Here are the pictures I wanted to share with everyone. They are both taken near Sechelt, which is across the Strait of Georgia and south a bit from Merville; the area that the story is based upon, so the geography should be similar. In the first photo there is a stump pile and this along with the debris that is everywhere really gives a sense ( at least to me )of the amount of work needed to clear this type of land. The second picture shows the size and amount of stumps present and I have just now noticed that they are both in the same location (note church in background) and the first photo shows work done after the second photo was taken.
In Broken Ground, I found that there were a lot themes being addressed and I was not really getting a feel for what the main theme of the book was as a whole, if there was one. This led to me pondering the title of the book: 'broken ground'. As I thought about this title, I came to the conclusion that perhaps a theme (or one of the main themes) of this book is upheaval, destruction and change. Looking at the photo on the front cover and having not yet read the book, one might just see a man plowing a field; as I did. After reading the book, however, I think that this picture says " Wow, look at what I have accomplished!" The man in the photo could be reflecting on what the land looked like when he first viewed it (pics above) and how impossible it had seemed that he would be able to persevere and survive the task of clearing the land. Because the book also looks at the parallel theme of the men surviving and dealing with the war, this photo could also represent how the characters (especially Matt) survive and learn to live with the upheaval and destruction, or broken ground in their lives that is caused from the war. The man in the picture on the cover, who represents the surviving characters in the book, is proudly showing the world that he conquered the hell that is: 1) clearing the land, and 2) dealing with the war.
2 comments:
I agree with you Jim - this book is definitely about upheaval, destruction, and change. The reward of surviving that destruction is being able to say, "I persevered, I survived, I am undefeated. Now I am going to live, and keep on living to the best of my ability."
There is a clear parallel between the battles in the war and the battles with the land. I find it interesting that with the battle of the land, the wives and children are directly involved. They are toiling side by side, sometimes losing, sometimes winning. With the battles in the war, the wives and children may not have fighting side by side with their husbands/fathers, but they were still feeling the effects of those war battles. For example, Maude Pearson was a single mother, raising her son while her husband was in the war; she paid a heavy price through Matt's infidelity. Yet she persevered and won; Maude and Matt had a good marriage despite the affair. Even after Elizabeth died, Maude made choices to stay and fight for her marriage - they made it through.
Yes, and of course the very idea of "Broken Ground" has several different meanings. In your post, Jim, it seems that you are thinking of it as, in some sense, literally broken, in pieces, chaotic. But "breaking ground" also suggests starting over, taming the wildness, and so forth, in readiness for fertile agriculture. But the pictures certainly suggest breakage...
There is a certain sense in this novel that whole-ness simply cannot exist in this time and place - either in the context of WW I or in the tilling of land that is eminently unsuitable for agriculture without, quite literally, "breaking it" - much as a wild horse is tamed. The questin then becomes, what do you have left?
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