In the Beginning
The opening words of the novel—in a short Prologue before Chapter One—replicate the opening words of the Holy Bible. The imagery situates the significance that religion will play over the course of the narrative. But it is important to remember that the Bible is not merely a religious guide to faith, it is a collection of stories. And that element also plays a big role in the story and the imagery:
“In the beginning, after he labored over the heavens and the earth, the light and the dark, the land and sea and all living things that dwell therein, after he created man and woman and before he rested, I believe God gave us one final gift. Lest we forget the divine source of all that beauty, he gave us stories…The tale I’m going to tell is of a summer long ago. Of killing and kidnapping and children pursued by demons of a thousand names. There will be courage in this story and cowardice. There will be love and betrayal. And, of course, there will be hope. In the end, isn’t that what every good story is about?”
Sister Eve
The 1930’s were a truly miserable time for most of America. The Great Depression brings about images in black and white not just because most movies made in the 1930’s were not yet in color, but because that whole era feels like it actually took place in a black and white world. The blackness could get so dark that people were looking for lightness in any shape it came. And so it also became the decade when flamboyant ministers could become as famous as baseball player and movie stars:
“The man reached down and drew up a kid who looked no older than I. The boy was hunched, his spine so crooked it bent him nearly double, and he could barely look up...It was painful to watch the kid make his way up the steps of the platform. His father helped, and when they were both before Sister Eve, the boy stood, but still so terribly bent that it was clearly painful to lift his eyes to her. She knelt down and put her face level with his…Sister Eve reached out, placed her hands on his misshapen back, and the snow-white folds of her robe fell across his shoulders. She raised her eyes toward the canvas tent roof…And son of a gun, that crippled boy began to draw himself up. It was like watching a leaf unfurl.”
Broken Hearts and Rubber Balls
Although the story focuses primarily upon four young kids escaping an oppressive system of terror at a school, it actually features a vast cast of supporting characters. Remember, the narrator considers himself above all else a storyteller. And so, the book is episodic in structure, with characters coming in and going out. Such transience has a negative emotional side effect:
“Buck, the heart is a rubber ball. No matter how hard it’s crushed, it bounces back...Mr. Schofield started the engine. Albert had done well, and the motor fairly hummed. As the truck pulled away, those who by circumstance had first been neighbors and then friends waved goodbye, and I stood among them, the rubber ball of my heart crushed flat. Mr. Schofield drove slowly until he reached the dusty track that led into Mankato, and the last I saw of Maybeth, she held one hand high and, with the other, wiped her eyes.”
Cora Frost
One of the four central characters is the only girl in the gang of runaways: Emmy Frost. Emmy’s mother is a teacher at the school and one of the few whom the narrator describes with pleasant imagery. In fact, one can say the imagery is far more than merely pleasant; he almost sounds like a boy in love:
“She was plain and slender. Her hair was reddish blond, but to this day, I can’t recall clearly the color of her eyes. Her nose was long, bent at the end. I always wondered if it had been broken when she was younger and badly set. She was kind, compassionate, and although not what most guys would have called a looker, to me she was as lovely as any angel. I’ve always thought of her in the way I think of a precious gem: The beauty isn’t in the jewel itself, but in the way the light shines through it.”
