In Country

Mason both uses and subverts the archetypal hero’s journey—a term popularized by Joseph Campbell—to mark Sam’s passage into adulthood and her search for identity in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Such journeys often focus on the emotional and psychological growth of the protagonist and move through recognizable stages. Using this model helps to unpack Mason’s thematic concerns with Sam as a young woman without a father.

Such journeys usually begin in the ordinary world—in this case, Hopewell, Kentucky, a small town hit hard by economic woes. The town has lost many of its “country boys” to the war in Vietnam, and as a benighted, “dead” place, Sam desires to escape. The quest also often begins as the result of a significant event. Sam is not quite 18 years old—no longer a child, but not yet a woman. Her high school graduation has just occurred, and as a result, she is at a loss for what comes next. Her mother wants her to go to college in Lexington, but she does not think she wants to leave Hopewell. She knows she does not want to marry Lonnie, however. Nevertheless, the ritual of graduation starts her on her journey to learn more about her father and his experience in the Vietnam War.

She is hampered on her journey by the lack of a mentor, however. The only people who can tell her about her father Dwayne and the Vietnam War are her mother, her uncle, and the group of veterans who meet every day at McDonalds. In this, Mason subverts the model. These potential mentors are not wise sages ready to impart knowledge, but rather individuals damaged by loss and grief. They choose to forget their pasts and are reluctant to share their experiences with Sam for two reasons. The first is that the memories are painful for them; the second, as one veteran tells her, is that “[t]here is no way you can ever understand. So just forget it. Unless you’ve been humping the boonies you can’t know” (136).

Consequently, Sam turns to the fictional men and women of the 4077 unit in M*A*S*H, her father’s letters to her mother, her father’s diary, her picture of her father, and her dictionary. These sources allow Sam to construct a history, but it is one she finds abhorrent at times. This history forces her to consider her ethical standards and values. She wonders if war is ever right if she would behave as badly as some of the soldiers, and if she would be willing to kill people in a war she didn’t believe in. In exploring these questions through Sam, Mason demonstrates her emotional and psychological growth.

Answering these questions ultimately places her under such pressure that she runs away to Cawood’s Pond to try to experience danger, terror, and wilderness first-hand. Her time at the pond represents Campbell’s “inmost cave,” a term used to describe the necessary moment in a hero’s journey wherein they can pause to reflect on their experiences and prepare for the future. The pond is a place of terror where she will be challenged, but also grow. Although it is somewhat childish for her to think that the pond is anything like Vietnam, her fear is real, and she faces it.

Resurrection is the last stage of the journey, and it is possible to see Sam returning home with Emmet as this revitalization. He had, after all, assumed she was visiting the pond to die by suicide; even though this wasn’t the case, their reconciliation and choice to move forward represent the start of her new life. This is solidified by her tracing the name of the man who bears her name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. She feels a connection to others and an introduction into her young adult life, like an emergence from the chrysalis of childhood.

While Mason does not bind herself literally to the hero’s journey to recount Sam’s growth, it nonetheless seems clear that with Sam’s reconciliation with her mother, her new-found respect for her uncle, and her sympathy for the men and women who lost their lives in Vietnam that she has given up the immature notions of childhood to embrace the realities of life. As an adult, she can reconcile with the truth she has been seeking and choose her own path forward in life.

Throughout her published work, and most notably in Shiloh and Other Stories and In Country, Mason traces the lives of women and men living in the rural South in the changing landscape of American life. Her characters are often working-class poor people trying to get ahead but stymied by limited opportunities and the attractions of consumerism. Lonnie, a bagger at Kroger, and Dawn, a server at Burger Boy, represent a generation of young people growing up in an America that sharply contrasts the traditional American Dream.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the United States experienced a seismic shift in population and values. Rural and small-town populations continued on a downward trend, while urban populations continued to grow. In addition, small towns found their downtown areas undermined by the growth of shopping malls at the periphery of town or in neighboring larger towns and cities. Big box stores and chains offered products at lower prices than the small businesses could afford to match, as the volume in chains and big stores allowed them to operate at a lower profit margin. Many locally owned businesses located at the heart of what had been prosperous small towns were forced to close. When economic inflation and unemployment rates heightened during the 1980s, small towns like Hopewell found it difficult to hold on to their populations. The characters of In Country are first-hand witnesses to the changing landscape of American life brought about by these shifts in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.

Sam comments on the changes in Hopewell when she goes to the Flag Day sales: “The merchants were trying to save downtown from the attractions of the shopping center and the Paducah mall” (89). She recalls with nostalgia some of the old stores that have since closed their doors. On the other hand, Sam and Dawn also believe that Hopewell is “dead” because there is no mall. They look for ways to go to the mall in Paducah at every opportunity. Thus, although Sam bemoans the closure of stores, the shopping patterns of her and most young people ironically contribute to the demise of local businesses.

Along with the lack of downtown businesses, people in Hopewell also feel the loss of traditional values. Sam’s grandmother says, “Young people are losing their faith, and there ain’t nobody but old people at church” (147). Grandma Smith is accurate in her assessment of churches; mainstream churches began losing memberships in the post-war years, and that trend continues to accelerate. It is difficult to say if this trend contributes to the lack of values in young people, however, although it is clear for the older citizens of Hopewell, the returning soldiers such as Emmett and his hippie friends threaten their way of life. Grandma adds, “That was about the time I thought everything started to change […] Hopewell used to be the best place to bring up kids, but now it’s not” (147). The soldiers and hippies bring with them changing social values, and the youth of Hopewell, with few opportunities for entertainment or work, find living in Hopewell a dead-end proposition. For example, Sam finds a future in Hopewell to be an unpleasant thought. As a single woman with only a high school degree and unreliable transportation, she would only be able to get a minimum wage job, if she could find one at all. If she married Lonnie and had a child, her future would look even grimmer.