Lack in All the Living

Lack is a pervasive element of All the Living. Nearly every struggle that the characters face is due to lack, from the beginning of the novel to the end. Aloma is introduced as a character who had “never lived in a house” (1), and coming from a family that “couldn’t handle her anymore” (5) because of their seven other children. In addition to the lack of material possessions, Aloma is also an orphan, and though she is in a relationship with Orren she still describes his family as “not her people” (3). Even Aloma’s talent for playing piano is plagued with lack. Despite her talent and promise, she first stays at her mission school for another three years after graduation due to her lack of other opportunities and material wealth. Then, when she finally leaves the mission school, she is stuck in a place where her only two options are a piano that is decrepit that it’s unplayable, or a piano with “pitches sagging and unclean” (86).  Overall, this shows how even the brighter sides of the characters in the novel are constantly plagued by lack, and how they struggle to overcome this constant obstacle to their happiness.

Additionally, I found it interesting how the setting reflected lack. When Aloma first comes to the house, she describes how “the soil had leached to chalky dust” (1). Additionally, when describing other areas, such as the store, the landscapes are always barren and give the impression of a deprived world. This sense of desolation affects the characters in many ways, with Aloma describing the farm as “the dust you feel unholy bound to” (30). This leads to the characters, especially Aloma and Orren, feeling trapped in the lack and helpless.

Setting and Characterization in "All the Living"

The setting of the vast, dusty farmland pervades and affects every part of the narrative in C.E. Morgan’s “All the Living.” However, more specifically, the setting they reside in characterizes both Orren and Bell, and foreshadows what roles they eventually play in Aloma’s life.

The farmland Orren has lived on for his entire life is portrayed as hostile to Aloma. When she first arrives, the tobacco, the crop that is supposed to be their livelihood, “faltered on the drybeat earth” (3). The portraits of his dead family have a “curious power” to make her feel unwanted (26). She is repeatedly attacked by a rooster, but even after it is killed, Orren brings her its spurs to give her one last fright. To make matters worse, the mountains that Aloma associates with her early life still loom large over the landscape.

The hostility of the setting connects to Aloma’s relationship with Orren. When he first arrives at the farm, he is clearly a different man from the one she fell in love with. She notices that “it was as though someone had come along with a plane and sheered off all the extra that once cushioned him” (8). Like the sudden drought causing the farm to become a place devoid of life and prosperity, the recent death of Orren’s family leaves him a changed man, not nearly as loving and ideal as Aloma remembers him. The setting represents his inner conflict, and its hostility mirrors his sudden hostility toward Aloma.

On the other hand, Bell appears to be a far better alternative to Orren. He is strongly associated with the church where Aloma can go to play piano and get away from the oppressive hostility of the farm. Just as the church represents escape for Aloma, Bell too seems to be the opposite of Orren, at one point moved to tears by her piano-playing, showing the “tenderheartedness of mountain boys” (103). Just as the church opposes the farm, Bell’s emotional vulnerability opposes Orren’s closed-off hostility toward Aloma.

However, in the end, neither Orren nor Bell prove to be a perfect companion to Aloma. This is represented through the pianos they both show her. Bell’s piano is a beautifully-carved, but when Aloma attempts to play it, “the sound bloated out, the pitches sagging and unclean” (135). Orren’s piano is similarly broken, some of the keys making “no sound, just a sponging broken depression” (28). However, a key difference is in the outward appearance of these pianos. Though both do not work for Aloma, Bell’s piano masquerades as a beautifully well-kept piano. Orren’s piano, on the other hand, is broken both in appearance and sound, and does not mislead Aloma.

This can easily connect to how the men come to play a role in Aloma’s life. While he starts out a positive figure in her life, Bell eventually casts her out as “deceitful” (171). Like his piano and his church, his outward appearance gives way to hostility toward Aloma. However, Orren is honest entirely in his treatment of Aloma, and does seem to love her despite the pain he has been through in the loss of his parents. Thus, Orren, like his piano and his farmland home, is hostile to Aloma only due to hardship.

