CI 5442: Historical Fiction Reponse

Jennifer Donnelly’s novel A Northern Light offers a fascinating and insightful glimpse into the life of a young woman living in upstate New York just after the turn of the twentieth century. Not only does Donnelly expertly tell Mattie’s tale as she struggles to uphold the promises made to her mother while keeping her own dreams alive, but she is able to do so by cleverly juxtaposing the Mattie’s life with that of the actual, tragic life of Grace Brown. Brown’s story provides the perfect foil to Mattie’s resigned choices and forces her to re-evaluate the direction of her life.

The novel is written in alternating chapters of past and present that weave the story of Mattie Gokey with the tragic death of Grace Brown. This choice keeps the reader on the edge of their seat as they search for the story behind Grace Brown’s death and the story that has brought Mattie to this point in her life. It is interesting how starting with the end does nothing to detract from the flow or readers enjoyment of the text; it serves as a catapult into Mattie’s life and the circumstances that brought her to work at the Glenmore. The alternating chapters allow the reader to predict things about Mattie’s life and the events surrounding Brown’s death, only to change those predictions when another piece of the puzzle surrounding both women’s lives is retold. I loved this exchange between the book and me throughout my reading of the text.

Donnelly’s character, Mattie, is a dynamic and realistic figure who posits difficult questions, works hard for her future and to help her family, and fails as often as she succeeds. Mattie’s “realness” allows readers to connect with her and believe that she is someone who could have truly existed in 1906. She is young, spirited, and driven, and yet, she has family duties and social pressures that threaten her dreams. I was able to connect with Mattie, despite the distance of our existences and the differences in our situations, based on her determination and drive—even though people tell her “no” she pushes for the future she wants. There are other characteristics about her would connect her with other readers and aid in further establishing the sense of timelessness in the issues she faces, some of which are still faced by people in today’s society.

Just like the stories that were written by Mattie in the novel, Donnelly’s portrayal of life in the North Woods is dirty and realistic. Things are not “picture perfect” nor are they what they appear to be. When her friend goes into labor Mattie comments on the lack of truth presented about giving birth, “I have read so many books, and not one of them tells the truth about babies….There’s no blood, no sweat, no pain, no fear, no heat, no stink. Writers are damned liars” (93). Mattie wants to give voice to the people around her, the ordinary, everyday people she encounters, but just as Mattie finds her own voice being silenced by the dictates of society, the voices of the average citizens of the North Woods and the world appear to be missing from the histories. Only through Miss Wilcox does Mattie begin to experience the realistic—and often censored—writings of others. Based on those around her, her dual desires were all for naught, “Miss Wilcox had books but no family. Minnie had a family now, but those babies would keep her from reading….Some people…had neither love not books. Nobody I knew had both” (96-97).

The hope that Mattie has for a better future, a future that can somehow encompass all of these desires is claimed by Mattie to be “The Eighth Deadly Sin. The one God left out” (114). This was interesting to me because according to Greek mythology, hope was one of the things found within Pandora’s box; it was almost left inside the box after all the plagues were released into the world—plagues that would indeed be members of the Seven Deadly Sins club. It is sad to think that Mattie has gotten to such a point in her life that something as simple and innocent as “hope” could become paralleled to greed, sloth, wrath, envy, lust, vanity, and pride.

In the present tense chapters of the novel—those dealing with the death of Grace Brown and the discovery of the contents of her letters—Mattie at first plays into the idea that there was a tragic accident between the two lovers and that their “happily ever after” was taken away from them. As she begins to read the letters between the two, she learns the grim truth behind what happened on that summer day. She unearths in a letter a line that sounds very similar to the conversations she has had with Royal Loomis. Grace writes, “the world and you, too, might think that I am to blame, but somehow I can’t—just simply can’t think I am, Chester. I said no so many times, dear. Of course the world will not know that but it’s true all the same” (217). Mattie tells Royal one day, “‘Stop it Royal. I’ll jump out of the boat if you don’t, I swear I will’” (191), only to later think, “I knew I should stop them [Royal’s hands], stop him, find my voice and tell him no. But then the warmth of him…the smell of him…the taste of him, overwhelmed me….And so I said nothing. Nothing at all” (192). She has been in eerily similar situations as Grace and has fallen victim to the same sense of belonging and lust.

Donnelly did a great job creating a counter story to Grace’s about a girl who is able to find that voice and say “no.” Mattie goes off to live the life Grace Brown never got. When asked why she is leaving at such an odd time Mattie replies, “Because Grace can’t” (376). In the story, Donnelly gives life to Grace’s death by allowing Mattie a chance at freedom so cruelly denied to Grace; Mattie becomes the realization of Grace’s future hopes and dreams. Donnelly gives the ghost of Grace Brown a chance to renege on the mistakes and troubles of her life and explore the possibilities of a bright future through Mathilda Gokey—a farmer’s daughter with big city dreams, just like Grace.