When All the World Is Purple

After two small snows this past week in central Arkansas, I am finally ready to see spring arrive on March 20. Yesterday my husband and I drove down to a little town just east of North Little Rock to have lunch with a group of friends at a rural home in Scott. We noticed some early signs of the upcoming season, most notably many yards filled with the ground covering that we call purple flox. This sight, in combination with a short story by Alice Dark I read last week, made me think of our transitory lives, especially in families.

Dark's story was published in The New Yorker in 1994 and is entitled "In the Gloaming." I believe it is one of the finest stories ever written. The story centers on the relationships in a family confronting the upcoming death of their adult son. Dark defines her title by indicating that "the gloaming" is that time of day when the sun is setting, dusk arrives, but darkness is kept at bay a while longer. The mother Janet and her son begin to communicate, after many years of near silence, during this time of "purple sky" on the horizon. The father in the family, unfortunately, cannot confront the reality of his son's impending death and simply carries on his workaholic life as usual.

The themes of the story, though multilevel, center on communication and honesty within families, the idea of bravery when death comes, a central Christ figure who brings about reconciliation between husband and wife, and a child's lack of acceptance by parents based upon the child's choices. The reader is reminded of an essential mandate of our lives, and that is to listen to one another and to love one another unconditionally. The time is short for all of us in this life to do so. At best we have just a glimple of the purple horizon.