Image Study

The image of the cranes is highly prevalent throughout the book. These cranes represent the innocence of nature and the way that it knows the truth even when people do not. They also represent the freedom that Mark longs for while he is confined to the rehabilitation center.

The town of Kearney in which the story takes place is "somewhere just like anywhere" (166). This is an important image to the story because it gives the reader the feeling that this story could happen to anyone anywhere and it isn't such a distant thing. It also sets up a background for the characters that helps to account for their various quirks.

The old barn house that Mark and Karin visit together is a turning poin for Mark's acceptance of Karin. "The barn is leaning hard to the right, like it'll ditch if it gets hit by a little microwave radiation" (369). However, despite its rundown appearance, it holds many childhood memories for them both. Due to this, when Mark reminices about the past with Karin there, he begins to think that she just might actually be his sister. This place was "some kind of paradise lost" (369) for them.

The image of the dark road at night is often mentioned in reference to Mark's accident. It's almost haunted look is an important element because of the way mystery surrounds the whole incident. Also, Mark talks about having scene a white pillar before he flipped his truck. The investigation of the tracks left on the road is all anyone has to go on to figure out what happened for nearly the entire book.

The End

The ending came as a complete surprise to me. Powers does a masterful job of creating and maintainting suspense and mystery that keeps the reader guessing through the entire story. At the end, everything is revealed so suddenly and in such a straight forward manner by the characters that it comes as a shock to the reader.

The one character that had seemed too innocent - and also too much of a small side character - to have had any major part in the story suddenly reveals that she was the one who caused Mark's accident. Barbara, the nurse's aide who was taking care of Mark, states that "she was in the road [and] he rolled his truck to keep from killing her" (438). Such bluntness jars Mark much the same way it does the reader and brings the truth to light for him.

After that, Powers leaves no loose ends dangling at the end of the story. He wraps things up in a way that brings a clear feeling of completeness to the book, while also providing for an openness that makes it more realistic by allowing the reader to feel that the lives of the characters will continue on even after the book ends. After the shock that Barabara gave to Mark, his mind is able to reorient itself and he finally acknowledges Karin as his sister. However, the doctors don't know if this will last. I believe that Powers ends like this on purpose in order to leave the reader with the feeling that the future is always unkown and nothing lasts forever.

Meaning of the Cranes

Cranes are referenced quite often throughout the book. Their life cycles and migratory patterns are described in detail. However, one particular instance finally reveals the connection between the cranes and the book.

Powers relates several legeends and myths related by Native Americans and other ancient civilizations concerning cranes. "All the humans revered Crane, the great orator. Where cranes gathered, their speech carried miles. The Aztecs called themselves the Crane People. One of the Anishinaabe clans was named the Cranes - Ajijak or Businassee - the Echo Makers" (181). It is from this story that Powers got the idea for the title of the book.

Many other groups all over the world (the Middle East, Japan, Australia, etc.) also had their own stories and legends concerning cranes. However, despite the fact that they all came from different cultures, there are some similarities in them that Powers takes to make a point in his story.

"Crane calls said exactly what they meant. Now we live in unclear echos. The turtledove, swallow, and the crane keep the time of their coming, says Jerimiah. Only people fail to recall the order of the Lord" (183). This is a common theme in the book about the way in which humans, while we consider ourselves to have the most highly evolved brains and to be the most intelligent creatures on Earth, are "probably... the only creatures who can have memories of things that never happened" (101) and who also forget things just as easily.

Mark's Situation

Mark's developing situation is highly interesting and, through Powers' descriptions, brings forth a great deal of emotion, partially because it is so foreign to most people.

After his car accident, Mark was in a coma due to head trauma. When he recovered, he was able to mostly return to normal aside from one thing, he felt that his his sister was actually just an imposter. Several minor doctor characters (first Hayes, and then Weber) identify this as being something called Capgras syndrome. Nearly the entire book is based around the affects of this disorder on both the victim and the people who know the victim.

Powers delves deep into the minds and thoughts of both Mark and his sister Karin, as well as one of the doctors, Gerald Weber. This method allows the reader to view the results of Capgras through personal views and a more medicallly distant view. Karin's thoughts on the situation tend to be full of pain and confusion. Powers uses strong words like "maelstrom", "depleted", and "wounded" (247) that invoke powerful emotions of grief and a sense of loss, even in readers who have never experienced such things before.

Mark's view often seems lighter, but also has a serious undertone to it. He comes up with all sorts of conspiracy theories to explain he presence of a "Kopy Karin" (278), and tires to solve the mystery his whole life has become (142). These theories range from being wild, irrational, and highly improbable - like Karin having come from "the...Arab terrorists [who] parachuted [her] in here" (112) - to slightly more reasonable theories of her being a temporary replacement that his "real" sister hired while she was trying to fix his truck (116). Such theories come as the only real source of amusement or comic relief in the story, but while they can be funny, when the reader realises that this is a real condition, it also brings with it a sense of horror that this can really happen to someone.

