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am in a state of categorical unbelief. I don‟t even believe God doesn‟t exist, if you see what I mean.” (Robinson, 2004: 167) Della thinks she could rescue Jack and her husband do change a lot under her influence. Third, despite the segregation in St. Louis, Jack and Della “married in the presence of God” without a certificate, cohabited and had children, which was actually a violation of social taboos. Last but not least, they belong to different races, and to Jack‟s disappointment, Gilead, a small town in Iowa, is the shining star of radicalism, where it is legal for them to get married, but no longer suitable for them to live an untroubled interracial family life because all the blacks have moved away and the black church has been deserted. Besides, old Boughton is feeble and Jack is worried that this thing will kill his father. 

Chapter Two A Harmonious Family Lost and Regained

1. Emotion Trigger: the Broken of a Harmonious Family

The reason why Ames treasured his family is that he once possessed a happy family, lived alone and had dreamed of having a family of his own for decades. Now he is not far from death and is reluctant to be separated from his dearest wife and beloved son. Ames began his reminiscence while writing about things that a father wanted his son to know. He was born in a priest family in Kansas in 1880. He is 76 years old and lived in Gilead, Iowa, two years ago. His parents left Gilead for the Gulf Coast to get away from its ferocious climate where his older brother Edward built a house for them, but “they never did come back, except twice to visit”. (Robinson, 2004: 178) Ames also tells his son about the history of his romance so he cannot get around to speak up his once possessed family. He married Louisa during that time, a girl with whom he grew up together. Their marriage did not last long because Louisa and their baby Angeline both died in childbirth. Ames only held his daughter for a few minutes which he cherished her so much and took her as a blessing to him. It might be the first turning point of Ames‟ life for his last close kin had left him alone after his parent and older brother moved away from Gilead. Louisa was his childhood playmate and had been accompanied him nearly a decade. The scenes that Louisa skipped rope and baby Angeline‟ face kept coming back as flashbacks in many years.  In his lonely days, he was wondered about what it will mean to him when Louisa and Angeline restored to him after he died. Actually Ames didn‟t mention a lot of his lonely and dark pastor‟s life for decades but it is not difficult to feel his misery through the narration. 

2. A Long Journey of Understanding Love

But what did it mean to Ames when he said “this world” after he lost his wife and daughter at a very young age, and lived alone for decades? How did he make it through? Did he fulfill it? As mentioned in the part above, it was his books, baseball, sermons and the best friend Boughton, all of which have things to do with his holy vocation. Ames himself also admits that he did the same as Paul the apostle did—dedicating one‟s whole life to God with the thorn, but his dream of a happy family will never be fulfilled. “Attachments in the material world are fleeting. Life is necessarily lonely and that loneliness can only be extinguished by an attachment that is not eph本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。