|
 The return of Cain at the Garvers family farm is the opportunity for both Garver brothers to make a clean sweep of the past and to start all over again. However, the reunion between Caleb and Cain is not simple : upon Cain's arrival, Caleb points a hunting gun. Both men did not see each other again for years.
This meeting is the obvious proof of the gap which separates both brothers : Caleb (the older brother) and Adam / Cain have a character diametrically opposed. Even if both brothers shared identical ordeals in the past - they endured their father's physical and psychological violence - their reaction is totally different.
Caleb is a man of sacrifice, of renunciation : resigned, he accepted the violent behavior of his father without fighting, to stay in the farm to support their mother. Stubborn and obstinate, Caleb stayed in the farm after his mother's death, then after his father's.
This reunion is the opportunity for both brothers to realize that the wounds of the past are not healed yet, and that it is difficult to make the first step. Inside of him, Caleb is jealous of his brother for his character, for his choices (because he had the courage to leave from here), because he was their mother's favorite and because he, Caleb, had to face their father. Caleb does not want to welcome with opened arms this prodigal brother, who did not write for their mother's death - Cain was then at the hospital. He then questions him, using the same tone, the same words as their father, to know the reasons of this return.
In anger, he also learns him the death of their father, during the winter. Obeying his wife, Caleb eventually exchanges with his brother on their life, on the finances of the farm (he is crippled with debts). Caleb even admits the reality of his feelings : he hates his brother to have had the courage to leave, to live his life; a courage he has never had, him who is
weaker... In the course of the conversation, both brothers get closer.
After years, Caleb and Adam found an appearance of family unit, in spite of the past and of their difference of lifestyle. We can however suppose that on the way back in the mountains, Cain will come back to see his brother and to try to restore a sense to the word
siblings...
Portrait
written for this site by Lilian
|
