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The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
Philadelphia & Jubilee
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I think it has made her colder towards her husband and her children. You can tell that it's not the way she wants to be, but she has no other choice.
Since their names signified promise and hope perhaps that was also lost to her and she felt defeated.
With such unbearable loss often comes a pulling inward. Hattie might have pulled inward to protect herself from the potential recurring pain that might come again. She did a really good job of this, didn't she? spoiler** It wasn't untill she had a grandchild that she was able to let it out and no longer emotionally be in the fetal position. This is why I loved the ending so much.
The event changes her totally. Before the event it appears that she is full of life and loves her children enormously but after the event, you can tell that she has distanced herself from everyone and everything. The twins were the new beginning, the hope Hattie had not only for herself but for her family.
The loss of the twins equaled a loss of hope for Hattie. After that tragic loss she was only struggling to keep herself and the children she had later alive. Unfortunately this left no room for love and affection in her mind.
She couldn't bear another loss and it made her distant to her other children.
****Spoiler****I agree with previous posts. Hattie came to Philadelphia after having experienced the death of her father. While she was pregnant with her twins her mother died. Her babies were her symbol of hope, happiness, and life. When they died it was devastating. Her way of coping with such a loss was to distance herself from those she cared about. If the twins had survived the story would have been different because it would have reaffirmed Hattie's sense of hope and faith.
Disillusionment for one thing. But also the wound of that devastating loss formed scar tissue in the deepest place of her heart. Her way of loving was altered as that place became impenetrable. I think she tried to steel herself from ever feeling that depth of hurt again and so she became emotionally dysfunctional. I think in her mind she told herself not to become too attached to even her own children.It changed the course of her life (and thus the story) because part of herself was cordoned off and she wasn't fully opened to life, love and possibilities, even if she did retain a modicum of hope. Had it not have happened, she might have had a very different relationship with the people in her life. Even life itself.....
I definitely think without support of her family (no immediate family nearby and a husband who worked a lot), it created the "fend for yourself" mentality with her other children. She wasn't a cold or cruel mother, there just wasn't the support she needed back then.
Mod
Thank you for sharing with us Carrie. As you continue on, you will see how this tragedy affects her other children and parts of her life.
OBC 2.0 wrote: "In the book's first chapter, Hattie suffers [spoilers removed] How do you think this event changes the course of Hattie's life/the course of the novel?For additional Reading Guide Questions, visi..."
**SPOILERS**
I think that the death of the twins really changed Hattie forever. Mostly with how she treats her children. Something died in Hattie the day her twins died and I think she lost a lot of hope. Hattie became distant and detached from her family. In Floyd's chapter it said that at times she didn't even get out of her nightgown or out of bed. I think she fell into a deep depression. Jubilee and Philadelphia were a metaphor for starting a new life and a new beginning and when they died I think her dreams died as well.
Like so many of us, Hattie put up a wall against feeling. It's what a lot of people do to avoid being hurt. The problem with that is, as in Hattie's case, one can't feel joy,neither.
One can't feel joy, EITHER.
I also feel that Hattie put a wall around her heart, not really realizing what she was doing. We will do that as a safety mechanism. Other's did not understand that she was giving everything she had physically, emotionally, to her family. She was taking care of what needed to be done, what the responsible thing was in her eyes (I've been there); which was keep a roof over your children's heads, food in their stomachs, and an education basically all by herself. It is exhausting in every way imaginable, making it easy to forget to have fun along the way.
For those of you posting spoilers please do not just mark your post as a spoiler but HIDE it so people can choose to click on the spoiler and actually see if they want.The first post above contains a hidden spoiler. Instructions on how to hide a spoiler are at the top right of your comment box.
Thanks to everyone for hiding their spoilers :o)
Hi Tracey. Thanks for helping us new to the Bookclub out about spoilers. I know I blooped on one of my comments then it hit me, that's what a spoiler was, giving out the end BEFORE everyone has a chance to read! I know I totally go nuts when someone does that to me about movies. I'm making shorter overall basic comments now. Thanks again to all good readers who have truly been a great help to a new member.
Regarding question one, the overall fear and possible feeling of guilt may have created a shell. Emotions are protected once something major impacts the heart. Thanks for having the discussion.