The Symbolism of Pastor Bell Johnson's First Sermon

As Aloma walks down the aisle anxiously approaching the piano at the front of the church she is met by Pastor Bell Johnson who gives her a very applicable sermon. All the Living by C.E. Morgan encompasses many meaningful motifs, most of which are embedded in Pastor Johnson’s very first sermon with Aloma. Pastor Johnson opens his sermon by arguing that, “we are all lonesome men” (Morgan 78). Pastor Johnson’s message here is very simple but strong. Johnson realizes that we are all lonesome people who can only rely on God. This could not be truer for Aloma and Orren as they have no family and cannot rely on each other. Aloma was raised as an orphan by her aunt and uncle while Orren’s family was tragically killed when he was younger. In addition to their separation from family, Aloma and Orren live on a secluded farm miles away from the nearest store. Then Pastor Bell tells others to let God’s love help them just as, “God turned [him], so that [his] innermost heart was all exposed (Morgan 79). This motif of love is very ironic in a love story that is unromantic as it is. In the end, Orren and Aloma must love each other again. Their sex only relationship is not the kind of love that keeps people happy. Orren never seems to pay attention to Aloma, while Aloma never attempts to improve their relationship. It is as if neither of them know how to love. This may because they have been isolated for most of their lives and were stripped of their familial love. The Pastor goes on to state that, “God asks us to be less so that others may be more” (Morgan 80). This motif of selflessness goes hand in hand with the motif of love. Orren’s selfishness is shown through his uncaring desire of Aloma. Orren is selfish because he will not give up his farm in order to have a better life with Aloma. This turns their relationship into something unromantic and unfair. On the other hand, Aloma wants nothing more than to be a pianist. Her dreams of playing the piano blind her from the harsh realities of her relationship that she could be trying to fix. Overall, Pastor Bell Johnson gives his first sermon in the presence of Aloma and his message could not be more applicable to her. Her battle with loneliness, love and selfishness are at the forefront of the novel. 

The Absence of Affection

A significant theme in All The Living is the lack of things, such as prosperity, love, and satisfaction. The lack of substance in the relationship between Aloma and Orren, however, is perhaps the most significant motif in the novel. The inadequacy in their relationship can be attributed to many things, but more notably Aloma's lonesome childhood and the absence of love in her life.

Aloma grew up as an orphan, so she never truly learned what it means to love or to be loved. Raised by her aunt and uncle, Aloma never felt the loss of her parents. She was even complacent after her aunt and uncle had sent her away to missionary school because she never had someone or something that she loved enough to be hurt by its loss. By growing up in the absence of love, Aloma had "tried to invent the feeling of loss inside her. But like the dead, the feeling simply wasn't there. It was not that her uncle and aunt filled up the space that her parents vacated; it was just that the empty space was fine as it was and no more hurtful than being born with four finger on one hand instead of five" (104). Clearly Aloma isn't significantly affected by the lack of parental figures, and she even compares it to being born with an abnormality which is her norm. Orren, however, is much more poignant when he loses his mother and brother. After their passing, he becomes increasingly dismal and this is evident in his interactions with Aloma, as well. He stops showing affection to Aloma and she begins initiating sex with him because she believes this to be the solution to intimacy. Obviously Orren is affected by the passing of his family and Aloma is blind to the implications of this.

By having a lackluster childhood, Aloma grows up to be disengaged from the true meaning of love: she doesn't feel for the loss of her parents and she doesn't feel for the loss of Orren's family either. Orren, however, is different in that he expresses his emotions and is visibly affected by the passing of his mother and brother. This, combined with Aloma's innocence to what love truly is and what it means to be loved provides for an inadequate relationship and one susceptible to middle-aged pastors.

Importance of the Epigraph in "All the Living"

The novel All the Living by C.E. Morgan takes its very title from its epigraph, showing the value and importance this has on the story overall. The epigraph, which is taken from the Catholic bible, works to foreshadow the themes and takeaways that lie ahead in the novel. The opening phrase states, “There is an evil in all that happens under the sun” (1), noting the sun and the dissonance which it brings. As the novel begins, Aloma makes a clear connection between the sun and the farm, a setting in which she strongly resents. After one particular grueling day of farm work, Aloma claims that “she found that the afternoon sun sapped her strength” (165), but goes on to mention that “the sun glanced off” (165) of Orren. This functions to both suggest that the sun deprives Aloma of her intrinsic good as well as to highlight that sun drives that distance between Aloma and Orren further, deeming it each way as the evil that the epigraph predicted. Furthermore, the fact that the epigraph was taken from scripture serves as foreshadowing of the role that religion will play in the novel. It creates an implicit connection to Bell’s character, who is constantly described “with his Bible spread open before him” (100). The epigraph goes on to describe the lives of characters Aloma and Orren, namely with the phrase “madness is in their hearts while they live” (1). This is the first mention of the novel’s atypical- or mad- nature, as is increasing revealed through the couple’s atypical romantic relationship. The phrase also shows the impact of deceased family members on the characters and how this has made it so their hearts are no longer joined with the living. It is a concept that hinders Aloma’s emotional expression and Orren’s ability to exist in the present. In their own ways, both characters refuse to acknowledge their pasts and the weight they carries today. This is seen in the novel through the “wall of faces” (5) and the presence of the small house, kept empty because of Orren’s inability to accept that “Emma and Cash don’t live [t]here anymore…They’re dead” (157). In this way, the epigraph provides context for readers to see the lives of characters who are ‘living dogs’ but only focused on their ‘dead lions.’ This theme is reiterated by the novel’s unsatisfying ending, in which Aloma gives up her dreams and constant desire to leave in order to stay with a man whom she isn’t sure she loves. The characters ability to make decisions that will largely impact their futures at times where “things ain’t exactly in order” (185), reaffirms that both the epigraph and the novel present a way of life that is purely getting by. It’s more living than loving, and more enduring than thriving. It leaves readers questioning if settling to be a ‘living dog’ really is all that better than being a ‘dead lion.’

Loss and Love in "All the Living"

Aloma and Orren have both suffered a loss in their lives, but at very different times of their lives, and each was affected in a very different way than the other. The loss in each of their lives strongly affects how each love. The relationship between the two is strained because of their contradicting ways of loving.

Aloma lost her parents at age three, and does not have much of a memory of them. Her aunt and uncle took her in and treated her well enough, but sent her off to school at twelve. On the loss of her parents, Aloma says, “It was not that her uncle and aunt filled up the space that her parents vacated; it was just that the empty space was fine as it was and no more hurtful than being born with four fingers instead of five” (104). Because of this, Aloma grew up without much familial love, or much love at all. Before Orren, her only true love was the piano. Because of this, Aloma longs for love but does not know how to show it. The piano represents her passions and her ability to love, so it is significant that it is something that Orren pays practically no mind to. He has never heard her play when they move in together, and is oblivious to the fact that the piano in the house is in un-playable condition. This is representative of Orren’s emotional coldness and inability to properly love Aloma after his family’s death. Orren being too poor to purchase Aloma a new piano is representative of how the situation is partially out of Orren’s control. He did not ask for his family to die, and he is trying to cope with it. However, just because he is trying does not change the fact that he is pulling away from Aloma.

Because Orren lost his family suddenly, he is filled with an extreme feeling of loss and pain. He has been left the farm, and he takes over caring for it completely on his own. The farm itself represents Orren’s longing for his family. All his time is taken up by the hard work. In an argument, Aloma says, “It means I don’t ever see you no matter that I live with you and when I do see you, you don’t have anything to say” (106). The farm takes up Orren’s time just like the loss of his family takes away all Orren’s emotional capacity. Aloma cannot relate to Orren’s loss, though she may try. Looking at a picture of Orren’s mother, she says, “I should’ve met her. Cash too, Aloma said. I wish you’d brought me up here before now” (24). This sentence is rather accusatory and insensitive, though Aloma seems to not realize that. She wishes she knew Orren’s family, so she could not what the loss of them felt like. Because she never knew them, the loss of them is much like the loss of her parents. “As a child, she’s tried to invent the feeling of loss inside her. But like the dead, the feeling simply wasn’t there” (104). It is just not there with Orren’s family as well.

The most intimate times between the couple seem to be in the bedroom, and even then, it is not quite romantic. Aloma does not know much of love, and initiates sex to try and show it. Orren will have sex with her, but it is often rather violent or animalistic, and never romantic. This leaves Aloma confused because she thinks that sex is an expression of love and intimacy. During their first time having sex, Aloma describes, “it brought the fact of Orren into a proximity she had not previously imagined. Within, but without at the same time and his face more open and more unreachable than she had imagined a face could be. It moved her in a way that had nothing to do with pleasure” (20).

Aloma and Orren’s inability to understand each other, their ways of loving, and their experiences of loss lead to an unbalanced and unstable relationship.

Aloma and Finding Beauty in the Dissonance

Much of C.E. Morgan’s novel, All The Living, explores internal conflicts such as the effects of isolation and the grieving processes both internally and externally for both Orren and Aloma. For Aloma specifically, whose life has never been picture-perfect, these conflicts often manifest themselves in an escapist mentality and inability to be content in her current stagnant state of life on the farm with Orren. In the novel, Aloma has a fasciation with the imperfect- much like her life- and often finds beauty in the small imperfections of her world. She admits it herself, hearing the off-key singing of the churchgoers saying, “It was not perfection that moved her, only that rub, what others found ugly. She sought the joy of misshapen things” (Morgan 78).  Aloma finds pleasure in these small instances of discord in her music as well. Morgan writes, “It was always dissonance she liked best” (14). Even near the end of the novel when she feels more disconnected from Orren than ever, theses small appreciations for the imperfect appear in the small details of the text. As she collects eggs in the barn one morning Aloma confesses, “…she found that she actually liked searching out the eggs and holding them, smooth and even in her hand- the fawn brown carapace of the eggs far more beautiful than the white…” (131). In these infinitesimal details, Aloma’s distrust of stability is revealed. Because she has never experienced a perfect life she finds comfort in things that are never quite flawless. In this sense, Aloma’s

yearn to escape to the perfect “real-world” beyond the mountains is complicated by the satisfaction she finds searching for the beauty of imperfect aspects of her mundane life.