Gathering Blue

"The community cloth was drab, all no-color; the formless shifts and trousers worn by the people were woven and stitched for protection against the sudden occasional rain, thorn scratch, or poison berry. The usual village fabric was not decorated" (41).

"'Maybe it it something that artists have,' she said, liking the sound of the word she had just learned. 'A special kind of magic knowledge'" (145).

When reading Number the Stars, I was gratified that Lowry seemed not to endorse exceptionalism as a prerequisite for heroism. Every Dane was heroic in some small way, and any one would perform a larger heroic act, if called to do so. Heroism was rooted in compassion, human solidarity, and respect for difference between and among people. In her dystopian future set of companion books, Lowry introduces readers to a world quite different from Denmark, where compassion and difference are equally scarce.

Kira was born different from the other villagers, and by their custom "should not have been kept" (26). But the guardians assert that "exceptions can be made" (33), provided, as we learn, there is some special reason to warrant an exception. It is only because of her special gift that Kira is saved, because of her talent for embroidery. Lowry chooses to mark Kira exceptional in two ways, first as a cripple, and second as an artist, when either alone would have been sufficient to separate her from the crowd. Yet, although Kira is exceptional, her disability makes her vulnerable to the ordinary townsfolk and her artistry makes her vulnerable to the village guardians. There is at least an echo of concern for the least of society's members in Kira's social positioning.

The imagery of the village cloth, "drab, all no-color" (41), suggests the hard reality of village life, of a people whose only purpose is survival, and who seem to fear continually for their survival. Yet from this community little Jo begins to sing of her own desire, Kira and Thomas learn to thread and to carve, all out of their own power. The artistic impulse is irrepressible, but it threatens to disturb the people's work (and therefore also their survival?), so the guardians capture and contain the little artists to ensure their talents serve the existing power structure. Lowry shows that art and beauty are threatenting to cultures that maintain dominance through fear. Since the guardians found it fitting to situate Annabella far from the rest of the community, I find it perplexing that they allowed Kira's mother to practice "the art of dye" (41) right in the middle of the village. Perhaps they did not think her talent so great as to constitute a threat or an asset. Or perhaps the memory of Kira's mother suggests that small flutters of creativity and individuality are generally tolerated in the village, and only rare flights of genius held captive.

I have not yet read the Messenger, but I suspect it will help clarify some of the questions I was left with after Gathering Blue. I like that Jonas in the Giver (which I have not read in a few years) is made heroic not by some magic ability (not even the special magic knowledge of an artist), but by the kind of cultural knowledge that is common to every young reader who encounters the text. That is something that Jonas and Kira share with Lowry's audience - an appreciation of the injustices taken for granted by other characters in the novels, so that any child can imagine him or herself understanding and accepting the moral responsibilities that Lowry's characters inherit.