Beyond abject grief, what do you think of the reaction of the Enholm family and the Wiley community to the accident that claims the lives of their loved ones? Did anything about it surprise you?
I had a hard time understanding why they felt that someone (other than the driver of the car) was at fault. Yes they were on a road that they might not normally have been on, but to think that the black family that lived there had something to do with it was about as racist as it gets.
I felt like I learned more about the women, except Joan, after the accident than before. They clearly were well-loved but no one seemed overly grief stricken and I was surprised that there was no mention of who would care for all the children. Only the other hand I remember this story was narrated by Billy.
The community seems to fall into patterns of silence or ritual rather than open emotional processing.
With so many lives lost at one time and under seemingly confusing conditions, the reactions of the community seemed “normal” for that time. As I recall similar, yet not as drastic yet deadly accidents from my childhood, the adults were always searching for reasons and definitely wanted to know who was driving! Any alcohol? How were the marriages?
Suggesting that the black family had something to do with accident wasn’t necessary, and yes, racist. So why did the author include this suggestion from various minor characters? Might Hardinger think this scenario was one that could have been realistically considered among the families and neighbors? They didn’t seem to consider Clayton and yet…
I thought it was a pretty normal reaction from a community that lost so many members at once. People always want to find a reason and discussing it helps them process their loss. There are almost always people who think they know what must have happened like the one who thought a couple was divorcing so it must be the husband. How did seven women fit it that car?
I was a little surprised that the author didn’t spend more time on this. I didn’t really think the reactions were unusual. In my experience, people do speculate about what is unknown when something like this tragedy happens.
I think the Enholm family had predictable reactions to the crash. These people, while grieving, do not seem to show emotions outwardly. While they were inwardly devastated, their insistence that “someone knows what really happened to cause the crash” is their way of processing their grief. If they can find that answer, they will not be left with the truth–that the driver accelerated to a very fast speed very quickly and they will never know why.
It was hard for them that they did not know the whole story. Confusing for them as to why the loved ones were on the road leading to no where. I think we all want to the why someone has died.
I wasn’t surprised at all at the community’s reaction. Human nature demands an explanation for tragic events and people look for someone to blame. When they can’t figure out what happened they come up with something and often proceed to assign blame. I was really surprised at the scenes of the husband of one of the victims taking phone calls on a local radio station show. That came across as really grubby and attention-seeking to me. It also didn’t ring true. I am 73years old and grew up and still live in Kansas and honestly had never heard of anything like that.