How Far She Went

The False Solomon’s Seal in the Epigraph, the true Solomon’s Seal in the story of the same title, and the apples of “A Country Girl” may not recur throughout the collection, but what they symbolize is the recurring theme of the collection. The question the characters suffer through is whether “to speak the word which opens chaos” or live and “die in abstinence” (Epigraph). These plants are the flora of the Georgian pastoral—offering both the idyllic and its dark underside. False Solomon’s Seal is used as a folk medicinal treatment, but its look-alike, true Solomon’s Seal, is deadly. The apples in Rydal fall from the tree—safe from pesticides in this rural Eden.

In the end, the question for the characters of whether to seek true and authentic experience is answered—either with the declaration of the false as true at the cost of happiness, or in the elimination what is false at the cost of life itself.

The images of the dogs dying in this collection are disruptive, not only to the reader, but to the outcome of the stories. Carl’s dogs slowly die from Parvo; Smokey Dawn lies in the goldenrod with buzzards overhead; the loyal dog whimpers while his trusted companion holds him under water until he ceases to struggle; Lady is shot point-blank and drags herself towards home to die; JoJo decomposes beside a pond.