What I Thought ...

When I first started reading Crow Lake I was captured immediately. I was intrigued at a very early point of the book, which encouraged me to continue reading it. At the beginning of the novel, Kate was a seven year old girl telling a story of the catastrophe that happened, the seriousness of the situation made me feign for more. I was captured by Kate Morrison's story, and I wanted to know exactly what was going to happen to her next. The past intertwines with the future, what Kate is telling in the beginning has an influence on her future, without her even realizing it.

Mary Lawson emphasizes on the importance of family after the tragedy that happened to the Morrison children, when they were left orphaned when they were all under the age of twenty. I felt as if i should be sympathetic toward Kate, she was a seven year old girl with no care in the world, faced with the biggest obstacle of her life, losing your parents. At a young age you look up to your parents, I know I did. Without them there supporting you, would be the hardest way to grow up. I feel as if parents keep children sane, and make sure everything will be okay and when four children are left with no support group, anything can go wrong.

The family had many arguments throughout this experience, but in the end that only made them stronger. Even though Kate leaves and avoids Crow Lake for twelve years, when she comes back to Crow Lake, the family holds no grudge – it is as if she had never left.

This could be a resemblance of Crow Lake, it seems quiet and peaceful. Daniel is very excited to experience this kind of lifestyle because it is so new to him. He is used to growing up with a wealthy family, brought up well; it is as if Kate’s life is the total opposite, and he is very intrigued by that. Going from the city world into the world Kate is most comfortable in stresses Kate out more than anything. Although she looks forward to returning home for the first time in twelve years, she worries the regret she has been feeling for years will return, and the family will hold a grudge against her for the decisions she has made.

Kate's new life in the city is nothing like the life she lived back in Crow Lake, she was someone when she lived there – she knew exactly who she was, but her life teaching ecology at a university makes her question who she really is. Almost as if she is a little fish swimming in the pond, unsure of what is going on. Her new life is so different from what she is used to it overwhelms her, and not having her family there to support her makes her feel even more guilty about leaving.

Major Themes

Domestic Abuse

• Pye family over three generations are a prime example of domestic abuse. Jackson Pye, one of the founding fathers- designs and builds his own house and a house for a future family. He has a terrible temper that drives his sons away until he is left with only two, in the end another son leaves, leaving Arthur Pye to suffer. Jackson eventually dies leaving the farm to Art, who also abuses his family throughout time. The third generation, Calvin Pye had a family who was connected to the Morrison children. Later in the novel Matt finds out that he made Marie Pye (daughter of Calvin) pregnant. She reveals that her father has killed her brother by accident and when Calvin Pye kills himself, Matt has to give up his plans for education and marry Marie.

Tragedy

• The family was torn apart when the parents of the Morrison children got into a car accident. Leaving the kids with nothing but decisions and work, Matt and Luke had to take on the role of the parents to support Kate and Bo. The family's biggest fear was being split up, Kate hated the thought of not being able to see her idol Matt everyday. After all is decided, Aunt Annie figures out the plan for where the children will live, and they have to split up.

Kate and Matt's relationship has had a drastic downfall. They were so close when they were younger, Kate really looked up to Matt. She believed he was the brightest person out there. When he throws away his chance to get a university education, she despises the fact that he through it away to marry Marie Pye. This gives Kate the chance to further her education, as she moves away to go to university.This causes conflict between the two not only because Kate has avoided Crow Lake for years, but because she felt as if she had abandoned her family when they were having hard times. Their relationship was never the same, and so much time has passed it is almost as if the siblings that once used to be so close, are strangers.

Response

Crow Lake is a novel about the study of family, power struggles and love. It is written in an interesting way, by Kate telling the story from her childhood perspective, and from the adult life she is living. The past has a great impact on her future, as it determines who she is, and shows how much the past has impacted her growing up.

         Kate Morrison narrates the story, telling her life while living a future based on her past. Kate grew up in northern Ontario, in a small farming community known as Crow Lake. Kate grew up with great influences from her family, and especially from the stories her father told her of Great Grandmother Morrison. As Kate grows up to be a very strong and intelligent woman her tragic past influences her life in the future.

