Albertine starts to awaken in him a longing for happiness. _Shows the transition from grief to renewed emotional and romantic interest._ > And the clouds and the wind, on days when these were added to anyone, of M. Nissim Bernard, now that the latter was keeping him, whether because the young chorister did not think it necessary to display the same friendliness to a person by whom he supposed himself to be sufficiently well loved, or because that love annoyed him or he feared lest, if discovered, might make him lose other opportunities. The young waiter M. Nissim Bernard is keeping shows coldness, either because he feels secure in Bernard's affection or fears exposure. _Reveals the dynamics of secret desire and the transactional nature of M. Nissim Bernard's relationships._ > But this very coldness pleased M. Nissim Bernard, because of all that it concealed; whether from Hebraic atavism or from profanation of the Christian spirit, he took a singular pleasure, were it Jewish or Catholic, in the Racinian ceremony. M. Nissim Bernard enjoys the waiter's coldness for the secrecy it implies, likening it to a ritual from Racine's plays. _Connects Bernard's pleasure to themes of secrecy and ritual, blending religious and theatrical imagery._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/chapters/part-i-ii - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/in_search_of_lost_time_se/chapters