57 pages • 1 hour read
Kent HarufPlainsong
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1999A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Traditional Versus Nontraditional Family Structures
Family is one of the most pervasive themes in the text but also one of the most nebulous. The traditional idea of what constitutes a family is challenged on a number of occasions. The Guthrie family represents the typical nuclear family—father, mother, and two children. By the time the narrative is set in motion, this family unit is in the process of disintegrating. Ella will leave for Denver, and Guthrie will find that his boys are growing increasingly distant. Meanwhile, Victoria is exiled from her real family—whether it is her mother, or Dwayne and his mother—and finds a new family in an unexpected place.
As a point of contrast, it is useful to compare the state of the family units at the beginning of the novel with the end. In the opening chapter, the Guthrie family is in trouble. Ella is locked in her dark room and is unresponsive to her husband’s words. The boys are uncertain of what is happening, and their anxious father finds himself struggling to explain the situation to them. Guthrie can see the “change in their faces” (12) but cannot find a way to avert the inevitable collapse of the marriage. The language used is melancholic; the snippets of conversation are brief and struggle to illuminate the situation. Both the father and his sons are struggling to honestly communicate, and the mother does not talk at all. Victoria’s situation is altogether more acrimonious. She is introduced to the narrative just as she is about to vomit; she is immediately depicted as a vulnerable, confused young girl. Her mother greets her with the words, “What’s all this?” (16). The question is devoid of sympathy and is followed up by accusations of drinking, drugs, and promiscuity. The relationship between the two is broken and negative. Victoria’s mother will only be notable in the remainder of the novel due to her absence. Family, at the beginning of the novel, is not a positive experience.
The negative perception of family only applies to the traditional models. Likewise, when Victoria moves to Denver with the father of her child, she finds herself stuck in a miserable situation. Instead, she wishes to return to the makeshift family she has come to love. Throughout the novel, the theme clearly emerges that family can be positive and is often essential, but that it need not be confined to traditional models.
The final chapter is the best example of this idea. Titled simply “Holt,” the final chapter portrays a scene in which all of the characters have come together to enjoy one another’s company. Though their issues are not entirely resolved, they are at least supported in their actions. Bobby and Ike play with Victoria’s baby, discovering a way to enjoy their newfound responsibility. Guthrie chats with the McPheron brothers about his future, the anxiety seemingly fallen away from him entirely. Maggie and Victoria chat, noting their surprise at the strange nature of the gathering but accepting that this is the real interpretation of family. The language changes; the imagery and the voices become peaceful, cheerful, and optimistic. The theme of family becomes redemptive, rather than doomed.
Environment as a Reflection of the Characters
The town of Holt and the surrounding environment play a big part in the depiction of this small community. The town itself is described in simple terms. The buildings are “old vacated” (19) or “single-story redbrick” (19) and give the impression of a dilapidated, aging town in desperate need of renovation. As Bobby and Ike cycle through the town on their paper route, they pass items which are “never used anymore” (19) and lilac bushes whose “fragrant blooms [are] long dead now and dry” (19). The environment seems to reflect the troubled state of the inhabitants.
This example of pathetic fallacy can be found elsewhere in the novel. The McPheron house is 17 miles outside of Holt and better reflects the brothers’ demeanors. The two brothers are in touch with their environment, able to scowl at the sky and determine the weather to come. The fact that they disagree on what the sky is telling them is another reflection of their characters: they both know what to look for, where to look for it, and what slight idiosyncrasies mean, but they are more than happy to bicker and argue with one another in the place of real, substantive conversation. Just as the pair live out in the “wind-hardened” (113) countryside, surrounded by nothing but patches of snow and their cows, the brothers themselves are distant, rugged, and apparently unwelcoming. Though they later open up and warmly welcome Victoria into their home, they are products (and reflections) of their environment.
The surrounding environment changes when the characters leave Holt and visit Denver. Victoria, Bobby, and Ike all travel to Denver to be with family members but find that life there is just as lonely and atomized as it is in Holt. Bobby and Ike visit their mother on the seventh floor of an apartment building. The structure is unlike anything in Holt and reflects the alien nature of the town. The boys are out of place and do not feel at home. They try to enjoy themselves on the balcony, but this joy is also denied to them. Similarly, Victoria arrives in Denver to find “rows of dark cars” and a “tiled hallway” (204) which lead to a small two-bedroom apartment—cramped and lonely compared to the lived-in, rustic hominess of the McPheron farm. Victoria becomes bored and begins to regret moving to Denver. In both instances, the environment itches at the characters’ thoughts and makes them feel as though they are not where they are meant to be.
As Victoria rides the bus back to Holt, she looks out the window and watches the environment change. She is heading back to her rightful home, and the environment begins to reflect this shift: On the “high plains,” the “country was turning green once more” (248). The environment feeds the souls of the characters: When they are removed from this environment, they feel discombobulated and lonesome. Only by returning to the correct location can they address their environmental ennui.
The Responsibilities of Motherhood
There are three main examples of motherhood in the novel: Ella, whose mental health forces her to abandon her children; Victoria, who finds herself abandoned by her own mother while on the cusp of having a child; and Maggie, who acts as a surrogate mother for Victoria. Though all three are wildly different, they all face the same central challenge: how to provide love and care to one’s children.
From the opening moments of the novel, Ella is embroiled in a deep depression. She pretends to be asleep when her husband enters the room. When he leaves, she turns over, her eyes “intense, wide-awake, outsized” (14). Though the reason for her depression is never explored in any great depth, Ella’s mental health struggles prevent her from carrying out the duties normally associated with motherhood. Her children bring her gifts and ask her questions, but all she can do in response is weep and answer in half-hopeful vagaries. When the children come to visit her in Denver, she only manages to entertain them for a few days before sinking back into her depressive state. After this, she disappears from the novel. Unable to provide the boys with motherly attention, she disappears in Denver and is not heard from again.
For Victoria, motherhood is almost a threat. In the beginning of the novel, Victoria’s pregnancy appears to ruin her life: her mother kicks her out of the house, her relationship with Dwayne is ruined, and she enters a strange situation in which she lives with two elderly brothers on a farm miles away from town. The prospect of motherhood alters her life tangibly and reveals to her how little she knows about the world. Victoria is afraid, lost, and unsure of how to handle the pregnancy. The specter of motherhood looms in the future, and the only reference point for motherhood is her own mother, who abandoned her. However, toward the end of the novel, the prospect of motherhood has changed for Victoria. Now, she “didn’t want to make any fuss” (287) and has the entire house “about two times more than ready” (287). She is prepared, sensible, and informed. The journey to becoming a mother has taught her about the world, about the town, about those around her, and about herself.
For Maggie, motherhood is slightly different. She has no children at home, but provides mother-like care to a number of people. Her senile father struggles on his own, so has to live with Maggie. Victoria desperately needs Maggie to guide her through the early stages of pregnancy and find her a home. Guthrie also needs an approximation of a mother, though it is more to fill a void in his disjointed family than to have a mother of his own. Maggie is adept at all three roles. There is an irony in that the woman who most closely resembles the abstract idea of a mother is the only one who has no children of her own. Instead, Maggie represents an ideal of motherhood which she shares with the other characters.
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