Weber, on the other hand is clinical and distant. He describes the syndrome in great detail in such a way that even people with no medical knowledge can understand what it is and its affects. By using Weber, Powers is able to make the situation more clear to readers and help them understand what is going on as the story progresses.

Themes from American Literature

A prominant theme from American literature, particularly from the romantic period is that nature is purer than humans and knows the truth of events and of people's hearts. This is also seen periodically throughout The Echo Maker.

From the beginning of the book, none of the people in the town seem to know exactly what happened to cause the accident Mark was in. No witnesses can be found to testify and only an anonymous note is discovered that is very vague and only mentions that whoever found Mark on the side of the road that night was led by God (26). As the story progresses, the mystery continues to deepen as everyone tries to find their own way to the answer.

However, through all of this, Powers talks about how the animals that pass through or live in the town know the truth of what happened. For instance, the cranes described in the first scene of the book eventually leave town to continue their migration and it is said that "the only witnesses disappear" (97).

Also, due to Mark's mental condition after the accident, he can't connect emotionally with his sister or with his dog Blackie (the two "people" who were closest to him before) and believes them to be imposters. While he maintains distance between himself and his sister, he allows himself to get closer to the dog again and forgives it saying that it is innocent, and that "certain humans were just using it" (86).

Other instances of the truth and purity of nature are abundant paritcularly in scenes with Daniel. Daniel finds comfort in nature and tries to use it to bring comfort to others. He tells Karin that "after you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on - have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear - what remains? Nature remains" (76). In fact, even Mark goes to Daniel for a form of comfort in talking about the migratory cranes that they both have watched often ever since their childhoods, stating that "the birds can't mess it up any worse than we have" (392).

In all these ways, nature is displayed as having a deeper understanding of the truth of what happened in that town and a greater innocence and purity than those who live there.

Mark's Friends

Mark's friends, while not main characters, are important in their supporting roles. Also, they all have rather interesting personalities.

Daniel was Mark's best friend when he was a child. Daniel loves animals and nature far more than humans. He wishes for "people to be as selfless as they should be, humbled by the million supporting links that kept them alive, as generous with others as nature was with them" (54). Although he hasn't truly been friends with Mark since a falling-out they had in high school, he supports Karin and helps to keep her strong as she tries to nurse Mark back to health.

Tommy Rupp and Duane Cain are Mark's current "buddies". They were a part a group in high school "that would take him in because he passed the simple audition of failing to fit in anywhere else-the group of losers that freed him" (25). Both of these men are rather eccentric in nature such as the way Duane has "tattoos...of red muscles stung onto his hairless chest, as detailed and realistic as an anatomy text" (27). They also have a kind of "easy come, easy go" attitude where they easily brush off the concerns and anger of others. When they visit Mark in the hospital, they are always upbeat and act as though they are on a normal visit to hang out with their friend, just like before the accident. Mark always seems to make outstanding improvements whenever they come around, such as a boost in his mechanical movements by playing catch with them shortly after coming out of his coma.

Bonnie Travis is a close female friend of Mark's. Their relationship is rather unclear as in the past Mark had told Karin that "even if she was [his woman], she wouldn't realize it" (38). Bonnie is a generally perky and happy girl, who talks almost incessantly about anything and everything. She also does a lot to aid in Mark's recovery simply by talking to him and trying to get him to fill in parts of nursery rhymes and other little sayings, to spark his memory and help him reestablish connections to things he once knew. However, she also has an anxious and worried side that she shows to Karin. She "[tries her] hardest to be up"(41) in Mark's presence, but once she leaves his hospital room, she sometimes breaks down.

Each and every one of these characters is vital to the way that both Mark and his sister, as well as their relationship to each other, develop through the story. Their actions and interactions have profound affects on both of the main characters.

Rhetoric Study

"She didn't believe Mark had any syndrome. His mind was just sorting out the chaos of the injury. Every day left him more like his old self. A little patience, and the cloud would lift. He'd already come back from the dead; he would come back from this smaller loss. She was who she was; he'd have to see that, as he got clearer. She took the setback the way the therapists told her to, one baby step in front of the other. She worked on Mark, not pushing anything. She walked him down to the cafeteria. She answered his strange questions. She brought him copies of his two favorite truck-modding magazines. She encouraged and reinforced his memories, vaguely alluding to family history. But she had to pretend not to know too much about him. She tried once or twice; any claim of intimacy led immediately to trouble" (61).

Within this passage, Powers uses several rhetoric strategies to achieve a single, over-all effect.

The string of short sentences that starts off the paragraph serves to show Karin's state of denial towards Mark's condition. Because they are brief and to the point, they help to show how her thoughts are rushed and clumped together, just like a person who is frantically trying to deny something they don't want to believe.

