The Sweetness of Water

“For who was the bigger coward, the boy for dying without courage, or George for not being able to tell the boy’s own mother that she would never see her son again?”

The quote presents a key conflict that George faces at the beginning of the novel. He delays telling his wife Isabelle that their son has been killed in war because he is fearful of how she will respond. His concern stems less from how she will respond to his death so much as that he died deserting his fellow soldiers. He comes face to face with his own cowardice in not being able to tell her the news.

“If ever he lacked warmth—which he often did—his unflagging ability to bring her back to port when she strayed into choppy waters was an asset that made up for it many times over. No one was more reliable, and if that was not the ultimate act of compassion, she did not know what was.”

The relationship between George and Isabelle is strong in that their love for one another is genuine. Though George does not readily show his love for her, he provides comfort for her when times get challenging, and she appreciates this quality. However, with the biggest challenge in their marriage about to present itself, George is unsure how he will be able to comfort her.

“So much of their lives had been pressed upon them by other men, it felt only right that each decision be prized—their own to make.”

When Prentiss and Landry are freed under the Emancipation Proclamation, they decide to leave Majesty’s Palace and venture out on their own. The notion of freedom and the choice to decide how they want to proceed is a lot for the brothers to process. The quote references the moment when Landry decides that he wishes to go no further, a small decision but one that feels significant given that he would not have been able to make this decision on his own in the past.

“And alongside this decision there was some forfeiture in the thought he found unsettling: that for every pound of weight they’d carried across their backs, for every drop of sweat that had poured off, no inch of this land was theirs. As long as they stayed, they were no better than the others, kept on the borders of town, hidden among the trees just like their brothers and sisters. And it grew clear that the only path to a life worth living would be found elsewhere, where they might not have more but could not possibly have less.”

This quotation references Prentiss’s and Landry’s place in the town of Old Ox. When they leave Majesty’s Palace they are left to survive in the wilderness on their own until agreeing to live in the Walkers’ barn and work their field. The brothers believe that there is nothing for them in Old Ox, and the only way to make a better life for themselves is to move north. Even though they are legally free in Old Ox, they would always be regarded as enslaved men.

“In doing so the bond between them had strengthened over time, and although it was not prone to bending, its single weak point lay in the quiet embarrassment that it existed in the first place—that two individuals who resolutely dismissed the idea of needing anyone else were now helpless without each other.”

Prentiss and Landry both exhibit a great deal of pride throughout the entire novel. The freedom bestowed upon them also means taking pride in making their own decisions. While the brothers adamantly believe in their independence from anyone in Old Ox, the brothers rely on one another for survival, something Landry begins to question just before his death.

“Each tree’s fall was startling, the later ones no less than the first. The very act had a meaning that fueled him, the bark splintering on contact, the groan of the tree and the felling and the strike of the impact cascading through the forest like a whoosh of wind, sudden and ominous and wholly arresting.”

Trees play a significant role in the novel as symbols of life and the wild past of Old Ox and its surrounding community. George and the brothers have little to no knowledge of felling trees, so literally speaking, the violence of each falling tree startles the men. Symbolically, clearing the trees to make way for a farm suggests the removal of old barriers to prosperity; the removal of the wilderness to make way for a farm is George’s way of making progress into the modern world.

“George told them, too, of a mental exercise his father had hatched: that each day of each year, a man might imagine a tree in his mind. The tree, upon doing good in the world, could grow strong and thick, but with every poor decision, rot would start to sprout—gnarled roots at its base, limp branches that snapped with the lightest touch. At the end of any given period—a month, a year—it was wise to consider the growth of one’s tree, and the decisions you had made that led it there. It was yours to let grow or die.”

The story that George tells the brothers is part of a fond memory he has of his father. The tree represents growth and connection to the land. Like a tree in the wilderness, there are many factors that influence it to grow or cause it to rot. Humans, like the tree, can make decisions that allow them to grow or not.

“One woman seemed on the verge of a fistfight with a soldier over rations he did not have, and Caleb could not help wondering which punishment was worse: his own, for having been made a captive after proving himself a coward; or that of these poor souls who were stationed so far from home, surrounded by so many who despised them.”