Angela wrote: "Emotions are protected once something major impacts the heart."SO very true. My father passed away when I was 16 of a heart attack brought on by pnemonia. I can definitely say that my emotions are a lot more "protected" than they were before that happened. I can't say that I am as "cold" (I don't like calling Hattie that because I don't really feel that she is, but for lack of a better word we will just leave it as that) as Hattie, but not as loving and close as I could be with my immediate family. Also, my mother changed a lot as well after that, she also acts a lot colder.
This book made me cry so much. I felt her pain, I felt her children's pain, and understood from both sides how they might feel.
Thank you for sharing your story and how your emotions were moved by this book, keeping you in prayer. I totally agree on emotions coming back while reading, which can be a good thing. Showing where you were vs. where you are now, similar to the characters in the book. I am glad I completed the book and look forward to continued life challenging and changing reading.
Tracy wrote: "For those of you posting spoilers please do not just mark your post as a spoiler but HIDE it so people can choose to click on the spoiler and actually see if they want.The first post above contai..."
Great suggestion!
My mom was a young girl in Philadelphia in the 1930's. Presently she is 94 years "young". She was a very small, thin,(about 90lbs.) but powerfully strong woman. I have memories of her using an axe to chop up wooden chairs to put in the furnace (when we didn't have coal) to keep the house warm for us. (So, smokey, but warm). A fiercely protective mother, like Hattie in the first chapter.
Sorry all. I just realized my comment should be listed under "readers' choice". Still learning how to use the site.
Trudy, what a beautiful memory for you.
I'm sure if anyone else is having this problem, but I do most of my good reads check in and update via my smartphone. Has anyone else had a problem finding the hide spoilers tab/function? I don't always have access to my laptop and am hoping someone can give me directions for an iPhone on the specific function of hiding spoilers. Thank you for your help.
I stopped reading the comments while I was reading the book to avoid seeing the spoilers.
Hattie was traumatized to have that experience at 17. Between shock, deppression and lack of support from her husband. I can imagine her ccomplete loss of innocence and she went into autopilot in order to function from day to day, but holding in all that pain had to be a drain.
Haven't found a hide spoilers tab using my phone either, but I just thought it was because I'm new to the site and don't know what I'm doing. :)
I was deeply moved by Hattie's crisis with her babies illness and their untimely deaths. Hattie felt the loss of her twins presence most acutely in her daily life. There was no moment in her life when she didn't fail to notice their absence. She loss the hopes and dreams of their future. Therefore, it was difficult for her to function and care for other children.
Hattie was traumatized by the death of her babies and their loss of life translated to her unwillingness to live life to the fullest shortly thereafter. I feel like nothing August will ever do will please Hattie, because it will never bring her babies back.
I love Hatties fight to wrestle with the winter storm at all costs, so that her children are healthy. The love she has for her children is deep. She is 17 years old but she is not an irresponsible teenager, she has grown into a mother. -M.
When Hattie first migrated to Philadelphia, she was happy and looking forward to a new, better life. She didn't want to ever go back to Georgia. You could just feel her positive attitude toward life. Hattie even gave the twins names "of promise and of hope." So when she lost the twins, I believe she also lost promise and hope.
I think she continued to have children, trying to reproduce or renew that promise and hope. Again, always looking and searching.
Hattie left Georgia with such hope and the promise of it being a great New Beginning. By her naming her twins Philadelphia and Jubilee, she expected things to be wonderful and glorious. Once she lost her babies, she lost her faith. I think she gave up on God, her hopes and her dreams. This effected all facets of her life, especially Hattie as a wife and Hattie as a mother.
I can understand Hattie's great disappointment. She lost something within her when she lost her twins - dont think she lost hope altogether because she had more children - but something indeed was lost. And it is hard to find what was once lost...
The tragic event takes a toll on her in how to love herself and for the rest of her family and husband. She has a hard time with guilt of the loss of the twins and still blames herself for this tragic event.
Al wrote: "My Nove, 'THEY FOLLOWED THE CALL'IS NOW AVAILABLE in paperback at Amazon.comhttp://www.amazon.com/They-Followed-t......"
Why are you posting this here? I hope the Moderator deletes your post. We're discussing The Twelve Tribes of Hattie here.
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