Orren, however, feels connected to his physical surroundings because he grew up in a loving family. His true desire is for his family to be alive again, so he grasps at the only material remnants of his family life by moving into his childhood home and attempting to leave the newer house untouched after they die, because, he says, “This is their house” (157)—is, not was. He is dependent, if not on people, than on the world around him, because controlling it is his way of coping with grief. Bringing his family’s farm back to life seems to be a way of trying to bring them back to life, as if by filling their roles and preserving their home it will be like they are still with him.
The characters’ desires are incompatible both practically (staying vs. leaving) and emotionally, since Orren tries to physically revive what he has lost and Aloma strives for happiness from intangible sources. Neither of them truly fulfills these desires by the end of the novel, but instead, these desires shift, and there is some hope for their fulfilling their new desires sometime beyond the novel’s ending. When Aloma tells Orren “Emma and Cash don’t live here anymore...They’re dead” (157)”, it seems this finally sets in: his eyes take on an “emptiness” (157). But after the birth of the calf, he is “better than daylight” (184): instead of trying to bring his parents back to life, he finds happiness in bringing new life into the world. After this, he is more willing to change: he’s open to getting rid of the old piano and moving some pictures, and most notable, suggests marriage.
Aloma also changes by the end of the novel and begins take more pleasure in her life: after the fight with Bell, she at least finds the old house “bearable” (173), and when Orren later calls for her, she finds “her heart rising” (175). She also shows Orren the carving his parents made, letting go of some spite and at least partially accepting Orren’s deep emotional connections to his past. Because of the characters’ changes, I think it’s possible for them to someday compromise about the things on which they disagree, and help each other be happy.
I agree with the statements made in this post that while there are many differences between Aloma and Orren’s desires, they are able to change to overcome these differences and find some happiness in each other. To extend on their ability to change and accept their circumstances, I believe that the birth of the calf to Orren was a symbol of happiness remaining after grief and death. When Orren had to put the mother cow down, Aloma was overcome with grief: “her body began to cry, but without tears, hard so she could not breathe…” (182). While Aloma displayed the grief that came from the death of the cow, Orren found a new sense of joy with the calf. In her post, Katherine quotes Aloma: “he is ‘better than daylight’” (184). So, there was new happiness that came from the grief of having to put the cow down.
ReplyDeleteThis is similar to Aloma and Orren’s relationship. Happiness and love are beginning to come even after Orren’s grief from the loss of his family and Aloma’s grief of being alone during this time. After Orren is able to find his new happiness, Aloma is able to open up to Orren. She says “...when you go someplace, any place, I want you to come back more than anything” (194). She is able to realize that she truly does want to be with Orren. Due to their shift in desires in which I expanded on, I agree that their relationship looks more promising.
The stark contrast you described between Aloma and Orren leads me to believe that it will be almost impossible for them to match their needs and desires to each other’s, even after marriage. I agree that the fundamental difference between them is their notion of a family, however I don’t believe that a marriage certificate will help heal the gaping hole in Orren’s heart or fulfill Aloma’s aching desire to become a family. According to Orren, all Aloma cares about is “being happy,” but for him, “that ain’t a option” (161). Even though that by the end of the novel it seems Orren is more willing to give in to Aloma’s wishes, he is still incapable of fully satisfying her. After returning home from the wedding ceremony, Aloma hopes that Orren will “do something loving like carry her across the threshold of the house,” but is barely surprised when he doesn’t, as she “knew it was foolish to even think it” (194). Deep down, Aloma knows that nothing has changed between her and Orren, which is why she knew it to be “useless” to ask him to not fight “this day or ever again,” and would one day “say it again…perhaps many times” (196). Aloma has already resigned herself to a future of discontent, and therefore I disagree that her and Orren will ever be able to find compromise.
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