跨界太极学术 | The Plight and Possibility of Re-growth

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry：The Plight and Possibility of Re-growth

Chen Shaohua

South China Normal University

Originally published in Literary and artistic contention   Issue 10, 2015

In The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce, the modern British author, presents an exploration for daily life by the way of depicting a retired man’s journey away from home, which reveals the oppression existing in one’s family that cannot be ignored. For a long time the protagonist Harold hardly grows up to be a qualified father because of his distorted and miserable childhood. He is a failure in many aspects: he is always an awkward man when he is with his son, his wife and any other people. Actually, as early as the 19th and 20th centuries, such kind of topic can already be found due to the enlightenment of Sigmund Freud's theory to literature. So, can there be any new ideas in this kind of writing? What makes The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry so striking? (1) 

The tragic events in the plot and the depressive style of the novel are horrible to some extent, and it is by no means a comedy and happy novel. So, why is it so appealing? In my opinion, the author pays close attention to the plight of an old man's re-growth with profound vision and full expectation, exploring its possibility as well as some related problems on his course. All these together show the features of contemporary literature in the 21st century and special compassion and concern of female authors.

Rachel Joyce

1

Journey:

An External Exploration on Re-growth

Redemption can not just be defined in religion; while it has a richer connotation in terms of human’s life. When can one meet a beam of light in his dark and deep alley of individual growth, meet with one’s inner self, try to face fear and truth, and finally seek some solutions? This beam of light means what we called redemption, and it counts a lot in people’s life. In The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, the protagonist Harold may have an identity as a patient in front of a psychotherapist. This old man over 60 retired from a brewery, where he worked as a sale representative for 40 years. He had no promotion at work, no friends in life and even no retirement party. Now living in the countryside with his wife Maureen, something left between the couple were apathy and loneliness, and they lived day by day suffering from their son’s death. 

Obviously, Joyce deals the possible redemption of the characters with the communication with the energy from the outside world, which is clearly reflected in her firm rejection of the general psychological description of closed self. Through the flashback Joyce adopted in the novel, Harold is gradually inspired and enlightened on his course of journey. The plot designed at the beginning of the novel fully demonstrates the author's attempt: A colleague of twenty years ago, Queenie Hennessy, had cancer and wrote him a farewell letter, which triggered Harold’s long walk to visit Hennessy, covering 627 miles in 87 days.

From the words “unlikely” and “pilgrimage” we can see Joyce combines the philanthropic ways of modern society with the fantasy of the most extremely self-driven force. The subsequent plot of the novel evolves from one person’s walking to a pilgrimage procession that has drawn public attention and has been expanded by more and more people, which indicate a fact that charity cannot be separated from public attention. Those concerns towards Harold’s pilgrimage, no matter on Twitter or other media involved in the novel, are similar to the public concerns on Gump’s running in the movie Forrest Gump. This point suits well with readers’ convergent attitude towards the public concerns in their reading practice. While reading, people are not simply attracted by the characters inside; what’s more, they expect to see the interpretation and expanding of the event in public society. 

The awareness of the circumstance gives the fact that contemporary novelists are still shackled by the mass culture in their writing. This contemporary characteristic can be seen as an invisible but all-embracing container which is capable of eliminating all things in the society. How Rachel Joyce takes care to prevent herself from falling into an atmosphere of mass cultural revelry is an important reason for the novel's enduring tragic characteristic among the bestseller. On the one hand, Joyce tries to figure out the relationship between character’s attention to nature and the repair of trauma, and she also expresses self-consciousness by human’s perception of nature; on the other hand, the author’s intention of back to the crowds is somehow reserved. All attempts mentioned above reflect that author has a good command of her self-control.

When the landscape ---- roadside trees, flowers and other unknown things is regarded as aesthetic attributes returning to meet human’s needs, they also has a therapeutic function. Only in the practice of the characters' actions and beliefs can the return of aesthetic attributes speak of power transmission, which is far different from the authors who merely explore the tragic past of characters. It can also be seen as the beginning of a author's careful exploration. The first thing Harold encountered on his journey through which he cannot fulfill his wishes was the call of "nature" in bright spring days, because wherever he looked, grass, gardens, trees, and fences are all with a sense of vitality. 

“There were startling yellow clouds of forsythia, trails of purple aubrietia; a young willow shook in a fountain of silver. The first of the potato shoots fingered through the soil and already tiny buds hung from the gooseberry and currant shrubs like the earrings Maureen used to wear. The abundance of new life was enough to make him giddy.” (Page 45)

 Joyce mindfully observes and conjectures her protagonist as Harold began to notice the appearances of natural life: name, color, shadow and bud. (Hereby we still know nothing of the root and content of Harold’s self-closed life trauma, but through retrospective reading, we can find that these passages contain the author's exploration of natural healing, intentionally or unintentionally.) “Startling” is not only a description of Harold's isolation, but also a symbol of the reactivation of Harold's sense of life. Although this fictional protagonist has the crux of the pain that is not yet known by readers, this crux is in fact looking for the self-opening, and the author connects this practice with nature in a creative manner. During the journey to Berwick-upon-Tweed, the old man is about to travel through various natural landforms and landscapes, such as roads, fields, rivers, woods, moors, peaks and valleys, etc. Through all these experiences what will happen to him and what is the scope of this impact? On his way out of Exeter, Harold bought a dictionary of wild flowers. Let's take a look at the protagonist's persistence after it was activated by nature:

“At Brampford Speke, the roofs turned into thatch, and the brick was no longer the colour of flint but a warmer shade of red. Branches of spiraea bowed under sleeves of blossom and delphinium shoots nudged the soil. With the help of his guidebook, Harold identified old man’s beard, har’s tongue, red campion, herb Robert, cuckoo pint, and discovered that the star-shaped flowers whose beauty he had marvelled at were wood anemones. Buoyed up by this, he covered the further two and a half miles to Thorverton with his head deep in his wild-plant dictionary.” (Page 103)

“Only the natural phenomenon which has direct relation with human being can become the theme of landscape painting.” (2) Joyce’s concern about the interactions between nature and human reminds us of the great tradition of romanticism in the 19th century English literature. This kind of tradition is interpreted by a group of well-known litterateurs, such Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, George Gordon Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats and so on. While among these people, William Wordsworth gives the fullest explanation of nature’s consolation for human in literature. From the yearning for the French Revolution to the understanding of the cruelty of the Revolution as well as his thought of the various modern dilemmas brought by the Industrial Revolution, all these became indispensable elements to explain his later seclusion in the famous Lake District of England and to reveal his further exploration of the enlightenment that nature offers life. 

Wordsworth's return to nature can partly be explained as a result of his trauma in childhood and adult society, while his ultimate goal is to extoll the inexhaustible enlightenment of nature to human beings. From Rachel Joyce’s passion for nature and her guidance for Harold, we can see a new exploration of repairing trauma appear in this kind of literature tradition, and this obviously suggests that the faith that romanticism returns back to nature still works. While what makes it different is that Joyce wants to make this lonely old man gain a sense of self dignity. Hence we can see that even in Harold's subsequent difficult days, whether on sunny or rainy days, regardless of day or night, the author never make nature show a hostile attitude to this man. Instead, in her writing, nature always plays a role that gives the protagonist courage and company. But that's all there is to it. And this is exactly the conclusion of Joyce’s thinking about the relations between nature and the trauma in daily life. Under the force of self-driving, continuous occurrence of aesthetics leads to the activation of nature, which then brings consolation to human’s heart. From this aspect there is also a more complex topic to ponder, namely the so-called return of love.

Besides, the communication between Harold and other characters is also duly presented. For a quiet man like Harold, perhaps the greatest respect for him is not to bother him. But this may increase apathy situations in people’s life. What's more, what kind of life phenomenon which the author insists on exploring is to reserve the indifference to the self and the desolation of one's own life, and the author deserves praise because she undertakes such an exploration in an appropriate way. For example, in the novel some people talk to Harold in a skeptical and ironic manner reasonably, while others who care about him always talk to him in a decent way, which impresses readers a lot. Elegance and forbearance gives a full interpretation of the characters hurrying by, reflecting the richness and tension of the novel. 

For example, the woman who received him has no kid with her, but she looks like a woman with “childbearing hips”. Their conversations about children show that the woman expresses trauma in forbearance, conveying a feeling of compassion. Abruptly the story about this woman ends, gradually fading away as Harold's journey onward, which is also a lesson for readers. The word "empathy" we usually speak of actually shall not apply to the experience of tragic events. In this novel, the author's forbearance prevents the generalization of sympathy and sadness. 

In “Harold and the Doctor”, the author mainly tells us a story about Martina, a woman who comes from Slovakia, and this chapter makes the whole novel more fluent in its communications between elegance and forbearance. Through the author’s statement, we can know that Harold has a rough understanding of the woman. Martina was from Eastern Europe, and “They came over for the benefits”, while actually she was abandoned by a married man. (Someday a woman came with a baby. Her boyfriend picked up his baby and left. ) She is a cleaner. The author didn’t describe much to derive more stories based on it. Martina helped out Harold and the result is: Harold’s festering feet had been cured and worn-out shoes been repaired, and he had understood the relationship between man and woman. 

“Harold allowed her to guide his left foot towards the bucket of soft, warm water. It was an intensely private act; almost between the woman and his foot, and not the rest of him. He looked at the ceiling so as not to look in the wrong place.” 

In my point of view, this inadvertent writing of femininity in this novel has its natural therapeutic effect that we mentioned before, if the nature activates Harold with its everlasting power, femininity in woman is what this failed man is extremely short of in his whole life. On the other hand, Harold has something to recommend himself. We can see that Harold’s belief has shocked Martina, and the silver-haired gentleman Harold met in Exeter's Railway Station Cafe also sought advice from him to solve problems. Dealing with interpersonal relationship saves Harold from his suffering, through which Harold is able to treat himself as a spectator. 

“Harold could no longer pass a stranger without acknowledging the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and that this was the dilemma of being human.” (Page 159) 

When the author explores people’s self-healing characteristic through nature and cautious interpersonal interaction, what the author inquires is that whether readers have confidence or not, and that whether the rhythm of energy interaction can be shaped in reading.

2

Father and Son:

The Cautious Exploration of Key Point

With the help of external energy exchange and by means of walking and being ascetic, in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Harold looks back his course of life, including his childhood, parents, marriage and career. Is there anything left? Or the life problem that he never meets or always escapes during his self-exile should be pursued.

Although Harold was in his 60s, at a glance of his body we can always tell that he was an abandoned boy. In spite of getting into a relationship, a marriage, a job, and fatherhood at right time, he used to being neglected and abandoned in his life. 

From the intermittent review of his life, we know that when Harold was a child, his mother went away and left him and his father behind, because this woman hadn’t got ready to be a mother. (This tradition was handed down to Harold ---- he wasn’t ready to be a father), Harold’s father thought it is Harold’s birth that caused his wife’s leaving, therefore, he began to give up himself, bringing many bimbos home and never caring Harold’s feeling. Through the demoralized behavior, this father let Harold realized that his old man was also abandoned. So, Harold’s birth in this world is an original sin.

 “It had come as a relief to leave his childhood behind. And even though he had done what his father never had ---- he had found work, supported a wife and son, and loved them, if only from the sidelines ---- it sometimes occurred to Harold that the silence of his early years had followed him into his marital home, and lodged itself behind the carpet and curtains and wallpaper. The past was the past; there was no escaping your beginnings. Not even with a tie.” (Page 140) 

The purpose of the citation here is to show this boy, abandoned by his father in his 16, received poor education; however, he won his career and family as every adult did. Still, nothing had been changed. The “silence” here cannot be explained as interpersonal problem but the termination of growth due to shortage of parent’s love. When Rachel Joyce discusses this problem within the concept by Freud, we can say there is nothing new in it, and the whole life of Harold can be explained by fatalism that consists of childhood determinism, internal determinism and unconscious determinism. 

In this respect, it is strange that Rachel Joyce has never been influenced by rebellion and escape, the choice and action of the self-identity in existentialism. What’s more, Joyce is unwilling to illustrate fatalism like others do. For example, in The Great Gatsby, the author describes much about achieving success by personal hard working, and eventually uncovers a social or hierarchical problem that is never broken in the end of the novel. Comparatively, what Rachel Joyce considered is how to give the protagonist a way out of his desperate life. Dostoevsky’s style can be found in this kind of writing. Definitely the author is not going to write a novel about social depression or society accusation, but a mixture of I-novel, children’s novel and initiation story.

The Great Gatsby

He is not gifted with typical features as a man. He has no father to love him, which may be the cause of his most miserable suffering. The novel is likely to tell readers that an abandoned son cannot be a real father in the future, but this conclusion is debatable. Abandon is treated as maltreatment, but as a son, Harold holds no resentment to it and takes it for granted because he thought a happier life has nothing to do with him. It is strongly advised that the thought is totally included in acceptance of his destiny to make a so-called deal with destiny. Is there any risk in this deal? Or what kind of risk can shake this deal?

Crisis is definitely the suicide of David. As Harold’s only child, David finished his study in Cambridge University, fought against destiny negatively by drinking and taking drugs. After all, he is completely a replica of his father Harold. 

“Harold didn’t tell Queenie about the empty vodka bottles he found stashed in his shed after the holidays, nor did he mention the cannabis in a brown envelope. He told no one; not even his wife. He boxed them up and dumped them on his way to work.” (Page 164). 

However, the author followed a limited cycle theory, in which recurring abandonment is the destiny of the father-son relationship. As Harold’s introspection on the road：

“It was fatherhood that had been the real test and his undoing.” (Page 162). 

Generally speaking, the internal crisis has failed to shake this numb, mechanical father, and it is almost a miserable problem. When David was floundering about in water and asking for help, Harold stopped at the shore to unloose his shoelaces; finally the lifeguards instead of Harold saved David. Harold’s practice is hardly accepted. Why Harold did so? He can’t be responsible for the unsuccessful rescue or the unsuccessful rescue caused by shoelaces is more affordable? From this incident, we have learned how Harold act as a father at home, and it is his son David pay the consequence. 

Although David never shows up to interpret the transmission of this kind of injury, his final suicide has explained the injury indirectly. The protagonist of the novel seems to be prepared to suffer such suffering unconsciously in his life. Isn't this a sinful state of life? Live in embarrassing life without feeling ashamed, wearing tie every day and coping with daily routine with superficially nonchalant attitude. However, if we remember that Harold was abandoned in his childhood, we will have a deeper understanding of this situation. 

According to Hannah Arendt, shame is the manifestation of extreme poverty. But in Harold’s view, how can people get a sense of shame when they live in extreme poverty? Queenie’s letter is author’s attempt. We have learned that Harold, who is self-numb, began to wake up because of this letter. With almost faded shame, he realized that he had to fulfill his responsibility.

Maybe his leaving is a self-punishment or the seeking of ultimate meaning and value, but Harold’s journey is a chance of re-growth given by the author. For Harold, Queenie is a seed waiting and looking for opportunities to activate Harold’s life. Therefore, the author never gives up the belief even in the most desperate moment, and these remind me of a sentence: You must face your destiny and undertake it.

Heidegger said: where there is a crisis, there is a savior. The belief can be held, but it is common for living in helpless. What is the probability of redemption in Harold’s waking self-consciousness? At the end of the novel, man’s subjective consciousness and courage, as well as the author and characters all become detached. Harold remembered happy hours when he first met his wife. They burst out laughing because of some normal words, and made Maureen recall the scene of "we laughed like two little kids". They laughed together then. 

In the renovation of figures, the courage and power are driven by self-esteem, driven by a growth, and finally settled in the laughter after an incredible pilgrimage. The gentleness, temperance,compassion, and wisdom brought by the author make optimistic readers feel the true sorrow, and let pessimistic readers feel the true consolation.

3

The Light of Woman: 

the Redemption Power of Re-growth

During the exploration of the possibility of Harold’ s re-growth, destiny’s arrangement and characters’ design in this novel both vividly present woman’s strength of salvation, evocation and redemption.

First of all, the direct cause of Harold’s re-growth is a farewell letter from a former colleague, a woman who is about to die. The author sends this woman to wake Harold's heart to live his unfinished life, which is the cause of Harold's passive leaving. We can see that his unprepared leaving is not from his inner awakening, as well as not from his inner sound. Then, the author makes Harold pass through a gas station on the way to mail, where a girl working there gives Harold power to carry on by telling him, you have to believe a person can get better. Once a man has faith, he can do anything.

 “When Harold gazed at the girl in awe, he had a feeling that she seemed to be standing in a pool of light, as if the sun had moved, and her hair and skin shone with luminous clarity.” 

Thanks to the light of the woman, his self-saving and other people’s redemption of him starts to arouse.

Moreover, on the course of re-growth, a lot of women help him. Their images, femininity, qualities and powers impress Harold as well as readers. Just like Martina, the Slovak doctor without any children, without her or their tenderness, grace and careful assistance, Harold’ s re-growth will be out of the question.

However, woman can be the destructive power (take Harold’s mother and wife as examples) as well as the indispensable supportive power to a man’s growth. Rachel Joyce’s unique focus on a man’s growth spontaneously shows her female writing style, intentions and illuminations. In a word, as far as I am concerned, this novel of Rachel Joyce claims secretly and vividly that woman should take responsibilities for man’s growth; in the meantime, they can amend mistakes and take other related responsibilities. And once they find out they have something to do with man’s growth, they have nothing to do but search for answers from the origin. Therefore, this novel is full of women’s introspecting, balancing and revolving. In actual practices, woman’s participation is conducive to men, which is the reason why the novel is so appealing and profound.

According to the main quality of the protagonist presented in this novel, in this kind of narratives of family stories, we can define the “growth” of man as a constant practice of man’s independence, responsibilities and communications. So here is a question: what is the relationship between women and the problem of man’s growth brought by the author? In literary works, Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence and The Cold Night by Bakin are works with deep connotation, yet under the woman’s influence, man’s growth is the most dramatically tragic connotation. The profound impacts women exert on man’s growth can be interpreted as Oedipus Complex in this kind of novel. No matter the mother realizes this type of difficulty in man’s growth; they will not do anything about it.