        The memories Kate has of the family being together are the ones that stuck with her the longest. The last family dinner the Morrison family had together was when Luke broke the news about his acceptance into teachers college. Offers like this did not come around to people in Crow Lake often, so the family took it with great pride. Their parents insisted on getting Luke a new suitcase in order to go away to school, so the next day they headed into town. Luke and Matt are left to watch Kate and her younger sister Bo while their parents went into town. Kate and Matt’s relationship is clearly shown throughout the entire novel, she looks up to him always and relies on him for support and guidance. They would spend hours and hours at the pond, so when Matt had to baby-sit his sisters, he knew exactly what to do. When their parents went into town Matt took Kate down to the pond to pass time, when they returned home they saw an unfamiliar car pull around the road, not the people they were hoping for- but the police.

         Seeing police in Crow Lake was never a good thing. Hearing the tragic news that their parents had been hit by a logging truck and died, was the one memory Kate will never forget. She remembered everything about that moment for her entire life- the way Matt’s jaw tightened, Luke stood there in shock, but both of them had to pretend that everything was going to be okay, they were the adults now. The family was about to deal with a series of unfortunate events, which as time passed, made the children have a stronger bond. Their aunt Annie came to help them as soon as she heard the news, she needed to help them figure out what was going to happen.

            Throughout the novel the story is shown from the past and the present tense. In Kate’s present she is dating a man named Daniel, who she met in university. Daniel is a professor in the Zoology department, Kate also majored in zoology. She continues to struggle her past, and her decision to go to school was the breaking point for Kate. Since Luke gave up his opportunity to go away to school in order to support the family, it allowed Matt to have the same chance ( he was always known as the “true scholar”), Matt also gave up his chance in order to allow Kate to go, and so he could work to support the family. Kate takes the chance, and decides to go away to school, which she regrets as time goes by. To this day Kate feels regret and worries that her family will not forgive her for the decision she has made, which makes her avoid Crow Lake for twelve years.

         In Chapter three, Kate struggles dealing with her past when she receives an invitation to Matt’s sons eighteenth birthday, the flood of emotions and memories hit her like a truck, she was nervous, and confused. Kate has a tough time sharing her past with Daniel, it is the one major thing she never shares with him so receiving the invitation to go back home gave her the opportunity to invite Daniel back home and show him where she came from. Kate grew up with a family that did not share how they were feeling, if someone was to do something to upset you, you wouldn’t say so. This goes back to the eleventh commandment, also it refers back to her Great grandmother Morrison. Kate was always trying to keep her emotions and memories locked up inside of her as a result of her past.

        Kate describes her life as “osmosis”, she would soak up her surroundings unintentionally in order to know and remember things. Kate could always remember the significant moments in her life, with great detail it was almost like she is re-living her memories.

I would describe Kate’s way to recall a memory a gift, she can always return to her true home. Her childhood memories is what she lives on, especially her relationship with Matt. A lot of her memories revolve around the times they had together. This reminds me of when I was younger, me and my brother used to be really close, but as time went on the relationship changed, he grew up and took the opportunities that he had, and moved out. The family itself got torn apart - likewise, Kate’s family got torn apart after the death of their parents- this of course is not the same as my parents dying, but the situation changed and has affected my life completely. People are always growing apart, and as life goes on and people take chances, the experience can really change that persons life. 

           After the death of Mr and Mrs Morrison, their sister came to stay with the children. She lived with her father and brothers cleaning up after them, which allowed them to work. Moving in with the Morrison children made aunt Annie ecstatic because she never got the chance to meet them. Describing this time as “the honey moon period” because there was no real happiness, there was dread lying inside everyone, especially Kate. The realization that the Morrison children would not be able to stay and live together at their farm was unbearable. Aunt Annie let the children know that none of the family was able to support all of them, so Luke was to go to teachers college - as planned, Matt would go and work for Aunt Annie at the farm, and Kate and Bo would stay together and go live at their other aunts, in Riviere-du-loup. The thought of the four of them splitting up killed Kate.

         Kate is a twenty-six year old woman and having avoided her past for twelve years, any resemblance to Crow Lake struck Kate hard. When Kate receives an invitation to Matt son’s eighteenth, she has troubles processing her thoughts. She has troubles sleeping, because she is so unsure of whether or not she should tell Daniel about it, she is uncertain about whether it would be a good or bad idea to introduce Daniel on the first trip back home. Daniel must have read the letter because later that week he wanted to have a serious talk with Kate about their relationship, he wasn’t sure if it was going anywhere or if she was serious about it. Daniel had shared everything with Kate, and has introduced her to the family that he has, Kate has not; she has not shared one bit of her past with Daniel, and she has not introduced him to any of her family. It is almost like she is trying to avoid her past life, and family because of her worries about the decision she has made about further going her education in ecology.