This quotation sheds light on the cultural divide that existed in Southern communities following the Civil War. Caleb is severely punished by the Union army for deserting his fellow Confederate soldiers, but the abuse the Union soldiers take in Old Ox as they guard the streets and storefronts compares to the pain that Caleb endured while in captivity. The behavior and attitude of the townspeople following the war continues to be violent.

“There was a time when ceremony mattered. It dawned on her that those days were behind the Walkers. The dinner table was now an assortment of damaged bodies collected together to gain sustenance. This no longer bothered her, an awareness that in itself would once have troubled her but now did not.”

This quotation illustrates the changing traditions in the American South following the Civil War. The days of traditional family dinners with only members one one’s immediate family gathered around the table have become part of the past. Isabelle recognizes the mix of “damaged bodies,” herself, her husband, her son, and two formerly enslaved men sitting together to “gain sustenance,” and given the circumstances, the mix of struggling cultures at the table no longer seems out of the ordinary for her.

“Whenever he’d stood before the forest with Prentiss in the flitting sunlight, the darkness in its farthest reaches had always felt like a monster lying in wait, one who had taken down his name long ago, eager to stake its claim on him.”

The forest in this novel is symbolic of the shadows of George’s past as well as the injustices of Old Ox’s past. The forest is regularly juxtaposed with clearings where George plants his crops. The shadows and the monster George is hunting since his days as a boy with his father still inhabit the forest. His past haunts him as he tries to move forward with his life.

“How else to explain a world of cruelty that had also carried in it the great joy of watching his mother at the mercy of Little James’s fiddle on a Sunday afternoon, the miracle of a fresh tick mattress, the sweetness of water after a day spent picking in the fields?”

This quotation highlights the give and take of a world that seems unfair and violent. Prentiss and Landry often reflect on the violent treatment they endured while at Majesty’s Palace, but the one thing that keeps them looking to the future is that the same cruel world also gives great pleasure and joy, as they recall moments of their mother’s happiness and the reward of fresh water after working all day.

“What went unspoken was the burden of freedom. Not that Landry missed Mr. Morton’s ownership—far from it. No, it was rather that he and his brother had been tethered to each other then. The chains that held them down also held them together.”

Landry struggles with his own identity after being freed from Majesty’s Palace. When he roams the Walkers’ woods by himself on Sunday, he contemplates what it means to be truly free. His bond with his brother Prentiss is arguably what keeps them alive while enslaved, but now as freedmen, Landry wonders if his bond with his brother will ever be broken. While he loves his brother, Landry cannot help but think that their enslavement is what kept their brotherly bond so strong.

“Prentiss had learned from Landry that the language of grief was often nothing more than silence.”

Silence is a prominent motif that runs through the novel. Landry does not speak, partly because his jaw is broken while he is beaten at Ted Morton’s; however, readers learn that Landry can speak but chooses not to. He remains silent because that is where and how he feels most free—in his own silence. Landry faces his grief and pain through his silence and deep contemplation while exploring the forest.

“It appeared that the town was no longer laid out as he’d once known it to be. Each building was at once familiar and foreign, and he stopped a moment under the awning of an empty merchant’s shop to steady himself. What he needed was rest. With the protection of his father’s wealth, his whole life had maintained the air of an extended tour, and yet now he felt the need for a real one.”

The narrator in this quotation is referencing George’s trip into Old Ox to purchase a coffin for Landry. While the town is changing dramatically in the wake of the war, the changes take on a figurative meaning for George. Since developing a bond with Prentiss and Landry, the town has never seemed the same to him. As a member of a prominent family in town, George’s reputation has been compromised because of his willingness to hire and house the two formerly enslaved men. The reality of the cruelness of the world begins to show itself to George in a way he had yet to experience it.

“There is nothing there,” he hissed. “That road goes to another town just like this one, and then to another, and there is nothing in any of them but the same thing repeated, different yet identical, the same stores with different fronts, the same simpletons with different faces, and absolutely none of it should interest you at all because you are a goddamned brainless donkey who has ruined my day.”

George’s outburst in this quotation is directed as his donkey, Ridley. While Harris provides a moment of humor when George attempts to bring home Landry’s coffin and the donkey refuses to move because of the heavy load, the quote provides an honest but dark commentary. The towns in the South are the same, not just in appearance, but in attitude. Old Ox is but one of many towns that still fosters racism and hate while struggling for economic prosperity.

