Simple Gifts by Joanne Greenberg

First published: 1986

Type of work: Psychological realism

Themes: Social issues, family, and emotions

Time of work: The early 1980’s

Recommended Ages: 15-18

Locale: A farm on Croom Mountain near Bascom, Colorado

Principal Characters:

• Kate Fleuri, a fifteen-year-old girl who apologizes for her family, yet tries to keep their secrets
• Robert Luther Fleuri, her older brother, who takes much of the responsibility, but finds maturity
• Jane and Louise Fleuri, her younger sisters, each with a special talent, who remain somewhat aloof from the action
• Mary Beth and Akin Fleuri, her parents, who are judged retarded and weird
• Mr. Kelvin, the government agent through whom all blessings flow, or cease to flow
• One-Eye, the demanding, horribly scarred man who markets the “popscull” and knows the family secrets

The Story

The Fleuri family is slipping deeper into poverty on their mountain. The farm will not produce sufficient cash crops to keep things repaired. If it were not for the income from Daddy’s “popscull” (illegal whiskey) and the illegal herd of longhorns, the family would not have food. Their social status in Bascom has always been tenuous, to the dismay of Kate, who so wishes to be like normal folk.

Mr. Kelvin arrives on this scene with an offer from the government: turn the farm into an 1880’s retreat for wealthy visitors. All modern conveniences would have to be discarded (or at least hidden). Daddy takes some persuading, but Robert Luther and Kate see this proposal as the only possible way to save the farm. Mama dreams of lawn parties and Japanese lanterns; Louise scorns the idea without words, but Jane falls in love with Mr. Kelvin.

The main problem the family foresees is hiding the family secrets: the still, the longhorns, and Daddy’s sleeping fits. Yet the family members ingeniously work together and almost succeed. Their attempts to be authentic lead to illegal trapping and to killing deer out of season. Then Mama establishes “Anglus”: When she rings the farmbell at six each evening, all work stops for a moment of silent prayer.

The guests come and go in a variegated display of temperament, abilities, and problems. The first visitors enthusiastically take part in all activities; from that point, however, things begin to go downhill. Squeamish visitors, lazy children, and intolerant parents begin to rub off the glamour. Still, the project makes it through the first winter in spite of being snowed in.

When the thaw arrives, Mr. Kelvin appears along with the spring flowers. The family is proud to show him everything they have learned, but he ignores all their sacrifices and expresses horror at the illegal activities, especially the prayers. Now the Fleuris learn that “authentic” does not mean “real.”

The Van Houtons arrive: tough, authoritarian Dr. Richard, sex-starved Dorothy, and two pink, flabby daughters. In only one week Daddy’s fits are discovered and scrutinized, the longhorns get loose, Robert Luther loses his virginity, and the two girls consume as much popscull as they can until they are scared out of their wits by One-Eye.

In an effort to make up for the disastrous visits, Mama suggests a Fourth of July picnic for the whole community. Mr. Kelvin agrees, on condition that it not cost a thing. Plans proceed well, and the day arrives. By noon there are already more guests than the hundred the Fleuris had anticipated. Soon the crowd polarizes at each end of the field. One set holds signs such as “PRAYER—EVERY CHILD’S RIGHT,” while the other side proclaims “PROTECT THE FIRST AMENDMENT.” Soon the angry buzz takes on a humming sound; then a feeling like a throbbing breaks out, and longhorns stampede, running down the whole crowd. In a minute it is over, and people begin rising from the ground, checking to see whether they are really still alive. No one has been killed; cattle are very sure-footed.

This fiasco seems to spell the end to the project, what with lawsuits, threats of jail, Internal Revenue Service agents, and the like. The project has failed—or has it? Kate sums it up this way: “But we had gone back; we had been as clever and strong as those real pioneers. We had made it through summer and winter and hard visitors, and we had showed Bascom we could be more and do more than it ever thought we could.”

Context

The rollicking flow of the plot of Simple Gifts is unlike most of Joanne Greenberg’s books. Generally she deals with emotional distress, as in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (published under the pseudonym Hannah Green in 1964), or with handicaps such as blindness and deafness, as in Of Such Small Differences (1988). As in Simple Gifts, however, her characters always strive for normalcy and acceptance, experience rejection, yet emerge stronger and more self-reliant. Many of her short stories reflect the struggle of an underdog, whether pushed down by race, handicap, or family. Her characters are real and multidimensional. They may be the only one of “that kind” ever met by the reader, but identification is so strong that the insults heaped on the protagonists are taken personally.

Greenberg has the Fleuri family and their guests tell their own stories. This use of many points of view almost makes the book a collection of short stories. Yet each part is necessary for the whole story. This technique was often used by William Faulkner; reading Simple Gifts may make his style easier to understand.

Greenberg highlights a society torn between pride in scientific progress and a desire to return to the “good old days.” She shows flaws in each approach. Only the individual emerges with worth, and that is enough to make the struggle valuable.