Within All the Living, the theme of lacking haunts both Aloma and Orren for the majority of the novel. Personally, I believe the lack of love, affection, and emotion are the most prominent forms of lacking present. Both Orren and Aloma struggle with finding the proper way to feel their emotions, and therefore struggle with turn these emotions into appropriate actions. To begin, Aloma lacked love from the beginning of her life, as her parents passed away at young age and her aunt and uncle sent her away to a missionary school at the age of twelve. When describing the loss of her parents, she notes, "it was just that the empty space was fine as it was and no more hurtful than being four fingers on one hand instead of five. It was just a lack she thought didn't mean anything" (Morgan 104). Although Aloma seems unaffected by her parents death, it shows she feels this way because she has never loved something enough that it hurt her when she lost it. Orren, on the other hand, has known the terrible feeling of losing something you love deeply, and cannot seem to grasp the death of his mother and brother. After their accident, Orren lives his life in misery and loses his ability to show any feeling towards Aloma, or anyone else for that matter. Aloma explains Orrens actions by saying, "it was if he were trying to make it clear... that there was suffering under way for the one left alive, but that he could endure" (Morgan 45). Again, now both characters do not know what to do with their lack of emotion towards anything, as Aloma never had any love in her life and Orren lost all of his.
Now, as the two live under the same roof, they find themselves tip toeing around one another because their lack of emotion has led to a lack of affection and action towards one another. In attempt to show affection to Orren, Aloma constantly initiates having sex with him, as if she believes thats the only proper thing to do when two people live under the same roof and should be in love. Although Orren engages with her, he still never shows any romantic feelings towards her, making her feel unwanted and unloved. The way the two act around each other again contributes to the lack of love each has in their life, as Aloma desperately tries to find it through inappropriate actions, and Orren tries to avoid it because he doesn't want to be hurt the same way he was when his family died. Looking from either point of view of the characters, it becomes obvious that their lack of love and emotion towards one another is what drives most of the conflict in the novel, making it the most important thing they lack.
I appreciated your analysis of the lack in the novel, especially the lack of emotions. I believe that this lack is part of a larger theme of isolation. Both Orren and Aloma are caught in their own worlds, and neither can see into the others. Therefore, even though they should be joined in their mutual grief and loss, they fight instead. Their love is “not so much loving as mean” because Aloma is trying too hard and Orren isn’t trying enough. Even the surroundings isolate them, because Aloma doesn’t feel welcome in the farm as there are “foreign artifacts of the room”(28) everywhere, and Orren is constantly reminded of his lack of a family and not the family that he could build with Aloma. It is this emotional isolation that leads to a lack of love in their relationship, because they cannot find the common emotions between them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post concerning the conflict brought upon by each character’s lack of emotions. Additionally, I believe that their lack of sentimentality causes them to invest more time and energy into their separate personal items rather than each other. In Aloma’s case it is apparent that playing the piano is not simply a comfort activity for her, but one of the only things that she is truly passionate about. This is evident in the novel when she says, “Someday I’m gonna be a great piano player and we’re gonna get out of here,” confident in achieving one of her only aspirations throughout the novel (23). Coincidentally, her retreat into the familiarity of piano continues to strain the plot, as the piano serves as her connection to Pastor Bell. Meanwhile, Orren’s farming does not come as a passion, but he persists due to the familiarity of it. In a futile effort of continuation, he only works on the farm, because the farm represents the last remnants of his lost family. It is only after the two reconcile their individual activities that they make progress, as Aloma offers to teach piano lessons at the house to earn extra money, and Orren learns to respect her needs as they continue with their lives (192).
ReplyDeleteYou are very right to call attention to the lack of emotion in the characters from the novel have. One thing that I kept wondering throughout the novel due to the characters' mental states was whether or not they were suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness such as depression. Aloma's parents died when she was very young and she feels nothing when she tries to replicate the feelings of loss inside of her. Orren appears to have a history of struggling with depression when he talks about his time in college and tries to explain why he left. He can't really provide a concrete reason but said that it "go so [he] couldn't get out of bed" (140).
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, mental healthcare was not as effective in the 1980's, and neither Aloma nor Orren ever received professional health for their problems. Depression does not always present itself as feelings of sadness but it can instead present itself as apathy. I don't know if the author intended this, but I can't help but feel that Aloma and Orren have not received proper help for traumatic events in their life and continue to live in pain.
I agree with what you are saying about lacking in the novel. I think that another important theme that appears is the lack of purpose. Growing up, Aloma “had not been good at anything – not rotten, but not gifted either – so that she was eternally overlooked” (14) Playing the piano was the one thing she excelled at and it gave her purpose. She had big dreams of becoming a pianist. However, with her job and relationship with Orren, her dreams got put on hold. He did not support her dreams the way that she needed him too. I think that this goes along with the lack of love, especially between Orren and Aloma. The lack of romantic feelings create a negative situation that traps Aloma and prevents her from her purpose and passions. You mentioned that Aloma initiates sex with Orren because she feels it is what he should do and not necessarily what she wants to do. I think that this shows the difficulty in finding purpose that Aloma faces. When she can’t find it in playing the piano, she finds other ways to feel important and valued. She feels she must find love in her relationship with Orren.
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