I thought maybe we'd change the format of the discussions a little and have threads on different aspects of the book. We can talk about the characters in this thread, adding to it as we continue reading the next chapters. Now that we're well into the book we know enough about the characters to discuss them.
Let me start with yet another digression. There is a medieval mystery series that I like a lot by Candace Robb, the Owen Archer mysteries. The setting and stories are great, however there is a serious problem with one of the characters. If I remember correctly, this boy is supposedly about 10 years old. Since he's an orphan, he survived by following after soldiers. The boy is treated like a 5 or 6 year old and it drove me crazy. In that time, and living in that way, I would imagine him to be much closer to being an adult that a child raised safely in a home. Presenting him as such a young child was annoying.
Fortunately, I don't feel the same way about Swede. I've known children with extraordinary abilities. We had one kindergarten student who could do very advanced math...if someone read him the problems which he could not yet read himself. He thought that test was a lot of fun. I do appreciate the story being told through Rubin's more "normal" eyes. We see that Swede is a very gifted writer, and clearly intelligent, but she's still a child.
I felt so bad for Rubin when he testified on the stand and I love the way he tells the story. Rubin feels his job is to bear witness and he is unwavering in his honesty, even about himself. The descriptions of his breathing difficulties makes you feel like you can almost understand what it would be like.
Davy is a mystery to me. I have no problem understanding why he did what he did but the way he disassociates himself from the consequences makes you wonder about him. You know he's a good person because Rubin tells us so but killing someone, even when they've hurt someone you love, seems to indicate a certain contempt for the importance of life. This is surprising to me, given his family beliefs. One of the biggest surprises of the story for me was when we found out at the trial that Davy had escalated the conflict by breaking out the windows on Finches car.
Jeremiah Land is the biggest mystery of all. Rubin is telling two stories here, one about his brother, and the other about his father. You can't help but be impressed with this dad, no matter what his profession. The irony surrounding Jeremiah is interesting. Here's a man who can heal others but he suffers from nearly continuous headaches. He is kind and forbearing but didn't hold back when beating the boys in the locker room.
For just a minute I'd like to mention the language in the latest passage. Enger's use of irony can be very subtle however, that is not the case with the letter that starts, "Dear butcher...." I hate this letter but I love the irony in it. All the things the writer is saying about Davy were actually true about the boys that Davy killed.
NEXT READING:
Read through "The Last Thing He would Do" (p. 148 in my edition)
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9 comments:
You've said everything so well. The revelation that Davy smashed in the car windows was quite surprising. In doing so he practically invited Tommy and Israel to come for revenge. The fact that he felt he needed to kill them definitely lends to the mystery of his character.
There've been a few times in reading that I've thought it would be nice to get to know Reuben from the eyes of his family members, as we obviously get to see him from his point of view. But we get glimpses into his personality which satisfy. I think it's very sweet how he gets jealous when Swede spends so little time talking to him. I also appreciated his honesty in how it went testifying at the trial. Again, Enger does such a wonderful job writing and pulling us into the story. When Reuben quoted his brother as saying, "How many times does a dog have to bite before you put him down?" (or something along those lines, I don't have the book in front of me), I just felt sick. Probably pretty close to how Reuben felt when he realized how serious a quote it was.
The whole incident with the superintenent was infuriating. I couldn't believe someone could be that way! But at the same time it was also really funny how difficult a time Reuben had not laughing. Still not sure what to thing about his father healing the superintenent after everything the guy had put them through. I would probably feel more like Reuben..."He doens't deserve it!" But who are we to decide?
That's a good point about getting to see Reuben through someone else's eyes. At the trial you already knew that Reuben was going to screw up because he was telling us that, but the way he did it really made my heart sink.
Enger wanted us to really dislike the superintendent. The sad thing is that there really are people like that in the world. His healing was one of the surprises in the story and again emphasizes the irony of Jeremiah's character. However, it also shows us the depth of that character. My impression was that Jeremiah didn't have to do that. We have no clue how he knows to do these things because Reuben is recording just what he actually sees, not how God is communicating with his dad. It seems to me like Jeremiah knows that he can do something but can choose to do it or not. It takes a person of very strong moral fiber and compassion to heal an enemy the way he did.
I still can't pin down Jeremiah's character. What is the motivation behind the healings? Does he even know? I can imagine the confusion Reuben must have felt watching the superintendent, that awful man who "didn't even know how to be grateful", be healed by his father. Reuben was given life because of what his father did (or commanded), but he wasn't cured. Could his father cure him? What he did do gave Reuben life, so is that enough? I wonder what Reuben would say to those questions. We know he's not entirely happy (and justifiably so) to see his father heal someone who doesn't seem to deserve it when he himself would like to be healed. So, yes, I also would like to know more about Jeremiah. Interesting comment about the headaches that plague Jeremiah that you brought up, Debra.
Swede. I enjoy reading about her and Reuben's relationship and how close they are. The jealousy that Ruth pointed out when Swede locked herself in her room with her work was one of those insights that we get. I also had to laugh a little when Swede was in "let's break Davy out mode" and Reuben said it was one of those rare times when he felt like he was the older of the two. Reuben mentions that Swede became a professor (p. 105), and it doesn't surprise me.
