All Shall Love Me and Despair by Jean Thompson
"All Shall Love Me and Despair" by Jean Thompson is a poignant exploration of a young couple's tumultuous journey as they relocate from Chicago to the Oregon coast. The narrative centers around Edward, nicknamed Scout, and his girlfriend Annie, who embark on this life-changing trip in hopes of overcoming Scout's drug addiction. Throughout their journey, Scout's ill health and withdrawal symptoms manifest, creating a heavy backdrop for the couple's relationship dynamics. As they settle into their new environment, Annie grapples with her fading love for Scout, juxtaposed against his ongoing battle with addiction and the arrival of drug-related troubles.
The couple's contrasting perceptions of their new life highlight themes of disillusionment and the persistence of their old selves despite a change in scenery. Annie's internal struggle with her feelings for Scout and her desire to support him complicates their connection. Ultimately, the story culminates in a tragic twist when Scout disappears after taking a boat, leaving Annie to confront the reality of their relationship and her own liberation. The narrative delves into issues of love, dependency, and the harsh truths of personal transformation.
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All Shall Love Me and Despair by Jean Thompson
First published: 1995
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: The late twentieth century
Locale: The Oregon coast
Principal Characters:
Edward , a twenty-year-old Chicagoan nicknamed ScoutAnnie , his girlfriend, also from ChicagoPhil , their neighbor in OregonAce , a drug dealer
The Story
A young couple leaves Chicago to begin life anew on the Oregon coast. The twenty-year-old man, whose real name is Edward but is called Scout, is hooked on drugs. He and his girlfriend, twenty-one-year-old Annie, head west. Scout, who in his twenty years has never seen the ocean, is ill during most of the trip, and Annie does all the driving.
On the trip, Scout exists on milk, milk shakes, and jelly doughnuts, but eating makes him nauseated. He frequently throws up, filling the car with the wretched, sour smell of vomit. At one point, Annie pulls into a service station and gets him to freshen up in the rest room. She considers leaving him there and continuing the trip herself, reasoning that someone would surely come along to help him. She thinks better of this, however, and they continue their journey.
Scout is experiencing withdrawal symptoms, which explains his illness. He certainly is hooked on drugs. Reading between the lines, one finds strong indications that Annie has persuaded him to leave Chicago to wean himself from the drugs on which he depends. When the story opens, the two have been in Oregon for two months, and Scout is shooting up. If his motive for moving was to rid himself of his addiction, his efforts have failed. Annie, afraid of drugs, does not join Scout in his illicit drug activities.
Annie does not consider herself pretty. She values Scout because he does not much care about people's faces. When the two of them lived in Chicago, they frequently walked to Belmont Harbor on cold winter days and watched the boats bobbing about in the marina on Lake Michigan, a body of water Scout considers a fraud. Why sail on a lake that cannot take one anywhere? It is far more sensible to sail on an ocean, he argues.
Annie does not share Scout's disdain for the lake, which she considers bottomless and shoreless. She will, however, not disagree openly with Scout, whom she considers the most intelligent person she knows. Rather, she makes small noises in her throat as her response when he rants on stupidly, rationalizing that even intelligent people sometimes say stupid things.
When Scout is high on drugs, he turns silent, giving the impression that he is contemplating profundities. At times like this, Annie sometimes is tempted to take drugs herself to keep from being lonely, but she never succumbs to this temptation. She thinks that Scout appreciates her abstinence, that he needs to have something to withhold from her. Yet she sometimes feels guilty about not sharing the drug experience with the man she loves.
Scout and Annie walk the Oregon beach. Scout goes out into the frigid Pacific, which frightens Annie, precisely as he intends. At this point, Annie has an epiphany: Despite their long journey, they are the same people they were but are merely in a new place. The hovel they inhabited in Chicago, with its smell of gas and sugar, has now been replaced by a converted garage closer to the highway than the beach. However, they are the same people; Scout has not kicked his habit.
Mysterious telephone calls come in constantly when Scout is not there, frightening Annie. Then Ace, a drug dealer, appears, and Scout tells Annie he owes Ace a large sum and tries to get her to help even accounts by going off with Ace.
Phil, their neighbor and only friend in Oregon, works filling vending machines with soft drinks and gets stoned every morning before going to work. Phil's brother owns the Lazy Day, an eighteen-foot boat that Phil takes Annie and Scout to see. He suggests they take it out, but the idea scares Scout. Annie demurs, saying it is not much of a boat.
In the end, Annie realizes that she is no longer in love with Scout. She packs her things and plans to leave but cannot. Shortly afterward, Phil comes to tell her that the Lazy Day is missing. Apparently Scout has taken it into the ocean and will never be seen again.