51 pages • 1 hour read
Paul HardingThis Other Eden
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Pages 1-57Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1, Pages 1-57 Summary
Content Warning: This guide includes depictions of racism, discrimination, forced eviction, eugenics, nonconsensual relationships, and rape.
In 1793, Benjamin Honey, a formerly enslaved man, and his Irish wife, Patience, settle off the coast of Maine. Benjamin is an experienced carpenter who seeks to establish his own “Garden of Eden” on the island. He collects apple seeds and sets out to grow an orchard on the island to honor a memory of his mother. He collects more seeds and advice as payment for work on the mainland before successfully growing an orchard. There, he feels his mother’s presence, thus naming the island Apple Island.
In 1911, 119 years later, Esther Honey, Benjamin and Patience’s great-granddaughter, sits with her own son, Eha, and three grandchildren, Ethan, Tabitha, and Charlotte, on the first day of spring. She tells the story of the hurricane of 1815. There were then nearly 30 people on the island, but a giant storm swept over the island, washing away structures and families alike. Benjamin and Patience escaped with their children and grandchildren. Benjamin directed them to the Penobscot pine, the tallest tree on the island. On their way out of the house, Patience grabbed a makeshift flag she stitched together for Benjamin. The Honeys climb the tree, but the water continues to rise. Patience reaches her arm up past the water with the flag in her hand. When the water reaches the flag, it recedes. Patience, Benjamin, and one grandchild survive the flood. Benjamin laments the loss of his children, his apple trees, and his connection to his mother.
On Apple Island, the Honeys, McDermotts, and Larks live on the north end of the island, while Annie Parker and Zachary Hand to God Proverbs live alone on the south side. Theophilus and Candace Lark are likely cousins or siblings, sharing four children. Theo wears his mother’s apron, tending to the children and housekeeping, while Candace fishes and provides for the family. The children are sickly, short-sighted, and prone to dangerous behavior, such as wading into the water of the channel with no knowledge of swimming.
The McDermott sisters, Iris and Violet, are in their forties and take in the washing from the mainland for money. Neither are married, but the sisters care for Norma, Scotty, and Emily Sockalexis, whose mother abandoned them.
Zachary Hand to God Proverbs came to the island as a young man in 1866 and lives in a tree where he carves scenes from the Bible into the interior of the trunk. His sisters, and even the various island children, try to rouse him from his tree, but he rarely leaves. Elsewhere on the island, three dogs—Grizzly, Fitzy, and Sulky— roam.
Outside of the islanders, the only other resident is Matthew Diamond, who arrives every June, coordinating with the relief society, teaching the children, and preaching sermons. Esther distrusts Matthew, who reminds her of her father, who was also white. When she was younger, her sister, who could pass as white, fled the island, and her father replaced Esther’s mother with Esther, raping her. Esther distrusts the mainland attention Matthew brings, believing it spells doom for the island.
An excerpt from an article on the first international congress on eugenics announces Major Leonard Darwin’s, the son of Charles Darwin, warnings about interfering with nature’s evolutionary process. Foxden, the town across the channel, views this as a warning about Apple Island, prompting consideration for action against the “problem children.”
Matthew Diamond sits up at night remembering a letter he wrote to his friend, Thomas Hale, after his first time on Apple Island and his repulsion toward people of color. Diamond occasionally stays in the school house and though he is wary of the island’s adults, he likes the children, finding many of them gifted. He is shocked that Esther can read and occasionally discusses the Bible and Shakespeare with her.
That summer, a committee from the Governor’s Council arrives with a journalist, photographer, and members of the Section on Eugenics in the American Breeders’ Association to study the islanders. They visit the McDermott sisters and the Sockalexis kids, measuring their heads with calipers through force. The group also treats the Honeys poorly, especially Eha. After observing, Matthew realizes how dehumanizing the visit is for the islanders.
The following week, an article that exposes the “degenerative” nature of the island’s residents and praises Matthew Diamond is released. The article announces that some residents will be made wards of the state and confined to state facilities. Two weeks later, the photographer sends framed pictures of the students to Matthew.
A month later, the general store in Foxden makes lewd postcards from the photographs. The photographer is appalled and tries to remove them from the public.
Part 1, Pages 1-57 Analysis
Part 1 establishes the characters of the novel and introduces the community on Apple Island—a small number of families that can trace their roots back to the early days of the settlement. Additionally, this early section introduces the conflict of the plot: the coming eviction of the islanders at the hands of the Maine government. Therefore, not only are the characters introduced and their personalities and intricacies developed, but the judgmental and dangerous gaze of the mainland is established as the greatest threat to their peace and autonomy. Further, Matthew Diamond is positioned as a character who, despite his wish to help the community, and the children in particular, facilitates this scrutiny and harm by acting as the sole outsider permitted on the island.
