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Part 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in This Other Eden, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family
Eugenics and Racism
Survival and Community
The Power of Art
Summary
Analysis
The governor himself comes along with the committee for the second evaluation of Apple Island, in addition to Matthew Diamond. The governor makes suggestions for how the island could be improved, perhaps by digging a well or building new buildings, and Matthew Diamond agrees. Matthew Diamond emphasizes to the governor how successful his school has been. But while the governor is agreeing to Matthew Diamond’s suggestions, one of the other councilmen claims that nothing will help the “polluted blood” of the Apple Islanders.
Apple Island represents a very small fraction of Maine’s population—probably far too small to concern the governor under normal circumstances. Still, as this chapter makes clear, Apple Island is even more important for what it symbolizes. For Matthew Diamond, the island offers an opportunity to show how the benefits of civilization can “improve” a group of outsiders. But for most of the other people inspecting Apple Island, the place is just a danger and a nuisance.
Themes
After getting back to the mainland, Matthew Diamond receives an urgent telegram from Thomas Hale: he has thrown out Ethan for being “indecent” with Bridget. Furthermore, Ethan ran away before the return train he was supposed to take. Matthew Diamond figures Ethan may be gone for good, because he won’t want to return to his family in shame.
Ethan’s disappearance remains one of the novel’s main mysteries. It’s certainly possible that he is ashamed of having to face his family after failing in his promise to become an artist. But it’s also possible that after seeing the outside world, Ethan simply doesn’t want to go back. In the outside world, his connections to his family only cause people to view him with prejudice, and so it’s possible he will choose to break with his past.
Themes
Eha sits on the front porch of the shack untangling knots in fishing line, while Esther sits on her rocker with her eyes half-closed. They see Matthew Diamond coming and can tell he has bad news. Esther worries that it must be about Ethan. Matthew Diamond enters their yard and asks for a word. Esther tells Tabitha and Charlotte to go away to play or pick flowers.
Ethan seemed to be the future of Apple Island, but now, yet again, Apple Island’s future is in peril. Meanwhile, Eha’s dedication to the task of untangling fishing line shows that he is meticulous. It hints at the role in general he plays in keeping the community together.
Themes
Esther asks if a committee is coming back to poke and prod all the Apple Islanders again, but Matthew Diamond replies solemnly that that’s not why he’s come. In a soft voice he tells her that Ethan left the place in Massachusetts where he was painting. Then he adds that in addition to that, all the Apple Islanders will have to leave the island.
Ethan’s journey away from Apple Island was a precursor to what all of the Apple Islanders will now have to experience. Matthew Diamond delivers the news in a low voice because he recognizes that he bears some of the responsibility for drawing attention to Apple Island in the first place.
Themes
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Timothy Whitcomb, a man from the mainland town hall, comes two days later with the official eviction notices. He doesn’t know where each family lives, so he keeps walking across the island as the dogs hound him. Iris and Violet are confused by the concept of legal documents and keep asking Timothy Whitcomb what they’re supposed to do. When they hear they’re supposed to leave the island, Iris threatens him with her gun.
The minor character Timothy Whitcomb represents a white man with less sympathy for the Apple Islanders than Matthew Diamond. Timothy Whitcomb is just an instrument of the government, content to do his job without questioning why. He provides yet another example of how a character can enable racist laws without necessarily being motivated by hatred himself.
Themes
Timothy Whitcombe keeps delivering eviction notices around the island. He has additional papers for the Lark family: a “Physicians’ Certificate of Feeblemindedness” for Theophilus, Candace, and their children, which recommends that they would be good subjects for the State School for the Feebleminded.
This passage shows how legitimate sciences, like medicine, were used to justify racism. Widespread prejudices against mixed-race people like the Larks ensured that the laws about “feeblemindedness” would be applied in racist ways. Breaking up the Lark family is an attempt to destroy their unusual way of life.
Themes
A century later, a museum exhibit at a university will display the artwork of Ethan Honey, which includes drawings of many of the last native-born residents of Apple Island as well as some landscapes and a portrait of Bridget. The text from museum labels in this exhibit are interspersed throughout the rest of the chapter.
Ethan disappeared from his family, and yet he goes on to be remembered by strangers many years in the future at a museum exhibit. The museum preserves the Apple Islanders for the future, but it also puts their story in the control of others.
Themes
Back in the present, Zachary Hand sees the eviction notice and feels defiant. He knows the government people think he’s strange, but he takes pride in it. Meanwhile, Eha looks at the home that he built with Zachary Hand’s help. Zachary Hand was the one who taught Eha the basics of carpentry, 25 years before Zachary Hand started spending all his time in the hollow tree. Eha feels deep regret about having to leave the house behind. He thinks about how, although he never knew his father, Zachary Hand was like a father to him.
Continuing with the religious themes, this passage of Zachary Hand teaching Eha about carpentry recalls the New Testament, where Joseph teaches his non-biological son Jesus about carpentry. But while Jesus traditionally comes from a virgin birth, Eha originates from sin—rape and incest. Rather than limiting Eha, the dark circumstances of Eha’s birth only make it more impressive that he has turned out to be so well adjusted and such a capable member of the community.
Themes
Zachary Hand was the one who first taught Eha about the woods on the mainland and how not to be afraid of them. Eha was used to the open air of the island and didn’t like being surrounded by trees. Eha remembers in particular how quiet Zachary Hand got in the moment of stillness that always came after chopping a tree down. At one point they came to a particular tree, and Zachary Hand told Eha to climb it, to test it to make sure it was suitable to use for his home. That was the moment when Eha started to feel that Zachary Hand was more a father to him than any blood father.
When Eha climbs the tree to see if it will make a good home, it recalls the earlier generations of Honeys all climbing a tree to attempt to escape the flood. Zachary Hand’s constant presence in his hollow tree shows his close relationship with nature. Here, he teaches Eha how to also get closer to nature, by getting hands on and climbing a tree himself.
Themes
Timothy Whitcomb returns home to the mainland and sits at the dinner table with his young wife, Beth, while his baby daughter sleeps nearby in a crib. He tells his wife about how Apple Island is like hell, filthy and full of wild animals. He is particularly horrified by how everyone’s skin color was different, and the people seemed to be a mix of races. He cries to his wife about how hard his job is. His outburst causes his baby daughter to wake up and cry.
This scene is darkly humorous because, while Timothy Whitcomb’s job was difficult, it was nothing compared to the hardships that the eviction will cause for the Apple Islanders. In the privacy of his home, Timothy Whitcomb voices a distaste for the mixed-race islanders that other white characters share but are afraid to voice openly.
Themes
One day, a girl comes to visit Esther, and Esther can tell right away that the girl must be pregnant. The girl has paintings and drawings with her that Esther recognizes as Ethan’s work. The pregnant girl introduces herself as Bridget. Esther calls Charlotte and Tabitha to get Bridget some water. Bridget gulps down the water and thanks them. The girls are both afraid to hear Bridget say their names. Bridget says she’s looking for Ethan, but a disappointed Esther says she thought Bridget was the one who knew where he was.
Bridget’s decision to look for Esther suggests that after the initial shock, she has come to terms with Ethan’s racial identity. She is yet another example of people’s potential to change and accept new things. Although the Apple Islanders have little to offer and generally keep to themselves, they still welcome outsiders like family (for example, as the McDermott sisters did when they adopted three children).
Themes
It’s a dark, foggy day on Apple Island. Rabbit crawls around on all fours, feeling like the princess of the island. Eha goes over to visit the Larks, then other islanders also begin to gather at the Lark house. They wait for the people from the mainland to come and take the Larks. When the sheriff comes, he picks up and carries Rabbit, marching her down toward a boat. He tells her she’ll like the new school she’s going to. As he carries her, he notices how light and thin she is.
The beginning of this passage celebrates what makes Rabbit unusual rather than stigmatizing her differences. This makes it even more distressing when the sheriff begins to forcefully take Rabbit away. While the sheriff’s promise that Rabbit will go to a new school doesn’t sound so bad on the surface, his violent actions hint at the danger ahead.
Themes
Candace watches the sheriff carry Rabbit, then she decides she wants to go carry Rabbit herself. She goes to tap the man on the shoulder, but she falls into the water. The man pulls her up and mistakes her struggling for attacks, so her punches her in the face, causing her nose to spurt blood. She gets up and puts her hands around the sheriff’s waist to steady herself.
This passage is a straightforward example of racism, where the man assumes that Candace is violent because of her race. The passage effectively captures how the sheriff might attempt to justify his own actions to himself, even as he causes Candace’s nose to spurt blood.
Themes
The deputy mistakenly thinks Candace is grabbing the sheriff to try to drown him. He begins hitting her with his club. Candace tries to stop the club by grabbing it, but the deputy yanks it away, and it hits Rabbit’s head. It gives her brain damage, and she dies instantly. Theophilus runs out into the water, while Zachary Hand screams, tearing his own shirt open. Zachary Hand starts shouting for the mainlanders to all go to hell while snapping his belt at them like a whip.
The death of Rabbit seems to be a tragic accident, and yet in some ways it is also an inevitable outcome of the sheriff and deputy’s racism. Although neither the sheriff nor the deputy came to the island for the specific purpose of killing anyone, they fail to see the humanity in anyone different from them, and this led them to be careless. Tearing a garment (as Zachary Hand does here) is a mourning gesture that is mentioned in the Bible.
Themes
Zachary Hand tells the men they’re murderers and they’ll have to kill him to take people off the island. But then he sees Esther in her rocking chair and thinks of all the things Esther has endured over the course of her life, like murdering her father and almost drowning Eha. Somehow, she managed to survive those things. Thinking of this, all of a sudden Zachary Hand stops and collapses by the water, exhausted. The sheriff tells everyone that although it’s a difficult time, they should stay calm.
