Because I have not posted much...I thought it would be nice to show you what I have been writing instead, and please no corrections. It would do me no good, I already submitted it to my teacher.
Joannis Lawlor
04/11/08
Composition 102
Lit Analysis
Epilogue: July 14, 2003 (Take Two)
It has been several years since the conviction of the men responsible for Michael’s death. My brother Paul assisted Lyle Ferguson in the case; he had completed law school the year before. Ten years, ten long years it took for Michael to get justice. This helped to calm Paul’s nerves down a bit. Then he met Deborah, they went on double dates with Lorraine and I. Though Lorraine and I went to different colleges, we both came back to Mobile. It was a bittersweet day, not even a year after I came home from college…my father died. He raised me and I respected him for that, but I finally had my chance at freedom, my own Jubilee. So I became a teacher at the same high school Lorraine taught Drama at, by 1987 we were married.
In 1988 we decided to go to New York City, so Lorraine could pursue her acting career. I became an advisor at a local high school, so other young people would have support in their dreams and aspirations, the support that I did not get. We lived in a light blue house in Milford, Connecticut, life was good. Whenever Lorraine and I go home to Mobile for the holidays, we get to see Paul, Deborah and their two children, Peter and Hannah. We even had some children of our own, they are good actors like their mother, and I seem to believe everything they say. To be able to find peace, I never thought this could happen to me…yes, I have had struggles with faith, but maybe there is hope for everyone to have a happy ending.
Now didn’t that sound like a wonderful ending to a potentially wonderful story? If only it were the real one… Like Trees, Walking is one of the more depressing books that I have read recently. I like stories with happy endings. And unfortunately Like, Trees Walking did not have that happy ending that I believe is so picturesque. The book is saturated with death. It begins with the lynching of Michael Donald and ends with Paul, the lead character’s older brother. However, it stands to reason that the lead character Roy is the seventh generation of morticians. Roy’s immersion in the world of funerals gives him a view that can seem so unique compared to the other characters. It’s as if death does not faze him anymore.
I had made more trips to churches for funerals than I had for worship, and each time I listened to the words the ministers had used for death. Transition. Home going. Passing. But I had drained the last of the blood from the bodies that lay beneath the flowers. By my lights, dead was dead. I sometimes watched the still baptismal waters and waited for any sign of a spirit that could do the impossible, raise the dead simply by calling their names. (Howard 66)
Because death is such a reality to him, it is hard for him to think of anything existing beyond his own reality.
As I read this book I tried to view it with an optimistic spirit. Thinking of the death of Michael as way for the town to begin anew, to remember the past and firmly change the future; the end of Lorraine’s last play to be the beginning of her future as an actress. Even the title to me exudes a sense of hope to me. The title comes from the bible, Mark 8:24. Like many verses in the bible if read alone they can be misunderstood. This verse comes from a story of Jesus healing a blind man. The man at first doesn’t see clearly when Jesus put spit upon the man’s eyelids. The man claimed he saw men, like trees, walking. But when Jesus places his hands upon the man for a second time, he is healed. However what is very intriguing is what Gould had to say about this verse, “This is the single case of a gradual cure in our Lord’s life…” (148).
I feel that maybe the title is referring the gradual process Roy goes through in life. He is very cynical as a young man. He hopes even with his unbelief that prayers will go answered, “My absence of faith didn’t mean I didn’t have any hope.” (Howard 119) With the impact of his brother’s death, he tries to fathom the power of an entity greater than himself. That he hopes his life will turn out alright, that something greater than him is really keeping the world turning.
But it as if every time we have reason to hope for that perfect happy ending, Howard just gives you another reason to give up (Just like Paul did). We see Lorraine’s aspirations to become an actress, but her father is so wrapped up in his work he hardly ever goes to her performances, you can see that it is having a toll on her (Howard 176-177). You may hope that the men who killed Michael are convicted, but they become…‘as free as the rest of us’ (Howard 213). You could even hope that Roy becomes free of his family responsibilities dealing with the funeral home.
However, even a long time after his brother’s death, he is still going to church every Sunday, and still burying dead people.
I stayed in Mobile to do the only work I’ve ever known. I still stand in those churches on Saturdays, listening to the same scriptures I hear repeated on Sunday mornings. We are for the bodies of the dead. The rest of them-I don’t know. I have more questions than I have faith. A mustard seed, they say. Maybe that’s enough. One day I’ll know. We all will. (Howard 252)
Through the whole book Roy is trying to find his way. He is trying to understand his lot in life, trying to find some peace.
If the book is any predictor of the future, I believe Roy will never find peace. He may reach astonishingly close, but not what he truly needs. He only wanted out (His responsibilities, Mobile, the funeral business…); he wanted his hopes and dreams fulfilled. Something he wanted, but would never get; Paul wanted justice for Michael, and that was a battle Paul lost. Lorraine hoped for the career of an actress, instead she became a mother and politician. As I read this book, I wanted to hope with the characters, that their own personal goals would be reached and when each subsequently failed, the reality set in…even though this book is fictional it is based on true events and the picturesque ending is extremely rare in the real world. Sad, but true; if you want a nice happy ending, I might suggest reading Chronicles of Narnia, or even Lord of the Rings.
Works Cited
Gould, Ezra P. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Mark. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1961.
Howard, Ravi. Like Trees, Walking. New York: Amistad, 2007.
No comments:
Post a Comment