A major theme in this novel is
lack. The characters lack possessions and money, the land lacks fertile crops,
the crops lack beauty, Aloma and Orren lack a healthy relationship. We are made
to believe that because of all this lack in the mountains of Kentucky, that
there is no life worth living there. Instead, at first glance through the eyes
of Aloma, it seems that true living only comes when you move away and chase
your passion, just as Aloma wants to play the piano in a big city.
Morgan
points out places in the novel where others seem to find a more subtle kind of
joy in life. For example, little things like the rain bring him life as described
when Aloma “watched the unclosing of Orren’s face, which the sky had seduced
from him” (pg. 125). Orren also find life in youth as he feeds the newborn calf
and “when he turned, he was smiling” (pg. 183). Aloma seems surprised by the
way Orren finds life, as if nothing on a farm could possibly bring life.
Aloma looks
for way to find joy in her new life as she gets a job playing piano at the church
and creates interest in a person, Bell. However, she is never satisfied. Morgan
makes it seem as though Aloma finds the beauty in everything and that she is
the one that knows what truly living is like, but I would disagree with this.
She is torn when it comes to deciding what is truly important in her life and
what will satisfy her. As she walks around the empty house, Aloma thinks that
it is “strange that she could want to be here (the farm) and at the church at
the same time, yet feel that no matter where she found herself, she would be nowhere”
(pgs. 154-155). She could be with chasing her passion of music at the church
with her new man, or she could be at the farm, living a seemingly comfortable
life with a man she has known, yet ultimately, she feels she would be nowhere
in life. This makes it seem like Morgan is telling the reader that Aloma will
never be with all the living; that she will never be living a life that truly fills
her.
There is
beauty and life in everything: in sadness, happiness, loneliness, and company. It
is up to each person to decide where they will find that beauty. Some people look
in less obvious places, that seem lacking and boring, while others have big
dreams and aspirations that call for change and uncomfortable situations. Both
of these can fill a person with hope, joy, and a sense of life, but it is up to
each person to choose. Aloma must choose where she wants to find life. Orren
has found it on the farm with Aloma by his side, Bell has found it in his faith
and his community at church and with his mother. It is up to Aloma now to pick how
her life is meant to be lived.
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