relationships and societal expectations. At the start of the novel, the narrator reflects on his life with Albertine, who has recently moved in with him in Paris. He vividly describes his perceptive awareness of the outside world, indicated by the sounds and sensations that reach him from his room. Their daily interactions are marked by a mixture of tenderness and distance, his feelings for her oscillating between affection and growing disillusionment. Furthermore, he grapples with his jealousy regarding her past and the relationships she may be continuing outside their shared home. The opening sets the stage for a deeper examination of his emotional turmoil as he navigates the boundaries between love, ownership, and the freedom of desire. (This is an automatically generated summary.)