As time moves on, the Piper family of four tries to move on too. there is a definite theme of "Life goes on, no matter what" in these chapters. Frances and Lily plant a tree where Ambrose is buried, though they do not know this. James wonders if Frances remembered what really happened to Ambrose; he is nervous. We see the beginning of a potential ghost story; Ambrose's "ghost" visits Lily in the night. Later, as the miner's go on strike, James receives a letter from Kathleen's well-wisher, Lillian Gish. We also get to see the letter that shocked James into retrieving Kathleen from New York, finally. At the end of the section, Lily hurts her foot in the Remembrance Day Parade.
A line of repetition is used throughout the first half of the story: "Who will save Frances?" (MacDonald 221). It is clear that Frances is heading down the so-called "wrong path"
The world of dreams is very heavily explored in this section. Lily, who is established as a sort of "main" protagonist dreams of Ambrose. The author makes an interesting point: "Here is the place called awake. On the other side of this line is the country of Asleep. And you see this shaded area in between? Don't linger there, it's No Man's Land" (MacDonald 226). The area that the reader is in right now is No Man's Land; we rarely know if what we are reading is a dream, or a reality. It is often difficult to distinguish Lily's waking moments from her sleeping moments. The relevancy of dreams and nightmares is questioned. What is reality? When Lily wakes up from a nightmare, Frances comments: "Nothing...I don't remember. Go to sleep. It was just a dream" (MacDonald 225). The reader is forced to question perception. Is the truth what matters, or does it just matter the way you remembered it? I feel as if this story is told from a different perspective, or narrator, we would feel very differently about each of the characters.
The miner's strike has, again, hit hard in Cape Breton. A sort of plague has taken over the towns: "At New Waterford General Hospital children lie parched amidst the new outbreak of all the old diseases with the pretty names" (MacDonald 228). I cannot help but think of our class work with King Lear. It seems almost of if the "Great Chain of Being" is yet again, out of order, due to the sins and transgressions of the Piper family. As the world around them mimics their internal family chaos, order must be eventually restored. How can this occur? By ending the lives of pretty much everyone in the family, excluding Lily and perhaps Mercedes. I feel as though James and Frances cannot be saved.
A lot is exposed about Mercedes in this section. Dealing with the theme of perception, Mercedes is the kind of person who cares a lot about what people think of them and their family. Knowing that everyone in town hates James, Mercedes: "Will have Lily give all their old story-books and clothes, as well as several pies that Mercedes will bake, to the poor children suffering upstairs. Then people will see...What a good man..." (MacDonald 233). One feels sorry for Mercedes; it is very unfortunate that she is subjugated to such cruel treatment, just because of her family name. Thus is life however, especially in a small town, bored with itself.
The idea of living on the island of Cape Breton is also explored in this section. The narrator quips that "the working poor looking to get off this cursed godforsaken rock that they love more than the breath in their own lungs" (MacDonald 241). This hyperbole emphasizes then paradox that all the characters in the story face: What they love, they also deeply despise. James loves Kathleen so much that he eventually hates her. Mercedes feels similarly towards Lily. Maternia, when she was still alive, loved James so much, but also secretly wished death upon him.
As predicted, Frances is emotionally unstable. She varies between angst and anger, and regret and sadness. She feels almost no remorse to exposing Lily to secrets that she shouldn't know about. It is unclear whether Frances is in a momentary state of disarray, or if she really is a mean and tortured person at heart.
I find it ironic that the family is attending a Remembrance Day Parade, when there is an obvious huge number of things that they would like to forget, especially James.
We still don't know a lot of things in this story:
-Who's baby was Kathleen pregnant with?
-Is the ghost of Ambrose real or imagined? Does it matter?
-What happened when James went to find Kathleen in New York?
-Who was the anonymous well wisher, so concerned for Kathleen's safety?
-What details of the "miscegenation" stated in the letter from the well-wisher pertained to Kathleen's ultimate fate?
Interesting Vocabulary
Viaticum: A communion to someone given to them when they're dying; Frances says that this is a holy word for clean underwear.
Miscegenation: Basically, an interracial couple. Kathleen's well-wisher used this word to describe Kathleen's lifestyle.
Exodus: A mass leaving of the area; People in Cape Breon are leaving the area, to go to Boston for a better life.
Camaraderie: Friendship; Lily feels friendship with the men at the Remembrance Day Parade, an uncanny parallel to how Kathleen was only friends with the male sex.
Rudimentary: Basic; Lily has a basic understanding of Arabic.
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