The Grace That Keeps This World

The Grace That Keeps This World

Introduction

In his novel, Bailey centers on a family, which heavily depends on hunting as a means of survival and faces financial constraints in most occasions. In the same context, there are two sons Gary Kevin and David who keep on struggling to ensure that they get the much-needed independence and a trip, which turn up to be fateful. Various family members narrate the entire story and, in some chapters, the community plays a significant role in helping the family in the narration of the story. Generally, the story focuses on the family, and community’s shared values which are important in underlying and sustaining human relationships. Additionally, the story entails aspects of profound loss, romance, and human fallibility, love, familial and neighborly, which in some cases blurs people’s vision.

The plot of the story takes place in Lost Lake, which is a sparsely populated area in upstate New York City and a quintessential small town. Living in a small town, everybody knows each other, drink, pray, and eat at same locations. Most people in the town hunt for survival. Generally, the story reflects on Gary Hazen, Susan, Kevin, and Gary David who were the family’s two sons. The family lived in a small town Lost Lake that is in Adirondacks. In the novel, Gary was a former Vietnam veteran and respected hunter and a forester. Susan who is his high school sweetheart is currently his wife and together the couple has managed to live off the land in their entire marriage. Gary is proud about the fact that they have successfully managed to raise their two sons instilling them common values and aspects of the society. The novel reveals how the two sons respect what is termed as a difficult life and their parents’ righteousness and pride. Here, Bailey uses Gary Hazen and his family to display some of the most essential aspects of the family in the community. Gary Hazen’s sons seem to have the detestable sins of slovenliness and laziness. From here, Gary Hazen quickly points out some of the flaws that the two sons have for the purpose of correcting the vices. He physically violates them so that they would change their behaviors. Also in the novel, Susan Hazen who is Gary Hazen’s wife and the mother of the two sons warns about the prologue of a tragedy in which her husband and the two sons are likely to face during their hunting sessions in the forest. In this case, Susan raises an early alarm to the hunting team even before they start their hunting mission.

Tom Bailey who is a short story writer skillfully describes routine activities and everyday activities in a small family. Whether it is the chaotic scenes at the pub or the dinner table, carrying out the household chores, appreciating the small town, sailing across the lake, or even attending mass, Bailey skillfully uses his characters to develop the plot of the story through most of their actions.

Ideas behind the Novel

From the novel, Bailey portrays different secrets, reticence, pride, fissures, stubbornness, faith, and love, which generally revolve between most of the characters in the novel. In developing the plot of the story, Bailey considers the twenty-first century readers, in such a way reminding them that most folks still live a life of ruggedness off their land. Bailey tries to portray the kind of life, which counts on the type of meat coming from antlered bucks. In the novel, the Hazen family does not hunt for any wall trophies or never waste carcass sinew. In this case, the two sons Kevin and Gary David are supposed to make a decision whether they will have to cleave to their father’s strong-willed frontiersman-like expectations, according to which the two sons are supposed to work with him, or whether the two will live modernly. In response to this aspect, Bailey creates suspense, especially considering the way the two sons might declare their independence.

Generally, the novel gives its readers an emotional page-turner that is infused with foreboding sense, which is deep. The Hazen’s generally narrate the tale, and it captures various enduring rhythms of rural town life. The novel represents a good piece of literature and has aspects of crisp writing. Bailey uses different characters in the novel to ring truth. However, the multiple points of view in the story tend to shift as a literary device. Tom Bailey develops his story around family drama and some of the ideologies and values they share in the society. The family in question is the Hazen family. In this case, Bailey tries to show the importance of keeping and maintaining family values in the society. His development of the story lies within family values; therefore, he effectively uses Hazens to bring out this aspect in the story.

Alternatively, the novel is affiliated to the Greek tragedy. Tom Bailey develops the storyline of the novel to be akin of the tragedy. Generally, a pervading sense of fate is felt across the entire novel. As much as there are various choruses of the story narrators to push the story towards this aspect, there seem to be an inevitable conclusion regarding the story. Tom Bailey creates Gary’s peculiar myopic life vision to cost him more than he had imagined. Additionally, Gary’s sons manage to stand successfully against some of their father’s characters they felt they were annoying and dominant; and they are, therefore, forced to grip their own desires. The novel describes Gary Hazen’s family as a loving one that at the same time tends to demand conformity and expectations. However, most of these aspects lead to tragic explosion.

Tom Bailey creates the entire novel to be narrated from different perspectives, which serves to give the tale a thematic relevance. In this case, the narration of the story fails to shift at times to readers who might only have tangential connections. Bailey creates a clear tension in the family, it is especially seen from the desires of the parents for legacy of values to be passed from father to their sons; and the son’s desires to have their own principles are poignantly portrayed in the novel. Through the tragic tale, Bailey creates the novel to revolve around themes such as sorrow, grief, pain, and loss. These aspects are all mirrored in the novel to create some sort of tension. Additionally, Bailey makes the story look more real and powerful by the use of various facts, which results in tragedy because of love.

Generally, Tom Bailey had an open mind in developing the story. He creates the ideas of the novel in such a way that they reflect on what happens in the society. The themes of the story give an overall reflection on various essential happenings in the society. Tom Bailey’s ideologies and values in the novel are important in every society. Bailey stresses on the theme of family conflict to stress how the aspect is common in most societies. Hazen family is a true description of a typical family in most societies in their day-to-day lives; and through them, Bailey manages to develop and pass his message to his audience. From these aspects, the audience can categorically learn and take important lessons from them.

Critic

Throughout the novel, Tom Bailey portrays an effective literature type, which is full of depth and beauty. As much as Bailey could have elaborated on the tragedy aspect and its aftermath in the story, there were other aspects in the novel in which the characters seemed to be too economic with their conversation, derailing the flow of the story. The work remains the type of novel where the reader is heavily involved; however, various aspects in it are not clearly elaborated or defined.

Most viewpoints in the novel give panoramic views of a family conflict. However, most characters have predictable traits, which are not stereotypical. The sheer number of the narrators in the novel makes the entire novel seem fragmented and disjointed. Additionally, some key characters and aspects in the novel like Josephine Roy and Gary David’s relationship seem underdeveloped. Other subplots in the novel including the local independent film regarding the Canadian geese, that Gary David and Gary used to work on, was essential in giving insights to the character traits of Hazen were overdeveloped. The writer generally focused on this aspect more than he majored on other important aspects in the novel.

If looking at the novel more positively, it is more involving with its unending dramatic chapters. Descriptions of Susan in the garden or in her kitchen, Gary Hazen involved in chain-sawing thick limbs, which he intends to use during winter heating, and Gary David walking slowly without creating unnecessary noise to avoid waking his mother during odd hours are important in creating suspense and engaging the readers. Additionally, Bailey shows how Kevin walks towards the area where shots were heard during their hunt also adds to the beauty and glamour of the novel. Tom Bailey tries to bring the aspects of humanity, grace, and fallibility in most parts of the novel. Bailey writes the entire novel in such a good style that most narrators in it sound unbelievable. As the tragic events unfold, key aspects unite the main characters of the story, and it becomes evident that things are not good for them. The final part of Tom Bailey’s novel is not very clear and some conclusions in the text seem a little convenient. Even so, the novel reflects a unique type of writing and an engrossing first novel.

Conclusion

Gary Hazen’s family truly defines how most families behave and operate in the modern society. Through the family, Bailey manages to come up with the general plot of the story and themes in such a way passing his message to his audience. Tom Bailey’s novel reflects on true aspects in the society where he skillfully describes routine activities in a small family in a modern society.