Throughout All the Living,
both Aloma and Orren are filled with desires that they cannot possibly attain. The
most important thing they both want is a family. Although Aloma and Orren are characters
with drastically different backgrounds, both of their stories revolve around
family or the lack thereof in their lives. The importance of family becomes
evident even in the first thirty pages of the book when it becomes clear Aloma
has never really had a family, describing her Aunt and Uncles attitude towards her
as “a middling impersonal way that instinctively
reserved their best for their own”(12). These early childhood memories of not truly
being wanted and being sent away to a boarding school is what leads Aloma to
desire a real family that will love and care for her. While Aloma claims
throughout the novel that all she wants is to “find a riseless place where
nothing impeded the progress of the sun from the moment it rose in the east
until it dies out easily in the west.” (13) it becomes obvious that Aloma actually
wants a family and the “darkness” that is often symbolized throughout the book
could be healed with the happiness of a traditional familial unit.
Aloma’s
desire for a family is the driving force behind her otherwise inexplicable
decision to stay with Orren throughout the novel. When she moves into the house
with Orren after the death of his immediate family, it is obvious that he has
changed and is no longer the man Aloma loved. Aloma claims that it appears as
if he has aged a decade in the few weeks since she last saw him, noting that he
is reserved and no longer has his characteristic warm look. It quickly becomes
obvious that their relationship is doomed. This is exemplified when Aloma says,”
I don’t ever see you no matter that I live with you and then when I do see you,
you don’t have anything to say.”(106). Orren and Aloma rarely even speak to
each other, and when they do it usually ends in a feud. The desire for family is
the only thing that maintains and continues this clearly broken relationship.
Throughout
this drama, it appears that Orren is looking to replace his mother rather than
create a life with Aloma. As the novel progresses, Orren constantly compares
Aloma to his mother, whether it be her inability to cook or her attempts to
control Orren’s actions. It is clear that Orren is still grief stricken over the
loss of his family and this drives his desire to establish a family in a similar
fashion to how Aloma desires a true family experience. This shared desire is
what drives Aloma and Orren to stay together throughout the novel.
I agree with your conjecture that Orren is trying to replace his mother rather than begin a new life with Aloma. Throughout their time spent on his childhood home, Orren constantly and consistently has compared Aloma’s efforts to his mother’s efforts on the farm. In fact, when initially bringing Aloma to his home, he established that “Mama worked the most,”, setting a standard for Aloma that was unattainable for her (36). Aloma had never lived and worked on a farm, and therefore in that aspect she was physically disadvantaged in her new life with Orren. Additionally, she was disadvantaged by the way in which, in Orren’s eyes, she could never compare to the efforts of Orren’s mother. In this way, Aloma could never fulfill what Orren desired, which established a divisive standard of what they both expected of the relationship. This is especially apparent when during a fight Orren snaps “You ain’t my mother” and Aloma retorts “No…No, I’m not,” (106). Orren has made it transparent that in his grief-stricken state, he wants Aloma to replace his mother and Aloma has made it transparent that she cannot feasibly do that. Personally, I found your statement as an interesting analysis of Aloma and Orren’s relationship because, in class, we typically focus on the desires of Aloma exclusively, and yet, throughout the book Orren has some unmet desires as well. Orren’s grief-stricken Oedipal complex is perhaps the most underrated aspect of what makes Orren and Aloma’s relationship so tragically grueling.
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