Reuben. I love that he is so completely honest. I hated what that meant for the case when he was on the stand. I found a little comfort in what he wrote about honesty, even though I was so frustrated for him and for Davy: "A person can't regret honesty any more than over unavoidables." He's a person you can trust, so it's good he's our narrator. We can trust what he's telling us about the story and the other characters. :)
I finally finished reading, and I was amazed at how in-depth the characters are so early in the book. Reuben is such a very real person, which is hard to write, believe me, and we see that when he displays his emotions like anger and disbelief that his father would heal a man so cruel to him, jealousy of Swede's recent devotion to her typewriter. Reuben, however, is someone I admire for his honesty, and how able his is to perceive Davy's assessment of the situation and give the quote that pretty much seals his doom.
Then there's Jeremiah, who knows what the probable outcome is for his son and yet has the faith and calm demeanor to still go about his work above and beyond the call of duty. It doesn't even seem to me that he's putting on a face, he just knows it's got to be done so he does it. I don't want to use the word resigned, but it almost feels like he is, except in a positive way. Accepting, I suppose, but it feels deeper than that.
Davy is also a real person, and a very typical rebellious teenager who thinks he sees the world more clearly with his fresh young eyes than his older and more experienced father, and that leads him to do terrible things. I doubt very much that for him it's a matter of right and wrong, but a matter of justice in a very ancient sense, that of an eye for an eye. He's been going tit for tat from their first assault of someone he cares about, and finally he decides to make an end of it in the only way he sees possible.
Swede, though I almost hate admitting this, reminds me very much of myself. I don't know that I was quite as young as she was, but I often allowed myself to remain in the mindset of my favorite fantasy worlds for days and weeks on end. I still have pages of haiku and poetry I wrote, even short stories, that placed me in the setting of the worlds I think about as long ago and far away, but oh so appealing. She is a romantic, not in the sense of actual romance with a boy, but with the idea of such a life, the life of a story. I would say idealist, but I think she's got a streak of cynicism that nullifies that.
Also, on a side note, Davy's vs Reuben's actions remind me very much of a Hogwarts house quiz I took on Facebook that's a bit more in depth than most of the silly shallow ones. Davy's response to Israel and Tommy was somewhat descriptive of the Gryffindor house (which I got, incidentally) which in one question describes it's values in terms of doing what's right or fair, even if you don't always get there by the most lawful ways. Reuben, on the other hand, was very much in the vein of Hufflepuff, where honesty is a virtue regardless of whether you get in trouble, which is so much more admirable in a society recently where it's so easy to tell the white lie to weasel out of a sticky spot.
Ack! I just wrote a lengthy comment, and it didn't save...
I'll try to sum up. The comments are interesting so far and I agree that these characters are some of the most authentic I've read.
Ruben is the one I identify most with. I identify with his innocent honesty, and I have similar insecurities and weaknesses. Some of you have brought up the jealousy he feels in his relationship with Swede... sadly, I am the same way. I get jealous in relationships with strong independent people. I depend on them to take the lead and often just sit in admiration of them and wish I could be more like them.
Swede is such an endearing little character! One thing I really love is how Ruben often refers to comments about other characters. Here's one, for example:
"Swede would point out, rightly enough, that a man reading Mickey Spillane ought to have known better, but Stube Range, as they say, had a good heart." (p.97)
I love that a child so young was such an accurate judge of character. It often seems like she understands people almost better than they understand themselves. And her poems! I love her poems. As I said, a child so imaginative, intelligent, and talented is just endearing.
Davy has turned about to be more of a mystery than I originally thought. The revelation that he egged the other boys on was quite startling, and it makes me wonder what else, if anything, we'll learn about as the book unfolds. It definitely makes me want to keep reading!
Lynnette I'm so sad that you lost your long post. That's why I now use Firefox and not Internet Explorer. I had the same problem.
Kate I think the reason he healed the superintendent was because God told him to and Jeremiah was trying to be obedient, even in the face of injustice. I think that justice is one of the main themes in this book and I suppose I should start a new thread about that next time.
Istari that is a very nice summation of the characters. Reuben makes Davy seem older than a teenager so I forget that he is one.
I'm so glad everyone is enjoying the book.
One thing that bothers me, as it bothers Reuben, is why Swede decided that her character Sunny Sundown would be saved and kissed by a woman who was not his wife. Why would she do that? At the same time she seems to feel like it was a part of the poem that she had no control over. As I was rereading that part, I read another paragraph about how Reuben had a scary feeling that Valdez was no invention. "That he was real and coming toward us on solid earth." (p.101) Foreshadowing? I'm anxious to find out.
Hm...I don't know why Swede would write that. I'm not sure it bothers me as much as it does Reuben (or you! :) ). A question that I have though is why does this poem have so much control over Swede? Like you said Ruth, it's like she doesn't have control over this poem, that she has to write it a certain way or it doesn't work for her. Is it her way of coping with everything going on? And when she tries to paint a pretty picture, she just can't because that's not how her life is right now? Or even that that's not how life is in general?
I think a justice themed thread would be a good discussion base, Debra. There are a lot of things we could pull about justice - regarding the healing, the trial, the events that led to the trial, the views of people depending on the media's depiction, etc.
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