Throughout All the Living there is a constant theme of
suffering. While this might seem like a melancholy view of life, this is the
reality of many lives below the poverty line. Aloma deals with the struggles of
those with meager means, and her life gives readers an insight into what a life
with struggling life looks like.
The pain that we see in Aloma’s life is a representation of
those who get dealt a difficult hand in life and are dealing with the
ramifications of it. Aloma has no parents, lives with her aunt and uncle, and
they ship her off to boarding school. Many young people living in similar
situations end up in school and when they finish without a cent to their name,
they end up working low end jobs like Aloma does in the missionary school. The
only way that Aloma makes her way out of the missionary school is because she
meets Orren who brings her home with him. However, this doesn’t diminish the
pain that either of them are dealing with in life. Orren is dealing with the
pain of his mother and brother dying and throwing himself into saving the farm
that they were maintaining. Aloma deals with her suffering by throwing herself
into the piano which she uses as an escape from her life. While the novel
suggests that pain and suffering are inevitable in life, it does not suggest
that it should be embraced.
Pain is inevitable in everyone’s life. When looking at those
in the novel who have more privileged lives, like Bell, there is still
suffering in it. According to Aloma, Bell is a charismatic speaker who gets to
be near beautiful things like the church and the piano constantly. But even in
Bell’s life, there is suffering. Bell’s father dies and he has to start
preaching at the church after that. Even in a life as beautiful and meaningful
as Bell’s, there is suffering. However, the pain in the novel is not embraced
by any means. Aloma doesn’t deal with the pain of not having a working piano by
embracing her suffering, she goes to the church and asks for work. While Aloma
is not a very proactive person when it comes to her happiness, this is the one
thing she does to get out of her pain. She does not embrace the suffering in
her life, she finds a solution to it. Only when Aloma is playing the piano does
she truly find happiness. This example shows to readers that suffering is not
meant to be embraced, but when the inevitability of suffering comes, one should
break through it and work towards happiness.
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