Reply To: The Searcher: Who is the Searcher?
Yes! I absolutely agree with everyone here about Trey and Cal!
Maureen, I love your broader net and your examination of belonging, acceptance, tolerance and consequences. I’ve already said that I loved this book, but these discussions somehow always leave me with a much richer appreciation of the work. What a wonderful reflection on communities and perhaps a statement about the world in which we currently live. Global warming will certainly influence migration and the need to share space with people from different cultures.
Jane, I love that, for me personally, you always add a new perspective to the conversation. I had not thought about the reader’s aspect in the search. Now that you’ve mentioned it, it makes me wonder about the lessons that everyone has learned in their searches, what needed changing to what, how priorities have shifted, how relationships and life demands have been affected by the results of the searches.
But, back to the book, I would offer that along with Brendan, his father Johnny is/was searching for opportunities to make money and improve his life, which is why he left his family. Brendan was also looking for opportunities and Trey mentioned how distraught he was when he wasn’t accepted into university.
The villagers want to keep their community safe and like all small villages, everyone knows everything. But Mart is very unlike the rest of his community in just sharing gossip. I suggest that Mart is a searcher and goes well out of his way to find out about absolutely everything. He’s a searcher for whatever he defines as trouble for his village. He’s unlike his fellow villagers because he doesn’t stop at just sharing gossip, he seeks out the perceived problems and then acts to do what is necessary to save his village.
