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.