Falling Victim to the Past
In the novel, Wild Geese, by Martha Ostenso, the members of the Gare household struggle immensely under the oppressiveness of Caleb Gare, the father and Amelia Gare, the mother. The children of the Gare family face many obstacles, such as lack of voice, lack of control, and limited possibilities. Although Ostenso’s Wild Geese is an award winning piece of literature, much of the novels significance and power has been lost over time. The control Caleb and Amelia have over their children is vividly realistic but is portrayed in completely different ways; Caleb through his greed and need for control and Amelia’s desire to conceal her past. During the 1920’s, the time which the novel was written, children had very few rights. A child was seen as property of the family. Children were to be seen but not heard and were to always be obedient. This is definitely the case in the Gare household. This lack of children’s rights is further compounded by the isolation of the Gare’s farming community in rural Manitoba. Policing would not have been prevalent in the immediate area, especially when it came to household affairs. Although this sort of treatment still exists in some homes, in general, our sense of what a family’s responsibi . . .
As a result, Caleb and Amelia’s children do exactly what Caleb desires, but often resent the other for their actions. He firmly believed that knowledge of Amelia’s shame would keep the children indefinitely to the land, and knew that he would not hesitate to reveal the truth to Mark Jordan if he were compelled to do so. (154) The children realize that when they do not obey or live up to their father’s expectations they, as well as their mother, will be punished. Such had been Caleb’s instructions - given in full belief that they would be obeyed. If this was to be Ellen’s part of the cost, let her pay it. Releasing her hold over her children ensures the release of Caleb’s as well. Caleb would be in a towering rage, which would express itself in a gentle sarcasm and later in a strange and sinisterly effective abuse of Amelia, that Martin never understood. Written during a time when children’s rights were not yet defined, the novel challenges these views. Although difficult, one would be inclined to think that a mother who incurred such heart ache would have gone the extra mile to love, nurture, and protect her children born later under more appealing circumstances. Not only does Caleb exploit his children physically but he also exploits them mentally. Well, if she was loathe to have Mark Jordan learn of his parentage, Caleb Gare would not reveal it to him - providing that Amelia kept her place and did not force him to…. And then, strangely enough, she would wipe her eyes and suddenly realize that it was not herself that she had been thinking of at all, but the Gare’s - Amelia, with her inviolable reserve and quiet graciousness, behind which she lived who knew about life; Ellen, prim to a point of agony; Martin, the stumbling dreamer, forever silent in his dream; the boy, Charlie; whom Caleb pampered and played against the others; Judith, vivid and terrible, who seemed the embryonic ecstasy of all life; and Caleb, who could not be characterized in the terms of human virtue or human vice - (35) After a very short time in the Gare household, Lind is able to see clearly how Caleb manipulates each individual. (19) Amelia has never been able to get over the tragic death of Mark Jordan’s father and put the past behind her.
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