In the novel I Remain in Darkness, Ernaux does not betray her usual clinical intensity, describing with documentary precision the final years of her mother's illness, the depersonalization caused by dementia, and against this backdrop, her own unusual personal quests and discoveries as a daughter. Annie Ernaux, on one hand, flees from her mother as a figure trapped in the darkness of the patriarchal world, but this escape is accompanied by a agonizing sense of love, guilt, compassion, and understanding, which constantly brings the rebellious daughter back to her maternal roots. Importantly, beyond the personal drama, a tangible sense of time and place is vividly portrayed. Through the intergenerational conflict between mother and daughter, as well as the unchanging values shared by all generations, it effectively mirrors the changes and development of France in the second half of the last century.