I’ve come to realize that Kate has a hard time dealing with her past, because she never fully expressed herself about how she feels. She bottled up any emotion she had when she was a child going through the death of her parents, and now that Daniel wants to know more about her she has a tough time letting it out and talking about it. This shows that when you go through hard times, you should always let it out and talk about it- especially with family. Your family is your main support group and will be there for you no matter what, in order to get through and recover fully from tragic situations you need to talk about them, especially to fix them.


Future

       Kate recalls her first few years at university, even though at this time she misses her family, she was unable to go home and visit often because she did not have enough money to do so. Since she had no distractions at all it allowed Kate to focus on her studies, she chose to become an invertebrate ecologist studying the effects of pollution on the population of freshwater ponds. The decision to study in this field was definitely influenced by Matt, and the hours they spent by the ponds. Matt and Kate would spend so much time down at the ponds, just learning and discussing what was happening right before their eyes. She considered the time spent there some sort of therapy, that is where she found most comfort - not only from Matt but from the pond itself.
In the present Kate realizes that Daniel was mad she had not told him about the invitation to the party, she finally discusses it with him which makes him thrilled. He is stoked to go meet her family. Kate has a tough time deciding what to get Simon for a gift which causes more tension between her and Daniel, after days of stressing she finally decides to get him an open account at the university book store because he is going to be attending university to study physics.

       Daniel is excited to drive deep into the country, the deeper they get the more excited he gets. This experience is so new to him, he is the most nervous he has been. They finally arrive at Matt’s new home, he now lives on the Pye farm with Marie, his wife and his son, Simon. The dinner conversation was started with Marie explaining how she saw her father kill Laurie. The police got to the farm to arrest Calvin but he killed himself before they got there, Mrs.Pye had to be taken to a mental hospital where she eventually died, Matt took over the farm and burnt down the shed where Laurie died.

　

In the past
      
      Luke loses his job because of lies he tells sally’s parents. This leaves the children with no income except what is left of their fathers money (which was not much). Matt becomes really concerned about the lack of income, and their situation and decides he will not be accepting the opportunity to go to university, but to stay and work in order to support the family. It is almost Christmas, Matt and Luke are frequently arguing about the fights that they should buy for the neighbours who have invited them to dinner, this only stresses them out more. Kate can clearly sense tension and concern when it’s around, and it only makes her more worried about what will happen to the family.

Whenever someone in your family is having troubles, you are always going to be concerned and worried about them. Kate is very worried about Matt throughout the entire novel, she realizes later that Matt never fully coped through the death of his parents, since he was eighteen he was considered an adult and no one ever really realized or thought to see if he was okay, or needed to talk about anything. This was one of the most stressful times in Matt’s life and no one was there to help him, but all Kate wanted to do is help but she never knew how to.

Book Notes

Characters :
Luke: Oldest brother, first Morrison child to go to Teacher's College
Matt: Other older Brother, works on the neighbours farm (Pye Family)
Kate: Narrator of the story, ten years younger then Matt
Bo (Elizabeth): Baby sister
Aunt Annie: Came to look after the children after the accident
Daniel: Kates boyfriend *(when she's older)


So Far...
Kates brother Luke has been accepted to teachers college, assuming he needs a suitcase as soon as possible the children's parents rush out to buy him one. Leaving Bo and Kate to be watched by their brothers, the parents went out of town to purchase Luke's suitcase. The boys knew something was up when they saw the police cars pull up to their house, seeing police cars in Crow Lake was highly unusual. Finding out that their parents had been hit by a logging truck and died, the children headed towards their "comfort zone"; the pond.


"Memories, I'm not in favour of them, by or large" (20) Kate hopes to keep her memories in an airtight cupboard, she tried to do so for months. Kate makes many referrals to her great grandmother more than anyone, she believes she is truley the strongest Morrison the family has had. Great Grandma's devotion was, education- homework before farm work. Kates father was one of her only sons to finish highschool, they sent him off with a packed hacksack and sent him out into the world. He followed the St.Lawrence river until he finally settled into Crow Lake. He had a job as a banker in Straun and proposed to his highschool sweetheart.

After the death of the parents, Matt and Luke were left to take care of all the funeral plans, appointments, and phone calls.

Chapter Three

Kate starts off talking about Daniel and how she has not shared her full history with him. Daniel is a professor at a University also in the zoology department. He is curious about Kate's life, and lets her know that by constantly reminding her that she does not open up to him completely. Kate is not from a background where people talk about their problems in their relationships. “If someone does or says something that upsets you, you don't say so”(36) That is the Eleventh Commandment, Thou shalt not emote. Kate is always trying to keep her emotions locked up inside, she does not like discussing her tragic past. Kate describes her life like “osmosis” by soaking up her surroundings unintentionally in order to know her past life. Miss Vernon is the source of what she knows most about Crow Lake.

