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Alistair MacLeod’s collection of short stories, ‘Island’, centres around people who live off the land in Nova Scotia, Canada and explores the significance of the landscape and its influence over its inhabitants. Macleod suggests that the land almost stifles its residents and forms them into a mould that they are then unable to escape from. The inhabitants are both trapped in the area and determined to stay. MacLeod demonstrates how characters who are “of the sea” cherish the land and all it gives them while those who are not, are constantly torn between leaving and staying.
Some sample student paragraphs with tips for improvement
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#3
Macleod uses symbolism and colour imagery to reflect the character’s personalities and hardships in the land in order to illustrate how powerful landscape is in shaping one’s identity. This is especially prominent in the recurring symbol of the miners’ and fisherman’s hands, which Macleod often describes as “missing fingers”, “mangled” and “powerful”. The symbolism of the hands is intended to illustrate how the physical appearance of the men has been molded by the exhausting and dangerous work they are forced to undertake within the harsh environment they inhabit. They live always with the presence and possibility of ‘death and loss’ and their livelihood is dependent on either the weather and the sea or upon their willingness to go underground. Like their hands, their ruthless and rugged personalities have also been shaped as a result of having to carve out an existence in very harsh surroundings. The recurring theme of the hands also connect the inhabitants of the land to each other and suggests that there is a certain mold that each is forced into by the very fact of their having been born in that place (explain). There is the sense that they are in some way all the same. Macleod also uses colour imagery in his description of the environment as a mechanism to communicate to the reader this sense of sameness and uniformity. His repeated use of the colour grey to paint a picture of the life and work of the inhabitants in juxtaposition with the bright colours used to describe the landscape (quotes?). This suggests that in some way the colour and light is slowly drained from the inhabitants into the beautiful land they live in. MacLeod uses this combination of literary devices to demonstrate the impression that the land leaves upon both characters’ personalities and appearances.
#4
Macleod emphasises how even once a character has physically removed themselves from the land, the imprint it leaves still haunts them in a way that is impossible to escape from. This idea is enforced from the very first line of ‘The Boat’ when the protagonist confesses that “there are times even now, when I wake up at four o’clock in the morning with the terrible fear that I have overslept”. This portrays how even years after leaving Nova Scotia, the character’s body clock is still influenced by his past life. The blind horses in ‘The Vastness of the Dark’ take this idea a step further, symbolizing how a life in the mines renders the miners incapable of even visualizing an alternative way of living. Their very sight is narrowed and dimmed by their environment. An attempt to escape the environment even for a brief summer reveals the impossibility of establishing a different life; the scars they all “bear” from their lives on the land “fail to respond to the healing power of the sun’s heat”. This illustrates the abiding hold that the land has over its inhabitants.
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#5
MacLeod demonstrates a genuine respect and admiration for the beauty of the land and the strength and determination of its inhabitants. Through his tales, he paints a picture of the land as the safe haven for the sea folk and the source of income for the miners. He demonstrates how the inhabitants like the mother from ‘The Boat’ feel deeply connected to their land as ‘home’. Through ‘The Return’ he takes us on the journey of Alex from a newcomer with no knowledge of the land to one who views the land as “very beautiful”. MacLeod uses Gaelic as a metaphor for the way in which the culture and heritage of the people exist almost within the land and “bubble[s] up” seeping into younger generations without their conscious knowledge. This idea is expressed in ‘The Closing Down of Summer’ when the protagonist speaks of his past “disdain” for Gaelic and those who spoke it but as an older man he finds a love for the Gaelic songs because “they are so constant and unchanging”. This journey from disdain to love reflects the way in which many of MacLeod’s characters come to love the similarly constant and unchanging land.
In this way MacLeod expresses the positive influence the land has over the characters.
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Sample conclusion
Alistair MacLeod has imbued his characters with characteristics from his beloved Cape Breton. For these ‘Island’ characters there is no avoiding the power and pull of the landscape. It exerts great influence over all aspects of their lives; how they derive their meagre livelihoods, how they connect with their family and how they behave. Even those who believe they need to escape its boundaries find themselves inextricably connected to the place. They are physically and emotionally “worn and polished…buffed and burnished” by the hauntingly beautiful landscape they inhabit.