The one question I woke up to

Coffee Break · Sep 22, 2022

I encountered the expression "The one question I woke up to", but am struggling to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means? Here is the excerpt:

The one question I woke up to and couldn’t shake off and took with me to the shower, to my corner Greek diner, and then on the long way back home without ever being able to answer was: Is she not going to call me at all today or is she just pretending not to call?

- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, Fifth Night

This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. This novel is narrated by the nameless male protagonist. The protagonist meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Now, the protagonist woke up thinking about Clara.

In this part, I wonder what the underlined expression means.
Actually, in case this might be helpful, the same expression appears again in the same chapter:

In the dark before the film started, I suddenly remembered how I had put my coat on the seat next to mine the first time with Clara when she’d gone to make a phone call, trying to pretend that I had come alone that night the better to enjoy waking up to her presence when she returned.

I am vaguely guessing that it might mean "realizing" something, or "waking up from sleep and finding" something, but I am not sure...

jutfrank · Sep 22, 2022

The narrator woke up in the morning and started wondering whether she would call him that day. He carried on wondering the same thing throughout the day.

Coffee Break · Sep 25, 2022

@jutfrank,

Thank you very much for the explanation.
So it means that he woke up from his sleep, and then went to (="to") do something!

In that case, though, I wonder what the "woke up to" in the second quote might mean, since he was not sleeping...
Would it perhaps mean that he suddenly realized her presence, waking up from his metaphorical sleep...?

Barque · Nov 16, 2022

Coffee Break said:
it means that he woke up from his sleep, and then went to (="to") do something!

No, that's not what the "to" means. "The question I woke up to" means "The question I woke up to start thinking of..." It's an idiomatic way of saying this was the question that popped into his head as soon as, or soon after, he woke up.

Coffee Break said:
I wonder what the "woke up to" in the second quote might mean, since he was not sleeping...

Here it's used figuratively.
...the better to enjoy waking up to her presence = The better to enjoy the realisation of her presence.

Coffee Break · Nov 16, 2022

@Barque,

Thank you very much for the explanation.
So "woke up" should be read separately from "to"! "To" here suggests that he woke up first, and then "began/started to" think about her.
I sincerely appreciate your help.

Barque · Nov 16, 2022

No, "woke up to" has to be read together.

I [woke up to] the question... = I woke up and started thinking of the question...

Coffee Break · Nov 16, 2022

@Barque,

Oh, so they should be read together, to mean "he woke up from sleep and started...".
I truly appreciate your help.

Tarheel · Nov 17, 2022

He was thinking about it as soon as he woke up. (That's happened to me -- like with some of your questions.

)

Ms. Worth · Dec 9, 2022

Coffee Break said:
I encountered the expression "The one question I woke up to", but am struggling to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means? Here is the excerpt:

The one question I woke up to and couldn’t shake off and took with me to the shower, to my corner Greek diner, and then on the long way back home without ever being able to answer was: Is she not going to call me at all today or is she just pretending not to call?

- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, Fifth Night

This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. This novel is narrated by the nameless male protagonist. The protagonist meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Now, the protagonist woke up thinking about Clara.

In this part, I wonder what the underlined expression means.
Actually, in case this might be helpful, the same expression appears again in the same chapter:

I am vaguely guessing that it might mean "realizing" something, or "waking up from sleep and finding" something, but I am not sure...

Although "waking up to something" can indeed be used metaphorically to mean "come to realize," in this case it means "awakening from sleep."
This is not "waking up in order to do something." It's "awakening to the presence of something."

Phrases in the same pattern:
> The one thing I looked forward to was the end of the school day.
> The one thing I hoped for stayed in my mind all day.
> The one song I swung along to was an old favorite.
> The music I loved to dance to spilled out of the ballroom door.

Coffee Break · Dec 10, 2022

@Tarheel and @Ms. Worth,

Thank you very much for the explanations.
So it is close to "woke up and found out the presence of something"!
Or perhaps he could have been thinking about it in his sleep, and was thinking about it as he awoke, having been awakened because of the very thought...
I truly appreciate your help.

Ms. Worth · Dec 10, 2022

Coffee Break said:
@Tarheel and @Ms. Worth,

Thank you very much for the explanations.
So it is close to "woke up and found out the presence of something"!
Or perhaps he could have been thinking about it in his sleep, and was thinking about it as he awoke, having been awakened because of the very thought...
I truly appreciate your help.

Yes, that's right.
It implies that as soon as you wake up, you notice that you have that thought in your mind.

> I woke up to the sound of birdsong.
> I woke up to the smell of coffee.
> I woke up to the overheated feeling of a cat sleeping on my neck.
> I woke up to the buzzing of a fly circling the fan on the ceiling.

Tarheel · Dec 10, 2022

@Coffee Break Yes. He might have been thinking about it when he went to sleep, and he was thinking about it again when he woke up. (See below.)

Tarheel goes to sleep thinking about a question by @Coffee Break. When he wakes up he knows what he wants to say.

Barque · Dec 10, 2022

Coffee Break said:
perhaps he could have been thinking about it in his sleep, and was thinking about it as he awoke, having been awakened because of the very thought...

A dream about it? That could also possibly be the case, yes, but the words don't say that in this case. The words just mean that when he woke up, he had that thought in mind.

Coffee Break · Dec 10, 2022

@Ms. Worth, @Tarheel, @Barque,

Thank you very much for the additional explanations!
So he slept on the idea, and when he woke up, he found himself thinking about it.

Tarheel said:
Tarheel goes to sleep thinking about a question by @Coffee Break. When he wakes up he knows what he wants to say.

I am honored! Thank you so much always for helping me understand.

I truly appreciate your help, as always.

Ms. Worth · Dec 12, 2022

Coffee Break said:
@Tarheel and @Ms. Worth,

Thank you very much for the explanations.
So it is close to "woke up and found out the presence of something"!
Or perhaps he could have been thinking about it in his sleep, and was thinking about it as he awoke, having been awakened because of the very thought...
I truly appreciate your help.

The ideas is that you woke up to a condition that had been ongoing while you were asleep.

> While you were asleep, [something] was happening (and had been happening all along) -- something which you perceived as soon as you woke up.
>"I woke up to the ringing of my car alarm."
This means that the alarm had been ringing while you were still sleeping, and you heard it as soon as you woke up

The one question I woke up to

Coffee Break

Member

jutfrank

VIP Member

Coffee Break

Member

Barque

Banned

Coffee Break

Member

Barque

Banned

Coffee Break

Member

Tarheel

VIP Member

Ms. Worth

Junior Member

Coffee Break

Member

Ms. Worth

Junior Member

Tarheel

VIP Member

Barque

Banned

Coffee Break

Member

Ms. Worth

Junior Member

Similar threads