Writers have tackled the theme of tragedy and loss for as long as there was literature itself, contemplating the many different aspects of this hard yet omnipresent experience. In this respect, Alice Elliot Dark’s “In the Gloaming” is hardly a ground-breaker, as it is definitely not the first piece of literature concerned with losing a dearly loved member of one’s family. Yet the sheer prevalence of this topic across the world’s literature brings forth a justifiable question of why the authors return to the topic of loss time and again. While it would be hard to offer a single overreaching explanation, the obvious answer is that loss is a highly universal experience that everyone has in their lives. Yet, more importantly, Dark suggests that the tragic loss is also a transformative experience allowing the people to reconsider their life choices and views of the world, although in a painful way. It is the fear of the inevitable loss that allows the characters of “In the Gloaming” to finally perceive each other as persons rather than social functions and transform their view of each other.
When discussing the author’s choice of topic, a reasonable assumption to proceed with is the authors select the themes that they feel should resonate with their intended audience. It certainly applies to the prominence of tragic loss in the culture in general and literature specifically because it would be hard to find a phenomenon invoking a greater reaction from a larger audience. First of all, the loss of something dear invokes a strong emotional response, making it more likely that the audience would empathize with the text. Secondly, people experience it “in many situations in which something perceived as of value is lost,” from relationship breakdown to a person’s death, which means that loss is a highly universal experience (Murray 219). In other words, it would be hard to find a person who had never lost something or someone, and, in most of these cases, the loss would be associated with a strong emotional reaction. From this perspective, it is only natural that the authors explore the theme of tragedy and loss that resonates so strongly with a great number of people.
That being said, there are many ways to represent loss in a piece of literature – and Dark’s “In the Gloaming” represents it as a traumatic yet transformative experience. The short story covers the mother Janet taking care of her thirty-three-year-old son Laird, who is slowly dying of AIDS. There is little, if any, medical possibility that he would ever get better, and the idea of the inexorable and inevitable loss of a loved one dominates the narrative in its entirety. However, this new state of things allows the characters to get to know each other better and from the sides they did not consider previously. Laird’s mere presence “changes the structure of the family and the meaning of its roles,” especially how it pertains to the son-mother relationship (Pearl 258). Interestingly, this development is fully consistent with how psychological science views the experience of loss. According to Murray, tragic losses may “require people to undertake a major revision of their assumptions about the world,” which certainly includes their perceptions of each other (220). Thus, “In the Gloaming” uses loss as a vehicle for personal transformation and development.
At the beginning of the story, the characters hardly perceive each other through anything but their family roles. Janet’s husband Martin spends most of his time at work, putting bread on the table as an archetypical provider, and barely participates in family affairs at all. It goes so far that he becomes “a character of [Janet’s] invention” – more of a theoretical concept corresponding to a social role rather than a person. Similarly, Janet does all the work related to the children’s upbringing as an exemplary wife, mother, and caretaker in an American household. Yet these activities do not translate to a better knowledge of her son – if anything, at the beginning of the story, his image in Janet’s mind is as schematic as Martin’s. For instance, even the fact that Laird is gay still puzzles her, and she is surprised that he is “not interested in girls” (Dark 89). Janet is not homophobic – she simply perceives Laird through his family role of a son, and, as a boy, it is proper for him to like girls. Thus, the characters perceive each other as family functions rather than persons.
The sense of impending loss changes these attitudes and prompts the characters to learn more about each other as actual people rather than merely social functions. It all starts with Laird’s insistence on learning more about his mother’s interests and personal preferences. Initially, Janet is hesitant and retaliates that “the only extraordinary thing about [her] is [her] children” (Dark 89). She is so used to think of herself in terms of her social role as a mother that she is tempted to reject this attempt to learn about her as a person. Yet Laird’s questions, starting with the mundane things such as what authors she likes or what kinds of books she reads, eventually win her over. In this respect, Laird’s inquiries “draw out his mother as an individual that he may not have recognized before” (Pearl 258). Through this fleshing out, she becomes more than an abstract caretaker and an archetypical housewife-mother that she and others got used to seeing her as. Laird’s understanding that he will soon lose his last opportunity to get to know his mother prompts him to use this chance and understand Janet as a person.
Similarly, the feeling of impending tragic loss motivates Janet to learn more about her dying son and understand him as well. As mentioned above, she barely knows anything important about Laird at the beginning of the story – even something as fundamental as his sexual orientation is puzzling to her. Yet Janet soon decides to “let go of these old notions” and get to know the actual Laird as a person rather than a set of her own preconceptions (Dark 89). Understanding that she will lose her son soon, she dedicates the rest of her time with him to learn as much about him as possible. It does not mean that she accepts anything and everything about Laird gladly – as she notes herself, many things about him still remain foreign to her (Dark 89). Yet this admission itself demonstrates her willingness to know Laird as a real person with interests and habits, virtues and shortcomings, rather than a schematized and idealized perception. As a result, the two characters frantically try to learn more about each other and, for the first time, see each other as people rather than family roles.
The impending loss affects event the story’s most detached character – Laird’s father, Martin. As mentioned above, he never really participated in his son’s upbringing, just like he never helps Janet with caretaking after Laird moves in. However, even he is eventually moved to get to know his son better, even though this transformation occurs when it is already too late. After Laird’s death, he asks Janet: “Please tell me – what else did my boy like?” (Dark 95). Martin might have never used the opportunity to talk to Laird himself about it, but, at the very least, he decides to learn more about him when the loss has already happened. This decision, which is also the concluding phrase of the story, sums up Dark’s use of tragedy and loss as a theme in “In the Gloaming.” Traumatic and tragic as it is, the loss of a loved one may become a transformative experience that finally prompts people to get to know each other as persons rather than family roles.
To summarize, “In the Gloaming” uses tragedy and loss to demonstrate how even the most detached people can be moved to get to know each other better. At the beginning of the story, Janet, her dying son Laird, and her husband Martin barely perceive each other as anything but family roles and associated social functions. Yet the sense of loss prompts all of them – even the stoic and detached Martin – to get to know each other as persons. As a result, the tragic loss proves to be a painful yet transformative experience that brings out the people’s will to gain a better understanding of those around them.
Works Cited
Dark, Alice Elliot. “In the Gloaming.” The New Yorker, 1993, pp. 88-95.
Murray, Judith A. “Loss as a Universal Concept: Review of the Literature to Identify Common Aspects of Loss in Diverse Situations.” Journal of Loss and Trauma, vol. 6, no. 3, 2001, pp. 219-241.
Pearl, Monica B. “American Grief: The AIDS Quilt and Texts of Witness.” Gramma: Journal of Theory and Criticism, vol. 16, 2008, pp. 251-272.