In this pivotal passage, Zachary Hand puts aside his own anger and desire for revenge for the sake of the community. Although the way the sheriff and deputy killed Rabbit was unjust, Zachary Hand places survival above anger. Zachary Hand realizes, by seeing Esther, that perhaps the best way to deal with a tragic situation is to survive it and keep living.
Themes
Later, with Bridget’s help, Esther comes to visit Iris and Violet. Normally, she doesn’t leave her porch due to her difficulty moving, but she feels the need to see something new. Esther feels grief as she keeps thinking about Zachary Hand lying on the sand and Rabbit’s limp body. Norma Sockalexis and Scotty are doing laundry, while Emily studies a math book. Violet is surprised to see that Esther has taken the trouble to come over on her own. Violet asks the children to bring tea. Violet and Esther both feel angry, but neither wants to do anything that could hurt the children.
Like Zachary Hand, both Iris and Violet put aside their anger to focus on survival. When the aging Esther shows that she is still fit enough to walk over to the McDermotts’ place, she seems to be demonstrating that she too still has life in her and wants to survive. Esther has survived unjust and unfair situations in the past, and this passage illustrates how although her life hasn’t gotten easier, she nevertheless remains resilient.
Themes
Eha plans to break down the Honey house and take the pieces away on a boat to reconstruct it somewhere else. In the meantime, the Honeys need a new place to stay, so Eha, Tabitha, Charlotte, and Zachary Hand all set up a tent together. The family sets up near the bluff, with Esther still spending much of her time in her rocking chair, now looking out at the ocean.
The Honeys may be evicted, but Eha preserves every piece of their house so that he can rebuild it. Now that Esther is mostly confined to her chair, it is Eha’s duty to lead the family, and his children all pitch in. The Honeys have survived disaster before, and this passage suggests they will do so again.
Themes
As Eha takes apart the house, he remembers every plank from when he first built it. By sunrise the next day, he has the materials from the whole house bundled together on the deck of a raft. He goes back to the other Honeys, who are still asleep. Eha takes a moment to wonder where Ethan is and what he’s doing.
Eha demonstrates how he’s grown up and taken to heart all the lessons that Zachary Hand taught him. The image of the Honeys living on a raft is perhaps another reference to Noah’s Ark, showing again how history repeats itself.
Themes
Eha wakes Charlotte and Tabitha. They begin preparing to leave on the raft. They put Esther on the raft in her rocker, and Eha ties her in place with rope to make sure she won’t fall off. Bridget will also travel with them. As they get ready to go, only one of the island’s three dogs decides to come on the raft. The tide begins to take the raft away, and Eha puts a blanket around Esther. None of them want to leave. Meanwhile, Iris, Violet, Norma Sockalexis, Emily, and Scotty depart in their own boat.
The fact that Esther stays on her rocker, even while on the raft, is yet another sign of how the Honeys are determined not to change their ways, despite the eviction. Still, this scene also captures some of the ways that the Honeys are powerless, as they surrender their raft to the tides. The dogs symbolize how the Honeys are taking part of their past with them but also forced to leave some of it behind.
Themes
Esther remembers one time when a relative came to visit her, and the relative mentioned a family reunion on her husband’s side with over a hundred people at it. Esther can’t imagine having a family big enough to need a special reunion. Particularly with Ethan gone, she feels her own family is so scattered.
A recurring idea in the novel is how families can take very different shapes. Esther has lived all her life in a close-knit community of small families, but she comes to realize that just as family means something different to each Apple Island household, it also means something very different to people off the island.
Themes
Esther never told Eha who his father was, but she figures he must’ve learned at some point—or perhaps almost learned and stopped himself before realizing. As the raft floats, Esther wants to stay on the water rather than having to land. Eha agrees they can stay on the water a little longer. Bridget begins to sing part of an Irish lullaby to herself, and Esther thinks the song sounds like a dream from her past.
This passage continues the theme of the past melding with the present. The pregnant Bridget represents the future of the Honey family, but her Irish lullaby also recalls the past, reminding Esther of songs that Patience passed down at Apple Island’s founding.
Themes
In September of 1914, Ethan will write a letter to Matthew Diamond, asking him to pass it on to his family, but apparently, Matthew Diamond never locates them. When a museum in the future eventually opens the letter, it contains drawings of battlefields in France, but no one can explain how Ethan would have ended up in France. Meanwhile, in the present, Eha considers floating the raft up toward the woods where Zachary Hand took him to get wood for the Honey house. He considers making a secret trip back to the island, to leave a sign in case Ethan ever returns. He fantasizes about Ethan seeing the sign and coming back to reunite with him. He imagines Esther waking up from the commotion and joyously demanding to see Ethan.
Eha’s fantasy for the future may not be realistic—the letter Ethan sent from France suggests that his life will remain mysterious to his family. Since there’s no further correspondence from Ethan, possibly he dies in World War I (which began in 1914). It’s also possible that he may find an opportunity to escape his past for good. Still, Eha’s ability to imagine a better future ends the chapter on an unexpectedly optimistic note, showing how in spite of everything, the Honeys haven’t lost their ability to hope.
Themes
