MANIFEST: A TOWN WITH A RICH PAST AND A BRIGHT FUTURE”
The opening scene of the novel situates Abilene Tucker as the first-person narrator (which will prove to be just one of the multiple perspectives) inside a train headed to the town of Manifest and recalling a sign posted just outside the town which she’d read about in stories. The train’s movement is compared to being rocked to sleep accompanied by a lullaby, establishing that at the outset Abilene is still more a child than young woman. The sign is an ironic bit of foreshadowing.
“They call it a Depression, but I’d say it’s a downright rut and the whole country’s in it.”
This quote early in the novel accomplishes two things, both of them at the same time. It reinforces the time period in which the story is set while providing insight into Abilene’s personality. What, after all, is an economic depression but a rut? Abilene is reveal as a kind of homespun philosopher like a pop culture icon of the times, Will Rogers.
"A typewriter sat on a cluttered desk, its keys splayed open with some scattered on the desk like it tried to spell explosion and the explosion happened."
This is a great line. Perhaps the actual word choice little too sophisticated to buy as the observation of a 12-year-old, but the imagery strikes directly at the heart of childlike observation. It is easy to believe that a young girl could imagine the scene looks like a typewriter exploded; the addition of the ironic speculation that the attempt to type the word "explosion" was the ignition betrays its sophistication.
“The Lord himself knew the power of a good story. How it can reach out and wrap around a person like a warm blanket."
This quote is the pastor’s reply to Abilene’s observation following one of his Sunday-night services that it seems like just about everyone in Manifest has some story to tell. Shady’s eloquent description of the power of narrative is not just a reference to scripture; it is an allusion to the book itself. Moon over Manifest is very concerned with both the art and craftsmanship of storytelling. The narrative unfolds through a variety of perspective ranging from Abilene’s first-person intensely personal diary-like entries to a point of view of Ned and Jinx as told through the subjective prism of Sadie’s third-person account to the least personalized perspective of Hattie Mae’s observational third-person reportage.
“They call themselves the Ku Klux Klan and they pretty much hate everyone who isn’t like them. If you have the wrong color, religion or birthplace, they don’t like you. Around here it’s mostly foreigners they hate.”
One of the underlying themes of the novel is control by the ruling authority. The control of the mining company and by extension the town of Manifest is primarily in the hands of Arthur Devlin. Devlin’s day job is being owner of the mine. Under the cloak of night, however, Devlin dons the white robes of a Grand Knight of the KKK. Thus there is an intense relationship between the town’s official open governance and its secret powers controlling the puppet strings hidden in the darkness. The labor force working in the darkness of the mine is primarily composed of underpaid, overworked immigrants.