“She was eating a peach. Watching men play dominoes. Thinking about how much life was like her brother’s games, each day a tile falling toward the next, leading to nothing but the end of the line.”

When Isabelle seeks out Clementine to understand the nature of her and George’s relationship, she stops by a café and watches children playing dominos. The image reminds her of her brother’s dominos that they played with as children. The dominos are symbolic of the chain of events and reactions that Isabelle is experiencing in her life. Every action—in this case George’s meeting with Clementine as well as Prentiss’s incarceration—leads to multiple consequential actions. More broadly, the war has had a significant impact on Old Ox, where social, cultural, and economic actions have all had significant, and at times damaging, repercussions.

“If he focused, Prentiss could hear his brother’s footsteps. A soft patter behind him, like fat raindrops falling slowly from the leaves of a tree. That was all the noise he needed in a day. Not the utterance of a single word. Just the assurance that those footsteps were following his own. He tried to stay with them, but each moment they grew more distant, and he worried what would fill the void when they were gone for good.”

This quotation re-emphasizes the relationship between Prentiss and Landry. After Landy’s death, his spirit is still with his brother. He believes that Landry is there with him as he remembers the sound of his footsteps. Prentiss knows that the memories of his brother will become more distant, and he is anxious about what will happen when those memories fade for good.

“And perhaps that was the great ill of the world, that those prone to evil were left untouched by guilt to a degree so vast that they might sleep through a storm, while better men, conscience-stained men, lay awake as though that very storm persisted unyieldingly in the furthest reaches of their soul.”

This quotation references the ethical implications of the war and its aftermath. Socio-economic and race divides Old Ox, as symbolized by the wealthy homes juxtaposed with the run-down camps where freedmen and soldiers live. Following the war, many individuals in the town seem to have little regard for the atrocities perpetuated by the war. The individuals who felt guilt for past offences are the ones who struggled the most with rebuilding the town after the war.

“The shadows of the trees and the bushes appeared and disappeared like apparitions in their wake. The sun finally began to rise, and the road was floodlit with its first seeping glow, the essence of something otherworldly, as if the earth itself was dissolving into glittering fragments of light.”

Harris plays with images of light and darkness in this quotation. The shadows of the forest represent the memories of the past atrocities harbored by people in the town; however, the light revealing the road represents a way out of the darkness. The road leads to a new place, a new way of life, and a path away from the shadows of war.

“In sleep George’s face lost its hardness and grew round, almost cherubic, and it seemed wrong somehow for this unguarded innocence to be on display in front of a doctor neither of them knew beyond his name.”

George is a physically broken man, but he is proud and independent. This quotation describes George after being shot in the leg as his inevitable death looms. The rugged, emotionless man that George was throughout much of the novel shifts to an image of an angel, as if all of George’s vulnerabilities are on display to strangers.

“For the first time since their reunion in the hospital, he was with her now, totally and fully, and knowing how short their time together might be, she felt it was paramount that they discuss the most prominent matters. But his needs overcame her own, and she swallowed her words.”

Most of the novel treats George and Isabelle’s marriage as strained, emotionless, and confused. However, George and Isabelle never lose their love for one another. The threats to their family, land, and well-being redefine their relationship, and when George is in the hospital after having his leg amputated, Isabelle realizes that George is fully with her. While she wishes to discuss his time with Clementine, she does not.

“Maybe with time there were parts of the past that could be forgotten, their sway over him toppled, but there would always be certain memories that survived the fall and stood amid the rubble. Monuments of loss.”

The narrator describes Prentiss’s thoughts in this quotation as he considers staying in Convent after his escape from Old Ox. The narrator suggests that the passage of time will help to heal the wounds that Prentiss has endured. Even with the passage of time, there are memories that will remain, for better or worse. Harris references these “monuments of loss” regularly with his flashbacks to specific memories for each character.

“The present thunders on while the past is a wound untended, unstitched, felt but never healed.”

This passage addresses the passage of time in the novel and the impact that past actions have had on the people of the American South. Despite the memories and hurt that war inflicted, the country moves forward. The choice of an image of an untended wound echoes the battle scars that several characters carry with them—George’s wound while helping a formerly enslaved man escape, Landry’s broken jaw that serves as a reminder of the beatings he endured as a slave, and Caleb’s scar on his face from being beaten for deserting the war.