Ap Lit Post #5: Eating With the Marches

        Lately, I have been reading the novel March, by Geraldine Brooks. It is a story written about the father of the March family, who is absent for most of Little Women. I decided a good theme to write about in this post would be the effects of eating with certain people throughout the book. It may seem slightly random for a story about the Civil War, but the way I see it, it's a perfect topic for conversation. Foster named the second chapter of his literature guide book "Nice to Eat With You: Acts of Communion". As he explained, "Breaking bread together is an act of sharing and peace," (Foster 9). Normally, we eat with the people who are close to us, as well the people we are trying to be respectful or neighborly to. It's quite uncommon for two souls who hate each other with a burning passion to share a friendly dinner out of the blue. No, the meals throughout literature really do have their own purposes. Why else would the author go through the trouble of writing those difficult scenes in the first place?
        Within March, there are many scenes involving the consumption of food, but all of them are unique in their own ways. The first meal mentioned in the book takes place in a wealthy slave owner's home. Mr. Clement, the slave owner, treats young March to a fine dinner and allows him to stay there for a few weeks. March came there originally to trade books with this man and was treated with respect, and therefore invited to dine with the master of the house. Mr. Clement did not invite many people to dinner, even his son's manager - who was very familiar with the family. Therefore, it was seen as an honor for March to be treated with such respect. Of course, after a while, there was an incident with March trying to teach a young slave to read, and Mr. Clement soon discovered March's anti-slavery beliefs. Long story short, March was no longer allowed to dine with Mr. Clement. In fact, he was kicked off the premises of the Clement household.
        Later on in the novel, after a few years have passed, March meets a young women named Margaret Day, otherwise known as Marmee. He instantly feels a connection to her and gets to know her kind, humble self, through dinners with her and her brother - who March had known for a while already. Nothing much happens as he does not see her for a while. Then, while he is staying at a family called the Emersons' home, he is delighted as well as anxious to find that the two daughters of the Emerson family are good friends with Miss Day and had invited her to a very formal dinner with a few other respectful guests. At the dinner, Marmee arrives late, but is pleased to find March at the table and instantly acknowledges them. Even before the food is actually set down on the table however, Mr. Emerson and Marmee have a rather loud quarrel and Miss Day stomps away from the house, leaving March dazed and confused from seeing two very different sides of one women all in the course of a dinner party. Later that night, however, they find each other in the woods and talk about all of the problems of slavery and the terrible people who live in the world. If that dinner party had never happened, March and Marmee would most likely have never gotten to know each other - therefore preventing the existence of the four March daughters, erasing the entire story of Little Women. Quite mind boggling, isn't it?
        There are other points throughout the novel with less formal meals. At one point, March goes to a cotton plantation down south to teach the former slaves who work there how to read and write. While they are technically free men and women, their lives are anything but grand. Even on the first day March stays there, he finds a poor old man who has been banished to a hole for feeding one of the farm pigs to his family. March had been given a small ration of bread for his dinner, and he gives it to this man, seeing he is starving. There are other points in the novel as well where either March passes on his own food to others in need, or even when he is in need, and others supply precious food for him. This passing around of food truly shows the meaning of an act of communion - proving that food is shared between those who trust in each other and want to help each other for the sake of life.
        As you can see, there are many different forms of meals and acts of communion. Whether it be between two wealthy, respectful business owners, or two starving, impoverished workers, all of these meals have meaning.