Tragedy at the Landing
The Luna of the Landing, by Marshall Doi, is a short narrative that captures the curious relationship of young boy and an old man. Throughout the totality of the passage, Doi creates a stimulating environment where the two characters are close companions, yet remain nameless to both the audience and each other. The two find refuge and sanctity in a pristine and isolated area known as "the cove." Doi does a brilliant job in building a relationship between the two characters in a manner that showcases how much they need one another; the boy with his social and physical disability, and the old man drenched with a feeling of loneliness and plagued by the concept that all good times have passed. The old man and the young boy tirelessly retreat to the cove and develop a cherished and personal relationship with the pristine surrounding. Although the two seem to be in a completely blessed world of their own, the narrative has a dark underlying. In the final ending of the short story, readers are left with a sinister thought. In this, the man plans to commit suicide and take the boy with him. Reading this story for this first time, this may come as a shock to the audience, however, a closer analysis on the passage allows the reader to pick up direct hints that lead to the dark idea the ending portrays. With this said, it is through Doi's creation and subliminal hints of the boy's disabilities, the old man's despondency towards the future, and a spiraling obsession of the cove, that lead the events to a saddening end.
In The Luna of the Landing, Doi purposely leads the audience down a path that portrays the young boy as having forms of social and physical disabilities. Throughout the entire narrative the boy does not speak, leading readers to believe he does not have the ability to do so. The audience is able to pick up on these minute details of behavior and discern the instabilities in the boy. Doi offers of an example of this as he relates, “The man and the youth sometimes spent hours here, the boy with his ear to the fissure and the man puffing on his hand-rolled cigarettes” (53). The fact that the young boy lays with his head on the ground for hours at time can be interpreted as a ploy by the author to show the readers that this is unusual behavior for a child of this age. The Social Adjustment of Youth with Disabilities allows one to understand common traits and social behaviors that may be seen in typical youths. This study provides example qualities of socially adjusted youths:
Starts conversations rather than waiting for others to start.
Seems confident in social situations, such as parties or group outings.
Joins group activities, such as a group having lunch together, without being
told to do so. (Marder 2)
In analyzing the character of the young boy, one may come to the conclusion that he does not contain these qualities. Throughout the entirety of the passage, the boy is portrayed as silent and introverted. In seeing this lack of social ability, the old man is given a sense of control and authority over the young boy. This, in a sense, gives the old man an entitlement where he can make decisions for the young boy without feeling any sense of wrongdoing. In actuality he believes the boy cannot choose the best decision for himself.
Although the old man may be portrayed in a grander light than the boy, Doi makes sure inform readers that he has issues of his own. Depression is a major area of concern in the character of the old man. He is portrayed as exceedingly lonely and isolated from the social, outside world. An excerpt from the Indian Journal of Gerontology helps in providing a connection between loneliness and depression:
When people grow older, they experience age related losses. These losses
prohibit to maintain or acquire new desired relationship, which in turn
leads to loneliness. The aged feel lonely as a result of living alone, lack of
family ties, reduced connection with the culture of origin and inability to
participate actively in community activities. (Acharyya 3)
Analyzing this disclosure, one finds a direct correlation to that of the old man. Prior to his encounters with the boy, the man was chief and in a central position of leadership known as the "luna of the landing" within his occupation at "the cove." Without his job, the old man feels lost and develops a sense of numbness to everything else but his old work environment.
Throughout the passage, the old man can be seen as reminiscing old memories and reiterating the importance of the luna. The passage relates, "The luna was in charge of all operations at the landing and few were more important than he" (50). The tone in this excerpt implies that the old man craves having an impact on his surroundings and thinks especially highly of his post. With such a powerful connection to his position, an absence of work takes away the man's entire sense of being.
