Finding a Purpose
Up until this point in the book, Doctorow has hit on a lot of themes that have interwoven through multiple characters, but I think the most striking to me is each characters' quest for meaning. With each person, we've seen an internal struggle, whether explicit or implicit, to discover themselves.
The first clear example to me is Evelyn. Doctorow spends much of the first part of the book focusing on her character -- especially in relation to Tateh and The Little Girl. In class, we discussed whether we thought that Evelyn had good intentions during her interactions with Tateh or if she was being selfish. In my opinion, Evelyn's acts, though debately in poor taste, were good intentioned. Throughout her life, Evelyn was viewed as a sexual object rather than a person. She was manipulated by Thaw and White from an early age and forced to make a name for herself using her sexual appeal. Her entire life resides under the public eye and she is constantly being scrutinized, but when we see her around Tateh and The Little Girl, it's the only pure interaction she chooses for herself. There's no press for her to "show off" to, there's no witnesses to claim they saw Evelyn doing an act of charity, there isn't any monetary gain for her, but she continues to help Tateh and The Little Girl regardless. I think what Evelyn wanted most was to feel needed. Being able to help Tateh earn a living (however measly it was) and act as a motherly figure for The Little Girl fulfilled a part of her life that she could not find elsewhere.
Another character that's had a similar journey of self discovery is Mother. When Father when on the expedition to the Artic, we saw Mother struggling to adjust to the sudden change. She was frustrated with her nostalgia for happier times, sadend by her loneliness, and utterly disappointed with the men in her life. When she finds Sarah's baby in the garden, Mother, without fully understanding her own actions, takes responsibility for Sarah and the baby. I think her hasty decision was (in similar fashion to Evelyn) to fulfill a part of her life that she could not find elsewhere. Mother longed to be needed, to have someone that relied on her. After Sarah and the baby joined the family, we saw a drastic change in Mother's behavior. She starting informing herself on current topics (reading Emma Goldman's magazine and opposing sources), she successfully ran Father's business, and cared for Sarah and the baby. When Father came back, he quickly realized the changes in Mother as well. She was less submissive, less concerned about her appearance (in sense that she didn't tie her hair up every day), and more confident in herself and her deicions. Taking charge of her household and her decisions, gave Mother a feeling of control and self-worth that she had been missing for a long time.
I think that Doctorow's emphasis on the theme of a quest for meaning is very fitting with the time period of the novel. The turn of the 20th century was a time of mass immigration where thousands of people came to the United States to find their purpose in life. Exploration was an extremely popular and renowned profession (if it can even be called a profession), people (like Emma Goldman and the workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts) had begun to question their places in society and demand better reforms, and industrialism soared as the entire workforce was drastically altered. It was a time of incredible changes that still influence our society today. When I think of the beginning of the 20th century, "revolutionary development" are the first words that comes to mind and those not only applies to society as a whole, but every individual in it as well.
I hadn't thought of each character trying to find their meaning, but I agree that it is a very fitting theme for the time period this book takes place!
ReplyDeleteThere is another connection between Mother and Evelyn, which is their motherly instinct. Both of them find two children, and decide to make up for their missing mother role. It is interesting to me that Doctorow chooses that as a way to fulfill meaning for these two characters, though I'm not sure what the message behind that is. This is not to say that Doctorow thinks raising children is the only way to find meaning; Emma Goldman is never interested in children.
Thank you for this blog post!
It is hard to know what to make of Evelyn's obsession with Tateh and the little girl--especially when she's having these fleeting thoughts about kidnapping the child, or the way she seems to ignore or push past Tateh's clear discomfort with her presence in their home. In terms of her "intentions," it's hard to gauge: she seems to not be planning or thinking in an extended way about any of this; it's actually kind of close to Mother spontaneously "taking the responsibility" with the baby found in her garden. She is drawn to the girl and her father for reasons she can't articulate or understand, and she simply acts on these feelings--it does seem like she values their humility and authenticity, as she's been spending time in the horrific world of wealthy men who abuse and exploit her, and there might seem to be something "pure" about this man and his daughter. I agree that it brings some depth to her character, and that depth maybe has to do with Doctorow revealing these basic-instinctual-level emotional responses to Tateh and his daughter. She wants a different life than the one she's trapped in, and she seems to want to "save" the little girl in some way.
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