As I stated in a previous post, The Dollmaker is a book about people. It's also a profoundly Christian book. What I mean is that it is deeply religious in much the same way as Flaubert's "A Simple Heart."
Gertie, much like Félicité, is devout in her own way, without necessarily observing traditional practices or following conventional interpretations of the Bible or its lessons. Unlike Félicité, however, she actually does have an incredibly comprehensive knowledge of the Bible; she can recite countless passages from memory and also has her own ways of applying them to her life. For example, Gertie's mother believes in Christ as a wrathful figure, in that a person's sins would not be forgotten by him. Gertie, however, says, "'Mebbe they's another side to Christ. Recollect he went to th wedden feast, an had time to fool with little youngens, an speak to a thief an a bad woman. An Henley was like Christ -- he worked an loved his fellowmen," continuing by thinking that there is "a Christ who loved people, had liked to mingle with them and laugh and sing" (64). The preacher in Kentucky that she thought was "closest to God" was the one who "worked with his hands like Jesus, but better yet she'd never heard him try to scare the souls of the people loose and herd them up to God like driving stampeded sheep into a locked barn" (104). She objects to images that depict the Virgin Mary as beautiful and flawless -- "'She was a worken woman an allus a goen here an yonder, like into th desert to see her cousin. She seen too much trouble to look that away...had a heap a youngens, an worked hard'" (262). Like Félicité, she is unaware of some facets of the religion (if we're talking about religion as an organization and not a personal belief system). For example, on Good Friday, she tries to go shopping and is confused when stores aren't open. Clytie scolds her, saying, "'You're supposed to stay home an pray er go to church er some kind a movie...or they'll call yu heathen what never heared a Christ,'" to which Gertie responds, '"I ain't so certain Christ ever heared uv it either. I'd lots ruther recollect him alive a goen to feasts an sich than on this...'" (382).
Gertie also uses passages from the Bible to comfort herself and others around her, despite the tensions between Catholics and Protestants in the housing projects. Thus, the book has a strong message in favor of the Christian faith as a personal tool. Arnow doesn't write about religion in order to praise it as an institution; she believes in being devout in order to make you a better, more compassionate person.
This works for Gertie. She continues to go back and forth to decide whether her block of wood should be Judas or Jesus and whether it should be taking something or giving something with its outstretched hand. When she is forced to charge more than she wants to for manufactured, impersonal dolls she makes, she looks at the hand she has carved and thinks, "Her hand would never be like that; she had two hands now, one reaching out making people drop into it money that might have gone for down payments" (507). She feels guilty about this for a long time: "She'd been wanting to finish the lifted hand that lingered longingly above the money in the other hand; for it was money -- taken -- but soon to be given away. The man, then was Judas; but she didn't want Judas. Christ had had no money, just his life. Life and money: could a body separate the two?...No, it wasn't Judas. She'd bring the face out right now, prove to herself it wasn't Judas" (564). Still, though, her whittling "brought some calmness to her...Even long ago, when only the top of the head was out of the wood, below it had seemed a being who understood that the dancing, the never joining the church, had been less sinful than pretending that she believed" (584).
Ultimately, this belief -- that she is still devoted to Christ and the good messages in the Bible, and so are others that she knows -- is what makes the ending so affirming (although it's still sad, because everything in this book is sad). With Clovis on strike, she needs good wood to make dolls and figures to sell, and, although she has just finished the man in the wood -- except for a face -- she takes him to the wood lot and asks the owner to cut him up. He hesitates, admiring the beauty of the figure, and ultimately she is the one who takes an ax to the figure. The lot owner laments that she couldn't find a face for him, to which she responds, "'No. They was so many would ha done; they's millions an millions a faces plenty fine enough -- fer him...Why, some a my neighbors down there in th alley -- they would ha done'" (599). This is the last sentence of the book. So, while Gertie is effectively destroying a part of herself by chopping up the man -- namely, the part of herself that resists "adjusting" to life in the city -- she is also confirming her religious faith and her belief that anyone has the capacity to be good and devout. Any of her neighbors could have been the saintly figure's face. It's a beautiful last sentence.
Close reading influenced my understanding of this book a lot. Definitely O'Connor's (and Perrine's) opinions about how symbols function in literary works aided me in understanding the block of wood. I don't think the different appearances of the block would have stood out to me as much had I not read these authors' opinions. Of course, it's hard to read a book now and not think about what Foster had to say -- the idea of Christ figures is pretty literally and symbolically evident in this book. And I guess I'd like to think I read with my spine here, which would make Nabokov proud (maybe); this book has such vivid descriptions and is so full of intense emotions that it's hard not to really feel what you're reading. Overall, I think these skills made me appreciate Harriette Arnow's craftsmanship so much more.
Because of the fact that I appreciated this book so much, I would definitely recommend this book. I would say that it's probably not for everyone, as it's quite long and a lot of the passages don't have a lot of action in them. But if you're looking for a book that is just a really great story about people and their faith, this is the best you're going to get. Fair warning, it's incredibly depressing, but as I said, it's also very affirming about the goodness of human nature. Also, if you're interested in the contrast between rural Kentucky and industrial Detroit during World War II, as well as religious and cultural differences and labor relations, or any of the above, this is a great read. I loved this book. It was a great match for a lot of subjects I'm interested in, but even without that, there is so much to be gained from this story's messages. That's why I'd recommend The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow.
What is it about land that makes it so powerful? In both The Dollmaker, and my independent reading book, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the dream of the main characters is to own their own land. In both instances, the characters want the land for itself, farming is one of the best ways to make a living in their communities, but also because it gives them the freedom to make their own choices. In The Dollmaker Gertie must give up half of what she produces to the owner of the farm, while in Of Mice and Men Lennie and George collect a paltry payment for their work and never get to appreciate the fruits of their labors.
ReplyDeleteThe reader knows how important the land is to the novels because beyond being major plot points, the authors layer the land with religious references and symbols. Gertie’s wooden carving of Jesus or Judas changes depending on her mood, particularly relating to how she feels about the land. Steinbeck creates parallels between the land George promises Lennie they will someday own and Israel, the promised land of the Bible. These references help build the land up in the mind of the reader. In the end, none of the characters own their land. In fact, with Lennie dead and Gertie chopping up her carving, the land is farther away than it was at the beginning of the novels. However, while this is a negative development for the characters, it is not for the novel. By losing the dream of owning land, Gertie and George make that dream all the stronger.