Vein of Iron

Rating:
Summary: A vein of iron through life's struggles and disappointments
Review: (...)Vein of Iron, written in 1935, is the saga of a Virginia family who live through changing times. It starts in 1901 when the central character Ada is 10 years old, and she is deeply disappointed when, even though she has saved up her money for a doll with real hair, she has to settle for a cheaper doll that she doesn't want. This sets the tone of the book, which is filled with the realities of life's struggles and disappointments. It also deeply explores religion and faith as Ada's father is a former Presbyterian minister who has lost his faith and there is constant conflict between right and wrong as well as tradition and change.

The title refers to the vein of iron within the characters, especially the women, which keeps them going throughout adversity as they struggle through their personal challenges as well as the social changes creating upheaval around them. The love of Ada's life, Ralph McBride, is stolen by the trickery of a supposed best friend. He eventually does come back to her as a soldier off to fight in the World War and their two-day illicit romance results in a pregnancy, which alienates her from her beloved Grandmother. Later, after her lover comes back from war, disillusioned by his experiences on the battlefield, their marriage is marked with more disappointment and struggle as they leave their beloved mountain home and move to a large town. When the Depression hits, and her husband loses his job, she finds work selling gloves in a shop where her wages keep getting reduced and the family struggles to put food on the table. There's always compassion though for those even less fortunate and we get to know their small community of neighbors.

There were a lot of themes going on at once in spite of the simplicity of the words. Yet the story itself was so engaging that I was reading it on the bus one day and went two stops past my usual stop. The sense of place is dominant throughout and I was transported into the author's world. It was not always a pleasant place to be, especially during those Depression years, but I totally related to it all, and admire the "vein of iron" in the author, as well as in her characters. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Rereading Vein of Iron
Review: Ellen Glasgow (1873-1945) was a successful writer during her lifetime, but, alas, her work is too little known today. It is due for a revival. Glasgow lived most of her life in Richmond, Virginia, and was critically praised as an early naturalist writer. She attempted to describe the South without the romantic accretions of "Lost Cause" mythology that arose following the Civil War.

Glasgow wrote Vein of Iron in 1935, and the book placed second on the best-seller lists that year. It is typical for her work which bridged the gap between serious and popular literature. I first read this novel three years ago and was pleased to have the opportunity to reread it as part of a book group. I was surprised at how much I had missed -- and probably got wrong -- on my first reading. If serious literature can be characterized as a book that bears reading slowly and more than once, then Vein of Iron has met this standard for me.

The book is set primarily in rural Virginia from about 1901 through 1935 (running into the first term of President Roosevelt). The story centers on the Fincastle family of Scotch-Irish descent which has lived in what has become a rundown manse in the small fictional village of Ironside since before the Revolutionary War.

Several family members get a great deal of attention in the novel. Ada Fincastle is a young woman in love with a young man named Ralph McBride. She loses Ralph, as a result of a forced marriage to a rich, selfish girl, Janet Rowan, who claims Ralph got her pregnant. She ultimately marries Ralph, but only after a two-day torrid affair in the woods before the divorce between Ralph and Janet is concluded. Ralph returns from WW I cynical and disillusioned and the couple struggle to retain their love for one another.

Ada's father, John Fincastle, is the other major character in the story. Fincastle is a Presbryterian minister who has been defrocked "after he had told the Presbytery he rejected the God of Abraham but accepted the God of Spinoza." (p.45) Fincastle has spent his life writing a multi-volume work of philosophy, heavily influenced by a combination of philosophical naturalism, German idealism, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, and, I think especially, Buddhism and Eastern thought. Glasgow herself was a religous seeker of an unorthodox cast who had been fascinated with Buddhism when young. I found her portrait of John Fincastle compelling.

The main characters also include Ada's grandmother as well as Fincastle's wife, who dies early in the book, and a character named Aunt Meggie all of whom retain traditional Presbryterian religious convictions and all of whom are sympathetically portrayed.

Much of the theme of the book is stated in the title, as the characters, regardless of their differences in religious outlook maintain their fortitude and strength in the face of difficulty, adversity, and change. Besides fortitude and interior toughness, the second large theme of the book, I think, is human compassion. As the family suffers and observes the suffering of others during the Great Depression, John and ada, in particular, come to realizew and to put into practice the value of limiting one's own egocentrism and trying to work to alleviate the sufferings of others. There is a Buddhist mantra that is repeated at several important places in this novel: "May all beings be delivered from suffering" -- known as the lovingkindness (or metta) meditation that seemed to me initially and still seems to me upon rereading to be at the heart of this book.

The book has excellent descriptions of life in rural Virginia and of the growth of the urban South in a larger fictious city called Queenborough. Industrialization and the suffering resulting from the Depression are portrayed well. There are also sympathetic, non-stereotyped portrayals of African-Americans, uncommon in a work of this era.

For all the descriptions of place and the intensity of the love story, I still concluded on my reading that the main focus of this book was spiritual. Glasgow writes knowingly both of the loss of faith in traditional Western religions and also of the need for the spiritual values of wisdom, self-understanding, and compassion. Her book has a serious tone throughout and her quest remains distinctly modern.

