Two’s Family Members are Right
At one point a bottle of vodka becomes a very important plot point. Vodka is, of course, the preferred liquor for those who want all the drunk with none of the stink. This combination has proven deadly more often than can be counted and that’s no metaphor.
“She heard her grandparents’ voices, her mother’s, her father’s. Crazywater is the poison of the whites. They use it to take your land, your family, your life.”
Simile as Foreshadowing
Imagery is used throughout the opening chapter to situate the backdrop of the story. In this case, exposition becomes art which is rarely the case. And in the opening two lines there is a simile which will prove to be very significant foreshadowing, so pay attention:
“It was long after the buffalo thundered toward a great salt lick in lines, bellowing, snorting, and flicking flies. Long after their path, beaten like a drum, had grown four feet wide and two feet deep and had been there for eons.”
The Past in the Present
Tragedy continues to creep closer to the character of Clive. It is inexorable and inevitable. The terrors experienced in his past won’t go away, especially when events conspire against him to bring them to the fore:
“...underground, surrounded by earth, the trenches of his past were as present as if he were still in France.”
Shadows of the Big Losers
The story takes place in Nashville at a time still early enough in the 20th century for some people alive during the Civil War to still be around. Not that living individuals are needed. The shadow of the big losers of the Confederacy hangs over the South palpably, endowing the present with the stupidity of the past even into the 21st century.
"Mrs. Hampton was literally a daughter of the Confederacy…She’d settled on treating Two like a mulatto. Which is to say, she treated her like a house Negro, to whom one once, not that long in the past, could actually bond with affection (as long as she kept her place).”
Glendale Park
The book is partially historical fiction, at least to a certain degree. There is a Glendale Park in Nashville and from 1912 to 1932 there really was a zoo located inside the park. The assertion made below may or may not be factually accurate, however:
“Well, this place is Nashville’s heartbeat. Generations of people have played, romanced one another, and died in this park.”
