The Garden Lodge

Ye Ji Park

June 6 2012

Reflective Essay: The Garden Lodge

As the World War I came to the end, and the survived soldiers returned to their homeland, they were no more naïve, youthful lads. “Youth…? That is long ago. We are old folks.” In All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque, 1929), Paul, the narrator, compares men of forty to twenty; the older men were “linked up with their previous life … wives, children, occupations … background which is so strong that the War cannot obliterate”, whereas younger men have only “parents, and some, perhaps a girl, some enthusiasm, a few hobbies, and school. Beyond this … life did not extend.”

Men of forty, before the War, were already holders of some responsibility. They were responsible for supporting their family, or responsible for the job they chose to work on. If they abandoned their responsibility, there was no one who could substitute vacant place; therefore, men of forty had a firm place that they can, and must, return even after the War.

The situation was, however, very different for men of twenty. They were not in charge of anything yet; their parents were not that old to be supported by them, their girlfriends were not their wives that they should provide for, their hobbies were not field they had studied and worked devotedly for years. Lack of responsibility promised no firm place to return for young soldiers, which is why the soldiers “lost” all the responsibility-less, uncertain life they had before the War. The experience of loss made them to be afraid of another loss. They, thus, started to avoid challenging tasks in their future life that promise higher possibility of loss. However, by doing so, they were already losing chances to challenge, chances to live more fully – they were losing better future. Paul says that “nothing remains” for men of twenty – both past and future – which was why this generation was entitled the “Lost Generation”.

The term Lost Generation, however, is not only applicable on the soldiers. The tendency of losing past and future also appeared in other stratum; in The Garden Lodge (Willa Cather, 1905), Caroline Noble, the protagonist of the story, is a representative example.

Young Caroline wished to be a pianist, just as her father. However, as her father was crippled with debts and her brother committed suicide, she gave up that dream and stayed away from the piano – the loss of “past”. Instead, she married to an older man from Wall Street, who promises confident “money, position, energy, vigor of the robust person” to her. Depending on her husband, she does not need to worry about uncertain future. Her dependence, however, results in lack of her free will; that is, Caroline will not challenge herself. Her life will be safer but much duller – she will lose “future”.

What is different between soldiers and Caroline is that the former is “involuntary” Lost Generation, whereas the latter is “voluntary” one. The soldiers were “forced” by the War to hit pause to their life with parents, girls, and school, thus the direct and unique cause of their loss was the War, irrelevant to their will. However, for Caroline, she had opportunity not to lose. She once met this man, Raymond d’Esquerre, a tenor singer who rekindles her passion to music during his stay in the garden lodge. After Raymond left, her husband asks Caroline if she would agree to tear down the garden lodge and build a new summer house instead. He gave Caroline opportunity to disagree and continue on her reawakened interest to music. It was Caroline, however, who deserted that chance by answering that she agrees the lodge should go – she “voluntarily” lets her past and future run away, choosing irresponsible but safe life instead.

Despite the War did not influence Caroline directly to be the Lost Generation, it definitely worked below-the-surface. Before the War, it was the Renaissance paradigm that ruled the world; from the Renaissance, “humans” (not God) were the focus of concentration, and it was believed that humans could be anything they want. The occurrence of World War, however, blew out the pre-existing paradigm. As the War drove humans to fight and kill each other, without even knowing the reason, humans started to depute the previous argument that humans are born to achieve divine purpose of living. They no more respected themselves as godlike creatures; they realized the “limit” of human. Such paradigm contributed in Caroline’s voluntary decision to be Lost Generation, by inculcating lack of confidence that her ability to deal with challenges (for example, restarting to play the piano) is not enough.

Among numbers of literatures that deal the topic of the World War, The Garden Lodge is worthy of notice in sense that it points out indirect effect of the War (voluntary Lost Generation). It is quite tragic that the tendency of Lost Generation clouded the whole society, not only the soldiers but also others such as Caroline.

Losing the past and the future may help the Lost Generation to live a safe life, just as Caroline did under her husband’s protection, but it may block the chance to achieve something. It is true that the Renaissance paradigm is quite exaggerated – humans definitely cannot attain everything they wish – still, some are achievable. This is why I wish the Lost Generation – at least “voluntary” ones that chose to be lost, and still have a chance to cancel the voluntary choice they made – to stand against their loss and makes attempt to find back their volition to challenge.

Writer's Comments

I am quite sorry about this piece.  I have "ideas" in my mind, but I think I did not express it via this writing very well... :( Still,  it was a great pleasure writing this piece (interesting concept, "voluntary" Lost Generation, isn't it?). Hope readers understand what I tried to say in this essay... :) 

Big Two-Hearted River

Ye Ji Park

June 3 2012

Reflective Essay: Big Two-Hearted River

          AP European History is one of the most demanding subjects among all APs. I heard a lot of complaint and plea from my roommate who took the test last May. One of the major discontents she told me was that World War I and II took so many part of whole history. Despite the short period – a little more than three decades – World War occupied more than one fifth of total contents. As this short anecdote implies, the importance that World War holds in the history is considerable. It is not surprising, thus, to find numbers of literature works discussing what happened in the War, how the War influenced the age, etc. Big Two-Hearted River (Ernest Hemingway, 1925) is one of those works, talking about soldiers’ healing process without direct mention about the War.