Just following this are two metaphorical statements about how "the clouds will lift" and the way Mark had "already come back from the dead". These add to the impression of Karin's denial by reinforcing her hopes that Mark is and will be perfectly fine, despite what the doctors had told her about his mental condition.

Repetition is also included quite a bit in this section showing all of the things that she does for him and how she is trying everything to help him improve. Again, the repetition drives home the idea that Karin is determined to make Mark get better and disprove the doctor's statements.

This entire passage is used to display Karin's determination for helping her brother, while also showing the futility of her efforts and how her relationship with him remains unchanging, leading "immediately to trouble" when she makes an attempt.

Character Study

The two main characters in Richard Powers' The Echo Maker are the Schluter siblings, Karin and Mark.

Karin is ambitious and longs to escape the life she had in her small hometown. "She concentrated on saving herself, finishing her sociology degree, the first ever in a family that looke on college as a form of witchcraft" (25). However, when her brother is injured in a car accident, she reveals her true nature as someone who greatly cares for her family. She willingly gives up her current life and returns to that town in order to take care of him and help him recover his health. She is very strong on the outside and tells herself that "She could rise to this" (14) as she struggles to "get him on his feet, listen to him, help him find what he needed to be" (26). Despite this, she also has a weak side that needs someone who can support her. She becomes reaquainted with old friends who are still living in that town and "for her, seeing him meant the difference between bobbing and going under" (53).

Mark, on the other hand, seems to be unmotivated to truly do anything besides "hang with his friends. Go hear bands...Check for ground effects on eBay. Do vids. Watch TV. Run with the dog" and build up stats for a thief character he has online (65). He also cared a lot for his family, and although they live in different towns, he continues to keep in close contact with his sister. After his car accident he was in a coma due to closed-head trauma, and when he awakes, he seems to be slightly changed. He is infantile and has to be constantly taken care of in order to be restored to his former self. When he is finally back mentally to his previous level of intelligence, he suddenly believes that the woman taking care of him is not actually his sister and tells her that "there's something wrong with [her] head" (59). He thinks that there is a conspiracy preventing his "real" sister from coming to him and trained a copy to take her place. He becomes obsessed with this idea and is suspicious of everyone he ever knew.

Point of View

Most of the first section of the book is told from Karin's point of view. However, the story occasionally shifts to Mark's point of view. While Mark is in the process of recovering after his coma, the glimpses into his mind are very interesting.

Mark's thoughts are sometimes confusing to read and seem to be almost riddles that contain some hidden meaning for the reader to decipher. These passages are Mark's memories of the accident he was in as well as his thoughts as he struggles for consciousness and coherency. The events surrounding the car accident are a mystery to everyone, and even Mark's memories are described using such abstract images as " great oxbows, age bends, lazy delayed S, switch current to still as long as possible the one long drop it already finishes...Face forcing up into soundless scream. White column, lit in a river of light. Then pure terror, pealing into air, flipping and falling, anything but hit target" (10).

These descriptions are so jagged and give off the feeling of having been strung together that they do more to add to the ever growing mystery rather than clarify any part of it. By using such short and broken up sentences, the author is able to accurately depict to the reader the incompleteness of Mark's thoughts due to his head injury and make the reader wonder if even Mark really knows what happened to him. Slowly, the sections in Mark's point of view start to use more complete thoughts within the sentences which shows his path towards recover. Despite this, the mystery surrounding the accident continues as, with the recovery of his consciousness, Mark realizes that there is "something else he is supposed to remember. Something else to save someone. Desperate message" (34), but he can't quite grasp it. Almost as if his memories are like a dream that he can still feel below the surface of his thoughts, but which he can't quite remember.

Initial Reaction

The Echo Maker starts off with a vivid description about migratory cranes. Richard Powers goes into great detail in his images of the way countless numbers of cranes gather together to rest by the river at night before continuing their migration for the coming spring. His images are haunting and beautiful such as when he describes "the blood-red head bows and the wings sweep together, a cloaked priest giving benediction" (3).

"As darkness falls for real, it's a beginner's world again, the same evening as that day sixty million years ago when this migration began" (3-4). This and many of the other images are used to set the eerie and solemn tone that continues through the first several pages. They catch the reader's attention and hook them into the story.

Also, just following the description of the birds is a short section describing a car accident. This caught me by surprise because it was so sudden and it broke into the tranquility that had been established in the part about the cranes before returning to that sense of calm once again. That scene is short and abrupt and the diction is full of words such as "squeal", "crunch", and "scream" that greatly stand out in contrast to the smooth and flowing words used to talk about the cranes. But again, this sudden urgency and action is ended as quickly as it was started when the author returns to the former mood by stating that "by morning, that sound had never happened" (4).

All together, the opening scene creates a sense of mystery that evokes curiosity from the reader and draws them in, making them want to read more.