 Obviously, Rachel Joyce accuses of his mother’s irresponsibility on Harold’s growth, but mostly, in this novel, she points directly to the wife’s irresponsibility. In the first chapter, Maureen, the wife, she closes the blue curtains quietly every night in her son’s bedroom which she cleans every day. Everyday routines tell us Maureen lives in a shadow of her son’s death. 

“Men had no idea what it was like to be a mother. The ache of loving a child, even when he had moved on.” 

The distinct sexualized narration shows the incommensurability existing in sex difference. Before Harold’s leaving, the incommensurability Maureen insists on can be viewed as all meanings of her life. As for their miseries, Maureen’s equals to Harold’s to some extent. 

From this perspective, we can see various motifs in female narration, and they are inner self and aspiration, perseverance and communication. Rachel Joyce narrates Maureen’s story in a relatively simple way. On the one hand, Maureen’s problem is told by flashback in Harold’s mind or necessary narratives of Harold’s memory, such as taking care of everything for their son without encouraging Harold’s participation, and doing chores after son’s death all over the year, etc. On the other hand, when it comes to the description of Maureen, the author is inclined to describe her in a blank or indirect way. For example, after Maureen knows Harold’s crazy journey, 

“Maureen sat alone as the dark fell, while neon lights came on across the hills and bled pools of amber into the night”, 

her psychological activity is hard to be presented. She is placed in a dark corner, so her inner struggle is described lightly. From having no clues to being angry, then to having nightmares, then to consulting David, and finally to seeing a doctor, after she experiences all lies and shames,

“As she walked towards the quay, the truth came as bright as a light snapping on through the dark. The reason she had stayed with Harold all these years was not David. It wasn’t even because she felt sorry for her husband. She had stayed because, however lonely she was with Harold, the world without him would be even more desolate.” (Chapter 11) 

It is hard to tell that is this Maureen’s knowledge or the author’s. However, the truth is that from a different perspective the author lets Maureen know that without her, Harold’s world will be much more desolate. From then, Maureen’s indifference disappears. Obviously, in the following description of Maureen, the narrator and Maureen are on the same page, so they can get out of from complaints, blames and estrangement. 

Female is inclined to communicate in encouragement, and the responsibilities women take and salvation they make are way ahead of that of man. In other words, the narrator's demand for women initiates the construction of female discourses through the action of Maureen. 

On the call from Harold, Maureen tells him that she has already moved back to their bedroom from the guest room; that she has planted 20 peas in her garden; that she can clearly see the useless self when David was being caught in the waves; that she hopes to visit Harold in his way and encourage him to finish his journey; finally she can help Harold to deal with Queenie's death. 

These plot settings makes this novel full of feminism which converges into concerns and encouragement of motherhood. In this kind of narration, the confrontation between man and woman gradually disappears and then something new comes into being, which is actually a good inspiration or even calling for man. In the narration of complicated and warped family relations, the author stresses and affirms that female consciousness can fix and make up man’s world.

The letter is designed as the turning point of re-growth. But why does this letter have such a magic power? Why is it a letter but not others? And is this re-growth too late for Harold’s life? Why isn’t it sent to him during his youth or his adulthood when life is more likely to be wonderful? But this is not only the difficulty for Harold, but also for the author herself. It is the difficulty that we have to face but it is too hard to be gone through. Therefore, the novel actually has doubts that if this passive leaving ---- pilgrimage can change his life of bleakness.

However, this novel touches millions of readers, and it is not only because this is about the difficulty of growth and re-growth, but also because the author’s special exploration towards the breakthrough of the difficulty. No matter how late the re-growth comes, this novel wants to express the persistent faith in growth and the expectation of efforts activated by human nature. What is more treasurable is this novel, as the work among few novels focusing on old man’s re-growth and inner redemption, initiate public concerns towards old man’s physical and mental health, which is a new topic of Chinese literature.

Annotations:

1. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is written by a British author, Rachel Joyce, translated by Huang Miaoyu, published by Beijing Joint Publishing Co., Ltd. in 2013. On the cover, it is introduced as Best seller in Europe of the year 2013, with its sales of 10 million in Britain, America and Germany; that it was on the shortlist of 2012 The Man Booker Prize; that it is very popular among lots of countries, especially in Taiwan, China; that a movie is being made based on this novel. The following citations are all from the Chinese version.

2. This citation comes from Lectures on Art in page 43, which is written by British author John Ruskin, translated by Li Zhengzi and Liu Di, published by Gold Wall Press in 2013.

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译者：徐梅雪、周素玉、郑燕燕

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