"The Cookie"

     In "The Cookie"  by Marcel Proust, the author is transported to a memorable time in his childhood just by the bite of a simple madeline and a sip of tea. This bite opened a window into his spirit “ I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin.”.  This cookie filled him, made him whole again, and awarded him with this state of ecstasy. He experienced joy, love, and happiness. 

    After being mesmerized by this mouthful, he pondered about where all of these feelings came from, and why did his meal awaken them. He took another bite in hopes of trying to find its meaning. As he ate more, the anticipation and exquisiteness diminished. He inhibited all of his senses and just focused on remembering Finally, after much reflection, it came to him as a moment of insight. The taste of the madeleine transported him to Sunday mornings at Combray. This mornings were characterize by his visits to his aunt Léonie's bedroom, where she would give him a share of a madeleine dipped in tea.  From this memory, he began to recall an array of different places and times in his little old town: "the house, the town, from morning to night and in all weathers, the Square where I used to be sent before lunch, the streets along which I used to run errands, the country roads we took when it was fine. " All of these had been suppressed for a long time, but all came to life in his cup of tea.