The Immersion Library

Even yet he could scarcely believe that there existed such an expanse of eager virgin soil waiting for whoever would husband it. Ten years of storm-bound winters, and fever-shaken, marketless summers before the war, had not chilled his passion for it – nor poverty so great that sometimes it took the combined efforts of the clan to buy a twenty-five cent stamp to write to Scotland of the measureless wealth upon which they had fallen.

In this 1924 Pulitzer-prize winning novel, Wilson tells the story of Scottish pioneers eeking out a life in the American midwest during the 1860s. She treats the tale with rich, romantic language but that romanticism dares to question the esssence of the American Dream.

To begin, Wilson contrasts the possibilities from fresh land against the backdrop of violence in the American Civil War. When describing life on the land, anticipation of wealth cultivates a hope in the future whereas the war sows a fear of death. In either case, one has a keen sense of beginning and the future ahead. Yet the reader must remember that beginnings usually result from something else ending; in this case, life in Scotland. How much of the New World is actually new? What have the families brought with them from the old country and does the idea of a new life distract them from realizing that they simply live a life displaced?

Wilson also contrasts Wully’s fierce love and hate alongside family values and valuing family. Compare Wully’s mother with his new stepmother-in-law. His mother, who has undoubtedly sacrificed everything for the prospect of a better life for her family, concerns herself with family values; primarily marriage before sex and children. She has simply worked too hard for her children to disrespect her efforts by not embracing her method of a quality life. I found it humorous that she would nearly disown Wully for the apparent misstep of sex before marriage but then joyfully relish the relief in finding that the child is not actually his. Remember, no circumstances had changed to warrant such a shift in disposition. Wully is still married and still embraces the responsibility of raising the child as his own. Wully’s stepmother-in-law, on the other hand, focuses on realizing the potential of a new life rather than the holding to traditions. I loved her fervor, her independence and confidence in herself and just deserts. Her husband cannot control her, not even with the help of traditional family values, and yet she exudes love, joy and kindness regardless of the person’s circumstances. The women truly contrast the conservation of the old life with the freedom of the new in which one’s choices do not anchor them away from the possibility of a bright future.

Yet each character’s present life pivots on the focal point of a possibilities. All their efforts, from wheat yields to growing families, look to the future rather than the present. Is this not the essence of the American Dream? Of hope? The possible rather than the reality? Wilson’s climactic finish centers on a phantom risk to the future and the entire community feels the threat of that risk in different ways. Peter Keith does not even need to be present in order to upset the community. He catalyzes moral discord for Wully, fear or security for Chirstie, and happiness or sadness for Libby Keith. He represents the unknown variable that can disrupt our creative manipulations for the future we desire.

The ending disapppoints me only because it seems abrupt and unnatural to the characters; as if Wilson’s publishers enter the story and force her to land a more palletable message to her readers. But to her credit, it does resolve the ever-present anxiety about futures and forces the characters to focus rather on who they are rather than on where they’re going.