I found, as I did when I first read Vein of Iron that much of the book is overwritten and that its tone is melodramatic in places. In spite of that, Vein of Iron works on many levels. I found it primarily a picture of a timeless spiritual quest. It encourages the reader away from the materialism of the everyday, whether found in rural Virginia or anywhere else, to search for meaning, wisdom, and compassion, regardless of whether the reader finds these values within or without the boundaries of a traditional religous faith.

Rating:
Summary: The Search for Happiness in Virginia
Review: Ellen Glasgow deserves to be better known. This book, Vein of Iron, is a story of epic scope, covering a period from turn of the century rural Virginia through the Great Depression. The story centers around John Fincastle, a Presbreterian minister defrocked for wrong views who turns philosopher, and his daughter Ada.

The story is melodramatic and awkward at parts, but ultimately it is riveting. As an adolescent, Ada is in love with a young man, Ralph, but loses him to a rich, selfish girl, Janet, who claims Ralph got her pregnant. Janet and Ralph divorce, and Ada and Ralph marry following World War I (and following a torrid two day affair in the woods which is overly-romantically described to this reader, possibly purposefully so). Ralph is disillusioned after the War and the family (Ralph, Ada, their son, John, and an aunt) struggle on through the bubble of prosperity following the War and through the Depression. The scenes of the Depression are wonderfully written.

The theme of the book is the search for happiness and how it is looked for in the wrong places through materialism, superficiality, and the quest for popular approval. There is a strong spiritual, religious theme throughout the book, particularly as it involves the life of John Fincastle.

People look for happiness but don't know how to find it within themselves. Ada perseveres through trouble in her marriage and realizes a subdued but important vision of inner peace. The line "May all beings be free from suffering" is repeated several times during the last section of the book. It is quoted by John Fincastle and is perhaps the moral of the book. The phrase (which is not clearly attributed) is derived from the basic lovinkindness meditation of Buddhism -- a fact John Fincastle (who shows in the book his familarity with Buddhism) would have known. Interesting to see a reflection of the Buddhist tradition in what for me was an unexpected source.

This is a powerful, thoughtful book entitled to its place in American literature.

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful Portrayal of Early 20th Century Rural Virginia
Review: Ellen Glasgow is definitely an underrated American female writer; how many have heard of her? She writes elegantly and truthfully. The setting for Vein of Iron is an area of rural Virginia where I spent much of my childhood. I don't think it has changed much! In this novel, there are wonderful passages about the impact of Christian beliefs on the life of the people who settled in the region (which can surely be generalized to many rural settlements throughout the U.S.). Glasgow creates a fascinating character in Ada's father, who struggles with his spirituality. Ada is strong, faithful, optimistic- just as I imagined our female predecessors to be at that time. This is a character-driven, setting-driven novel, and I loved it. My daughter surprised me with it for mother's day. Thanks, daughter!

Rating:
Summary: Solid Glasgow
Review: The story of Ada Fincastle begins at the turn of the century in the small village of Ironside, Virginia. She is a good-natured child living modestly with her family. Her father is an "ex-communicated" minister turned farmer; who writes philosophical books in his spare time. Her mother, aunt, and grandmother take care of the house.

As the story commences, Ada's boyfriend, Ralph, and her have a fairly serious relationship. However, Ada's best friend, Janet, who is rich and spoiled likes Ralph and wants him. Ada and Ralph have a fight at a party and Ralph goes home with Janet. Ralph was caught in Janet's room (looking for a photograph) and was forced to marry her because of this moral transgression. Janet had schemed this from the beginning.

Ralph's marriage doesn't work and divorces Janet before the start of World War I. Before Ralph leaves for France, he and Ada have a weekend in the woods and Ada eventually winds up pregnant. However, Ada is willing to accept the scorn because they were 2 days of bliss. When Ralph returns from the war they marry.

During the roaring 20's they move to a big city and begin acquiring possessions and money. However, Ralph is injured in a car accident and they are forced to spend their savings. Just after his recovery, the Great Depression hits and they find themselves in dire straits.

The purpose of Glasgow's epic tale is happiness. Ada and Ralph are reminded often that they experience the deepest happiness when they are together. Happiness in possessions is shallow and when examined for their "true happiness" it is often revealed to be not even present. Happiness can also be a double-edged sword; often when life takes away happiness one remembers with regret other times when one was happy. Ada wonders throughout the book why God allows happiness to be fleeting.

The book was very slow to start. About 40 pages into it I was debating on putting it away. However, I gave it another 50 pages and it was getting better. I am glad I made my way through it. The descriptions and scenes of the desperation, especially those of the Great Depression, rival those of Steinbeck's. Glasgow's characters are typical and are similar to those found in her other books. Her examples of the moral changes that came after the first world war are also priceless (I loved it when Ada was shocked when her boy came home and said the world "Lousy".) Also, one can see many similarities between the roaring 20's (and its declining morals) with those of the 90's. The characters worried and said almost the same things that newspaper pundits are saying today.