Explication of Obstacles to Love in The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys

The situation I have chosen from Polti's Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations is Obstacles to Love. This situation is apparent in The Lost Garden, a novel by Helen Humphreys as the main character falls for a soldier but is unable to engage in a relationship.

Gwen Davis befriends a Canadian soldier named Captain Raley at the beginning of the novel, and as it progresses so does their relationship. They grow closer when they share their feelings and past experiences that has caused them pain. In order to show Raley that she cares for him she purchases a tree that he recalled from his memories of Toronto. Gwen as the narrator says, "Raley wants to plant the magnolia so that he can see it from his room at Mosel. We dig the hole at the front of the house, right under his window. Raley does most of the work of digging, leaning hard into the shovel with the full weight of his body"(121).

Their relationship soon grows into something that much more complicated and unattainable. This brings me to the dramatic situation I have chosen for this novel, obstacles to love. This as you may already have assumed consists of two lovers, and one obstacle that prevents them from loving each other to their full potential. "“Gwen,” says Raley. I can feel the tension in his body, can feel the sweat from his hands through my shirt. “My friend who died. Peter. He wasn’t just my friend. He was my lover. We have been, had been, lovers since we were young. I’ve tried, while I've been here at Mosel, I’ve tried to get over it. But I can’t. There is nothing else for me”(197). After reading page 197 I believe she felt betrayed or even stupid as to believe Raley cared for her the same she did for him. But she does continue to care for him despite what he has just told her.

As Gwen cares for Raley, I believe she would want him to be happy, but at the same time she is pained. Before Raley informed her of his sexual orientation, she had been trying to comfort him on going into war. The comfort lead to the sharing of kisses, Gwen feels so much passion in the moment that, "[she] say[s] what [she] feel[s] but [was] never never meant to utter... "“I love you,” I say" (196). Most people have known the feeling of putting yourself out there, in this position. It feels as if the world has stopped, as if you can't breathe until you get the answer you're hoping for. But what if you don't receive the answer that you wanted to hear? It feels as if your world like you know it has ended. You have told the person you desperately care for that you do, only to be rejected, creating an awkward environment for yourselves every time you see them after that. Gwen experiences this and it tears her apart.

Raley leaves that night saying "“I’m sorry... I never meant to hurt you”"(197). Gwen then dwells on this event for the following years believing, " if only I hadn’t said those words we would have been lovers that night"(197). Although the previous quote shows me she regrets telling him how she felt, I personally believe it was necessary. Humphreys writes: "I touch his lips, gently, so gently, and then I kiss him. I kiss him and he lets me. Then he kisses me back. We push against each other and topple off the bench onto the grass... He kisses me and I feel as if I have never breathed before now" (195-196). This quotation shows Gwen cared strongly for Raley for she wouldn't have said it felt like she had never breathed before the moment they shared if she hadn't. If you were to feel that strongly for someone you would most likely want to take chance if you thought it could end with your happiness.

As mentioned previously, this did tear Gwen apart as one of the greatest loves she has ever known has turned out to be one she misread and although you may have been led to believe she regretted sharing her feelings there is also proof that they carried on. Before he leaves to go to the battle front she gives him her favourite book, one that she had memorized because she has read it so often, To The Lighthouse by Virgina Woolfe. " I rush up... and thrust the book into his hands. We don't speak... The car drives off. I stand on the driveway, long after the car is down the hill and gone. Past the stream and through the village. Long after it has turned into the entrance to the station. In some measure, I am always standing watching the car with Raley in it drive away. I am always there. Even now" (201).

After the war, Gwen stays at Mosel where throughout her life was the one place that felt like home. She recalls Raley as one would remember a loved one, "Raley was killed at Dieppe in 1942, but the tree Raley and I planted continues to grow. