The story of All the
Living is a timeless and barren one. Information regarding the location of
Orren’s farm, Aloma’s age, and the couple general appearances are all very
vague and mysterious throughout the novel. One could even argue that the novel
does not have a plot as well. However, the dry descriptions of the main
characters and time are compensated by Morgan’s vivid imagery of the land. She
does not hold back when he describes the land, and makes it feel organic to the
readers. In a way, the land stands outside of time, at least relative to those
who inhabit it. Regardless of time or individuals, it has supported the people who
live on it, and it reflects their desires. Same applies to Orren and even
Aloma. Morgan’s lack of lack of descriptions make the main characters extremely
mundane, and their desires are instead shown through the exquisite imagery of
the land.
The case for Orren is relative clear. The farm, and the land
by extension, represents the need for his monetary desires on the surface. His need
for money mentioned multiple times. For example, when Aloma asks him if they could
go to the restaurant, he “cocked an eyebrow at her” and says, “No, Aloma” (50).
He only agrees to go when Aloma brings up her lack of family and how she has
never been to a restaurant before. He mostly likely sympathizes with her due to
his current situation and agrees to take her to the diner. More symbolically,
the land represents his longing for his family. He suddenly lost all of his
family members to a freak accident. The farm, the house, and the land are the
only remnants of his past. Bound by grief, he keeps himself busy by doing what
his parents did. He even left the small house as his mother had previously left
it. When Aloma steps into the room, she “stepped into the trapped air, tasted
the dust and disuse there, and smelled the fading perfume of clothing absent
its owner” (156). Later on, Orren says, “They [the accident] cut off my legs
Aloma. They cut off my legs and you want me to run” (161). Orren desperately
hopes that the land will provide him what he needs to get back on his feet.
At a glance, the land might seem to represent everything
Aloma does not want in her life. The lack of the piano. The mountains that trap
her. The environment “where every last thing wasted flesh into bone” (59). However,
being happy with the Orren she originally knew is one of her ultimate desires.
That desire is what makes it difficult for her to abandon what is obviously an unpleasant
situation for anyone. On her way back from the “picnic,” she “woke to her
surroundings…to the miscarriage of the summer, the ruth and pity of it. She suddenly
desired the betterment of everything, for herself and Orren and every single
thing that had ever died or would. And for a moment, just this moment, she
wanted to be at the house” (122). The barren land reminds her of one of her
core desires. There are other moments when she is content about the environment
she lives like when the tobacco leaves first blossoms, and when she brings the
eggs back to the house for the first time.
As the epigraph mentions, the land is “evil to everything
that happens under the sun, that same fate comes to everyone.” For both Orren
and Aloma, it is unforgiving and cruel to them. However, at the same time, it
reflects their desires and provides the opportunity for them to find what they
want: Orren wants the family he lost, and Aloma the Orren who was capable of smiling
like she first met him. (the piano too, but I assume that will naturally come
along when the financial strains are somewhat relieved).
I agree with you that the main characters, Aloma and Orren, are at times unbearably mundane. I think the saving grace of this book is the author's elaborate descriptions of the terrain, and in this way, the land seems to become its own character. It seemed to me that we read as much about the state of being of the land as we did Aloma and Orren; it took on a certain personality of sorts. Your post reminded me of a passage very early on in the book, when Aloma first arrives at the house. She surveys the land, and the book says, "...she looked out into the distance where, because she could not will them away or otherwise erase them from the earth, the spiny ridges of the mountains stood. She laughed a laugh without humor. All her hopes, and there they were. Had they been any closer, she'd have suffered to hear them laughing back," (5-6). Here we see the mountains being personified, reinforcing the notion that the setting of the book is its own character. C.E. Morgan never fully develops the characters of Aloma or Orren, but her descriptions of where they live are enough to keep the book lively and interesting. I find this fascinating, for though the book is sometimes dry, it creates an amazingly deep perception of nature and its humanistic qualities. The land truly becomes a life form, with its own past, present and future.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great reading of the land's relationship to the people that inhabit it - I definitely agree there is an obvious theme of "lacking" and absence that pervades the land, and affects the people that live on it. I really like what you said about how the novel uses land to address themes of temporality: "The farm, the house, and the land are the only remnants of his past." I think this is a great point and it touches upon how Orren and Aloma experience their relationship to the land in terms of temporality.For Orren, the land represents the past and what he has lost. This is why he seeks to preserve the new house, to preserve the memories of his family. Orren notes "I was born in that house," (30), and through this, seems to draw on a memory of the past he wishes to preserve. Aloma encounters this past as she finds the photographs of Orren and his family, coming upon a picture of Orren "in his old room, the boy grinning without reserve" (38). Here, Aloma encounters a past Orren and a history she can never fully know, which reveals the strong ties to the past that Orren experiences in regards to the land. Orren's seemingly-irrational decision to stay in the old and bigger house rather than the more modern house indicates his desire to preserve and protect the past through the preservation of the land and home.
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