65 pages • 2 hours read
Mark SullivanThe Last Green Valley
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Widowhood
While The Cruelty of War affects many characters, widowhood is a recurring motif that reinforces the ways that women suffer during wartime. The opening chapters of the novel focus in part on the hardships experienced by the Ukrainian Volksdeutsche communities under Stalin’s rule; in particular, many Volksdeutsche men were sent to Siberian prisons, leaving their wives to take care of their children alone. While Emil’s father eventually returned, Adeline’s father never did. Adeline’s mother became one of the many “widows of Stalin” (24), unsure whether her husband was alive or would ever return.
Adeline faces the same fate as Lydia and Karoline when Emil is captured by the Soviets. At first, Adeline is tempted to give in to the “compelling anger and defeat” that Karoline has held on to even though Johann did return from prison (246). Even Adeline’s mother urges her to give up hope of Emil ever returning, telling Adeline to not “waste [her] life waiting for him” (277). Ultimately, while the devastations of war impact everyone in one way or another, the uncertain limbo that many wives face represents a specific gendered aspect of wartime suffering.
The Green Valley
The green valley is a recurring symbol that highlights The Importance of Faith throughout the novel. While working as a cook for Mrs. Kantor, Adeline knocks a book onto the floor, and it opens to an image of a “beautiful green valley surrounded by snow-peaked mountains with a river winding through it” (70). Adeline is mesmerized by the scene, particularly because it is a far cry from her surroundings in Ukraine. When the Martels join the refugee caravan, Adeline tells Walt and Will that they are traveling west to find the green valley where they will live. Throughout all of the family’s hardships on their journey, Adeline strives to maintain her “faith in God and her dream of that mythical green valley” (244).
Though Adeline’s faith wavers, she never loses her belief in God. She is ultimately rewarded for her faith when they finally settle in Montana. The Gallatin Valley mirrors the green valley from Mrs. Kantor’s book in many ways, including the “spruce forests that climb[] the rugged flanks towards impossible crags freshly blanketed in snow” (423). Adeline believes that the Gallatin Valley was created for her by God and that it is her reward for maintaining her faith through the tribulations her family faced.
Leaves
Closely tied to the theme of The Cruelty of War, leaves are a symbol of the lack of control that people feel during wartime. As the Martels prepare to leave with the refugee caravan, Adeline notices the wind blow away a “curled brown leaf” (7). She equates the leaf to her life: “Like every big change in my life, blown by the wind” (7). In other words, Adeline feels a lack of control over her circumstances. The image of a leaf in the wind returns several times throughout the novel.
Once the Martels are relocated to Poland, Adeline struggles to feed her family while Emil is sick. She once again feels like a leaf in the wind, “dried and curled brown, blown by the wind on some strange, haphazard journey that she now [sees] as futile and meaningless” (223). However, Adeline is not the only character who is compared to a leaf. On the walk from Wielun to Berlin, Adeline’s cousin Marie loses both of her infant sons. Overcome by grief, Marie climbs into a truck of Soviet soldiers and begins guzzling vodka. She “[spirals] out of her life like a leaf caught in a gale” (273). Similar to Adeline, Marie feels a lack of control over her circumstances.