The people on the island are a small, tight-knit, diverse racial community founded by a formerly enslaved man and his Irish wife: The island and its inhabitants are, therefore, a lasting embodiment of Family Legacy Across Generations. The diversity of the community and their ancestors is central to Apple Island’s identity, but it is a primary concern for the mainlanders, who view the islanders through the lens of social Darwinism and eugenics. However, on Apple Island, stories and lullabies passed down through generations, as well the trauma and guidance of elders, impact the actions and beliefs of their descendants, highlighting the power of family legacy within this community. The island is impoverished and small, but family legacy is displayed through the reuse of tools and clothes from the islanders’ forebears. Zachary Hand to God Proverbs uses Benjamin Honey’s carpentry tools, and Theophilus Lark’s wardrobe comprises his family’s hand-me-downs: “He wore a threadbare gingham dress and an old, dirt- and oil-stained apron […] The dress had been his mother’s, the apron his grandfather’s” (26). Theo wears both his mother and grandfather’s clothes, keeping their legacy alive in his physical appearance. Moreover, he takes on the responsibility of keeping house, like his mother did before him, thus preserving her legacy. Both Theo and his sister Candace subvert gender norms, with Theo taking on domestic responsibilities and Candace focusing on fishing and providing for the family. This subversion and willingness to live outside of societal norms is a continuation of Apple Island’s unique autonomy and just one of the reasons that the government seeks to destroy the community. Though the island and the eviction of its community is based on real historical events, Apple Island represents an untraditionally American way of life that emphasizes community, self-reliance, and a use of available resources. On the mainland, the island is viewed not only as an affront to whiteness but also as a potential threat to tourism, and therefore, capitalism. As such, the mainlanders are not only a hostile other; they are also the complete opposites of the islanders, serving as a foil with opposing values and ways of life.
When the government visits Apple Island, the members of the group are quick to criticize, judge, and stereotype the islanders, demonstrating Government Interference in Marginalized Communities. These government officials see an impoverished community with health risks, incestuous relationships, and multiracial families, causing fear, discomfort, and anger. The Apple Island community lives outside of expected societal norms in many ways, but the fact that the families have ancestors from many different parts of the world specifically angers the mainland. Esther understands the danger of outside attention, knowing that if the government turns its attention to the island, changes will come. Indeed, she has long distrusted Matthew Diamond, believing his help can only lead to danger. While Matthew Diamond wants to help the islanders improve their lives and communities, he invites Government Interference in Marginalized Communities, as well as modeling white superiority and saviorhood, as he believes that the community needs to be fixed by him. Further, after the first international congress on eugenics, the people across the channel begin the process of courting government intervention. The poverty, racial diversity, and autonomy of the community angers the people across the channel, and rather than help the community, as Matthew believes he does, the government seeks to destroy it and erase any evidence that it even existed. Within a lens of eugenics, this community has been allowed to thrive unchecked for too long, and the mainland community views their differences as proof of their inferiority.
Art is an important aspect of This Other Eden, with multiple characters identifying as artists, thus demonstrating the theme of Art as Personal Expression. Further, these characters use their art to process the world around them, even when it takes a painful turn, and shape their worldviews. In the opening of the novel, Zachary Hand to God Proverbs is introduced as a carpenter and carver, with a tree as his masterpiece. He lies inside the tree and carves its interior with scenes from the Bible. Zachary spends most of his time in the tree, working on his carvings, and he finds them helpful for meditating. He makes the carvings smaller to save space and focuses on carving his favorite and most personally meaningful scenes from the Bible; through his art, Zachary is a part of the tree, which is a part of the island, thus foreshadowing the severity of the looming eviction, which will tear apart families and displace the entire community.
Additionally, the visitors conducting the inspection do so in hostile, cold ways, even revealing a gun in order to force the McDermott sisters into allowing a physical examination, which further foreshadows coming violence. When the photographs of the islanders are later made into hateful propaganda, the photographer attempts to stop their circulation, but the overall attitude of disgust and intolerance captures the primary view of the mainlanders: The inhabitants of Apple Island must be separated in order to stop any further growth or “breeding.” While Matthew Diamond sought to help the islanders, this once out-of-sight community has been propelled into mainstream dialogue through a lens of eugenics because of his entry to the island. This section closes with an air of tension, as this initial visit can only mean that more outsiders are coming to separate the community and erase any evidence of their existence.