          Regardless of below-the-surface-mention about the War, it is obvious that the protagonist, Nick, is suffering from post-traumatic disorder after participating in the War. This is revealed from mainly three “lacking” elements in this short story; dialogue, social aspects, and emotive description.

First, lack of dialogue. Throughout the story, dialogue appears only three times – even they are very short (“Go on Hopper.” “Jesus Christ.”) The reason Nick is so unforthcoming is to forget about the War. Once he starts to talk, and a single word pops out that triggers small memory from the War, all the dreadful experiences would crawl out from the suppressed memories and torture him again. This is why Nick stays away from conversation; to prevent any situation that might lead him to recall about the War.

Second, lack of social aspects. What “social aspects” refers to is Nick’s family, friends, school life, or any other social relationships. Nick is completely alone, from the start to the end of the story; it is evident that Nick is unrelated to the society. When confronting the parent, who feels curious about things that happened to their son in the War; when confronting the school, where most of the friends that he has studied together only few years ago are dead from the War, Nick is obliged to recollect dreadful War memories. This definitely is the least thing he wants to do, which explains why he does not hang out or even mention about his social life.

Finally, lack of emotive description. Hemingway’s writing style in this story is very descriptive, but not “emotively” descriptive, rather “objectively”. That is, most of the depictions deals with Nick’s actions, not emotions. To illustrate, Hemingway wrote “Nick’s hands were shaky”, not “Nick was strained”. Hemingway intentionally excluded Nick’s mode throughout the novel, to express the insensibility that the War participants experienced. During the War, emotions are unnecessary. In All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque, 1929), another masterpiece discussing devastating episodes during the War, Paul the narrator commits that “[Soldiers] have lost all sense of other considerations, because they are artificial. Only the facts are real and important for [soldiers].” To Paul and all the other soldiers, mourning over comrade’s death is just a dangerous act that enhances the risk of being shot to the gun. Considering that Nick has just returned from such emotion-less War, Hemingway’s “objectively descriptive” sentence style makes sense.

          What Nick does to tear off trace of the War is to walk into the nature. The story’s title, Two Big-Hearted River, is the place that helps Nick “cure” himself and “overcome” the swamp of the War by confronting two kinds of heart – Heart of the Past and the Future.

Heart of the Past signifies the fixation of the River. After returning from the War, Nick feels everything has changed; parents unable to sympathize and share his pain from the War, classroom vacant here-and-there. But the River does not change; it stays in the place where it has been, as clear as ever. The River makes Nick able to connect himself before the War and after the War – it assures Nick that youthfulness and pureness he possessed before the War may be still remaining inside him, and might bloom again. That is, the River’s Heart of the Past gives him hope that he will be cured, and freed from scars of the War someday.

Heart of the Future refers to the ceaseless flowing characteristic of the River. On its way to Nick’s town, the River might have suffered numerous crises; cataract, rapids, etc. Still the River’s future is to keep flowing with past wounds, not to stop. Looking the River that shares the same pain with him, Nick is comforted, and is motivated to keep living even with unforgettable scars, just as the River does.

          Hemingway wrote that “Nick did not want to go down the stream any further [that day]”, where “fishing was a tragic adventure”. This shows that Nick is not completely cured; he is not yet ready to face the challenge, the danger that he has so frequently confronted during the War. Still he says that “There were plenty of days coming when he could fish the swamp”, indicating that he will keep on curing himself in the nature, consoled by the River.

Paul, in All Quiet in the Western Front, said that “we [the soldiers] were eighteen and had begun to love the life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces”. The War made Nick also to shoot the years he had lived. But the River helped Nick to arrange the pieces back, connect this re-attached past to his present, thereby be courageous about continuing life. It seems indisputable that one day, Nick would be able to discharge from the hospital of Nature.

Writer's Comments

Reading pieces about World War, I feel grateful to God that I wasn't born in that age. The shock that I felt after reading All Quiet on the Western Front for the first time -- it was just so destructive and, thus, tragic. That was, maybe, the reason that I read Big Two-Hearted River while continuously murmuring "Thank heavens." I felt relished as reading the nature curing Nick. Maybe this was the same way that people in Hemingway's age felt, maybe this is why this piece grabbed so many people's attention in that age.

Right now I'm starting Hemingway's another work about World War; A Farewell to Arms. Ever since hearing the summary of this story when I was thirteen or something -- this book has always been on my wish-to-read list. Hope A Farewell to Arms also brings me great inspirations, just as Big Two-Hearted River did :)