With such a strong and passionate connection with the cove, the old man produces an obsession-like relationship with it. A Dialogical Approach to Obsessions Rachman+Hodgson help define the connection between the old man and "the cove" by delving deep into what the fixation entails:
An obsession is both meaningful and irrational, both part of the self and yet
alien and intrusive, both self-created and yet unwanted. Obsessions have
been defined as ‘intrusive, repetitive thoughts, images or impulses that are
unacceptable and/or unwanted and give rise to subjective resistance.
(Hallam 33)
Interpreting this definition, the old man can be unquestionably tied to having an obsession with "the cove." This fixated feeling began through his occupation as the luna of the landing. After aging out of this position, he grew infatuated with cove as a result of losing his direct connection to it from his occupation.
Without this physical, daily, connection the old man developed a more spiritual and emotional relationship with the cove. In a sense, this relationship can be seen as more powerful than that of a physical one. A physical relationship, such as simply working at the cove, ends when the man leaves his job and heads home for the night. An emotional relationship not only stays with the man, but begins to consume and dictate his thought processing. "The cove" can be seen in a light similar to that of a drug. Recognizing Signs of Prescription Drug Abuse and Addiction offers a description of how addiction works. The journal relates, "The initial decision to abuse a drug is often voluntary. However, as the substance's active chemicals disrupt central nervous system processes over time, the individual's self-control is challenged and he or she becomes unable to resist the urge to use the drug" (Felicia-Reynaldo 1). The old man's relationship with the cove can be compared to that of a drug abuser because he simply cannot live without the cove. He needs this place of sanctuary to function, and will be utterly lost without it. This provides readers with a sense of desperation and possible erratic behavior from the old man if something about "the cove" falls out of routine. Doi creates this obsession like fixation with the cove as a preemptive foreshadowing of the events concluding the passage.
In the thought process of the old man, "the cove" can solve all problems and is a place of purity. This relationship can be seen through though the language Doi uses as he gives audiences a visual of the cove through the old man's eyes. An example of this occurs as Doi writes, "The youth was all right here, with a place where he belonged. Nowhere else would he find an environment which suited him more" (50). This is critical because even though the old man is aware of the boys disabilities, he feels that "the cove" is a special enough place that even the boy is free from judgment. Unrestricted from the complications of the outside world, "the cove" offers a surreal sense of necessary peace for the old man and the boy.
The two characters are vastly distinct yet share a common connection with the pristine location that is the cove. Although all seems well in the two companions treasured relationship, Doi constantly pours out hints to the audience that raise red flags. Doi creates the character of the boy having disabilities in order to significantly strengthen his dependency and reliance on "the cove." The old man, on the other hand, is seen as has having depressive characteristics that carry on into a spiraling obsession with "the cove." Throughout the narrative Doi subliminally drops suggestions that something unpleasing will happen to the old man and boy. With a strict analysis of the passage and an austere dissection of the hints left behind by Doi, it is in fact no surprise that a horrific and ghastly event such as a murder suicide transpires in the final lines of the short account.
Works Cited
Elicilda-Reynaldo, Rhea Faye D. "Recognizing Signs Of Prescription Drug Abuse And Addiction, Part I." MEDSURG Nursing 23.6 (2014): 391-396. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
Acharyya, Arpita. "Depression, Loneliness And Insecurity Feeling Among The Elderly Female, Living In Old Age Homes Of Agartala." Indian Journal Of Gerontology 26.4 (2012): 524-536. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
Hallam, R.S., and K.R. O'Connor. "A Dialogical Approach To Obsessions." Psychology & Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice 75.3 (2002): 333. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
Harstad, Cheryl A., and James R. Harstad. Island Fire: An Anthology of Literature from Hawaií. Honolulu: Curriculum Research & Development Group, U of Hawai'i, 2002. Print.
Wagner, M., Marder, C., Blackorby, J., Cameto, R., Newman, L., Levine, P., & Davies-Mercier, E. (with Chorost, M., Garza, N., Guzman, A., & Sumi, C.). (2003). The Achievements of Youth with Disabilities During Secondary School. A Report from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