Aunt Annie arrived two days after the funeral, in order to take care of the children until they got settled, and figured out what was going to happen next. Aunt Annie was just like Great Grandmother Morrison. She referred to this time as “the honey moon period”- there was no real happiness.

Kate goes to the pond for comfort, lying there trying to forget about everything that has happened in the last week. “Dread lying inside of me rose up like a river, like a flood.” This is a sign that Kate is unsure how she should handle the situation, she is old enough to realize something bad has happened, but still too young to do anything about it.

The way Mary Lawson tells the story of the children’s life is what captures me the most. She uses scenarios that can happen in any family situation. She creates a history of sacrifice, emotional isolation and family love without it sounding false. She focuses on the emotional and moral effects of a drastic turn of events.
Mary Lawson chooses a wild landscape as the anchor in this story told in flashback.  "Wherever you are now and wherever you may be in the future, nothing alters the point you started from." The Morrison family has standards that have to be met, Great Grandmother Morrison has set them high. Education is like the Morrison family's religion. Brothers did more than their share of work in order for the younger children can study in high school. At seven years old, Kate shows her thirst for knowledge, the ponds near her home were her learning spots; she learned about snapping turtles, frogs and beetles. Matt ( ten years older  then Kate) has taught her most of what she knew about the pond. He is her idle, setting her on a path which lead her to become an assistant professor in invertebrate ecology. Kate's other brother Luke's achievements trigger the book's central events. Nineteen years old and is not a scholar like his older brother Matt. The children are left orphans when the parents take a trip, twenty miles away to buy Luke a suitcase for college.  This is the beginning of a series of complicated emotional debts and disappointments, which impact their life as an adult.
Lawson created a subplot along with the Morrison's tragedies. The Pye family collides with the dreams of the Morrison’s. This subplot manages to be riveting for this family because they belong to a Greek tragedy, each generation has produced an abusive father who drives his sons away and only one son ever stays to become the next tyrant with terrible consequences.
Lawson is very good with the details that the children notice daily. For example, Kate has a hard time recalling her mother's face but can easily remember the doctor's dog that could pick blueberries with her teeth. Lawson made it so the youngest child (Bo) to represent the family's vulnerability. Lawson’s structure is her only weakness, she signposts throughout the novel but it is not necessary. Kate is always known for eavesdropping on conversations so the plot progresses, this can be seen as an awkward device. 

In Crow Lake, Lawson excludes the misconception of isolation(negative state of being) by conveying the positive aspects of isolation throughout the community. The community's surroundings are described as “miles and miles of nothing..”(93) and the roads are referred to as, “a thin grey-while line”(93) which signifies the community's isolation. Emotional isolation is a major theme in Crow Lake.

Secondary Sources/Critical Author

• Pearl, Nancy. "CROW LAKE." Library Journal 19(2005):108. eLibrary. Web. 18 Oct. 2011.
• Veale, Scott. "Crow Lake. (New & Noteworthy Paperbacks)." The New York Times Book Review 2 Feb. 2003: 24. General OneFile. Web. 19 Oct. 2011.



About Mary Lawson

Author: Mary Lawson                                                  Title: Crow Lake

Brief Background

Mary Lawson was born in southwestern Ontario in 1946, but grew up in Blackwell, Ontario. She became an industrial psychologist after taking a trip to Britain. She then married a British psychologist and spent their summers in the north. This is where most of the setting in Crow Lake occurs. Mary Lawson has received six awards for her two novels, Crow Lake and The Other Side of the Bridge. Lawson has lived in Britain since 1968. She married a British psychologist and raised two songs. Her novels are both set in northern Ontario, because this is where she spent many of her childhood summers. The stillness and majestic landscape left a major impression on her. Crow Lake took more than five years of writing. Lawson was confident and satisfied with what she wrought, so she sent it off to publishers. For the next three years, Lawson collected rejection notices, then an agent took an interest in the book which caused a bidding war among seven other publishers.  Lawson is a strong believer in the strength of the influences we receive as children, this is a major theme explored throughout the novel. Her parents got sick with cancer so she spent a lot of time in Canada. She started writing Crow Lake shortly after the death of both of her parents, and her sons leaving home. This is a major influence on Lawson's story line in Crow Lake.