Manea - "The Trenchcoat"

At the very start of this book, I was so confused on what was happening. Then, when I got to the middle I was starting to get it, and then by the end, I was even more confused. The trench coat, the rain coat, the overcoat. I simply could not tell you what had happened in this book. I had started reading this book with no previous knowledge of the other parts or even a summary of "The Trenchcoat." So naturally, I was very lost. It was not until I watched the lecture and conversation video that I finally understood what happened. Essentially, what I got from the videos was that the three couples in this book lived with a totalitarian government where there is a secret police that tracks everyone's moves. This reminded me of a book I had to read in high school called 1984 by George Orwell where the main character, who also lived with a totalitarian government and secret police, questioned the system and eventually threw the whole system into chaos due to his curiosity. It may not be totally the same but the totalitarian aspect led me to this connection. 

I also want to touch on some of the structure of the sentences. The first thing I noticed was the run on sentences. I definitely thought there was something up with the structure at first but I did not know what initially. However, after learning the true context of the story. I think Manea used run on sentences to emphasize the characters' paranoia and uncertainty. This is highly evident when Ioana was ranting to Ali about when she saw Dina with an unknown man while wearing the trench coat. She was panicked and rambled a lot while being unable to get the her actual point, as Ali pleaded for her to "speak clearly first" (245). Another thing I noticed was the repetition of words, or even sentences. "Tomorrow, after court, I've two cases tomorrow. Let's say around six o'clock. Tomorrow, then, if you can. For a half hour. So, six o'clock, sex-fifteen" (227). The repetition of words and sentences were all over the book. A word that I noticed was repeated often and consecutively was "yes." To be honest, I'm not sure why the author did this. It may be for the same reason as the run on sentences or maybe it's simply for emphasizing. Maybe it was because the secret police may have been listening to their phone calls and it was a code. Lastly, the names, "The Guileless One," "The Learned One," "The Kid." I am still unsure about these names and if they are the same people but I found it interesting how Manea never gave them an actual name but called them by these nicknames. 

Finally, the trench coat. The overcoat, the rain coat, whatever it was. It was a symbol of paranoia. Before the trench coat was mentioned by Dina, everything seemed to be in place, the three couples talking behind each others' backs, Felicia and Ioana's family collectively not liking the Baldeunus, then them planning to never visit the Baldeunus again. When Dina mentioned the trench coat, she just could not stop worrying about it, which ultimately made the others also worry. That trench coat alone gave everyone uncertainty. It "threw off" their ordinary, every day life. Because Dina was so worried about the trench coat, everyone started worrying about it too. 

Discussion Question:

Why do you think the author used repetition in his novel? Who are/is "The Guileless One," "The Learned One," and/or "The Kid?"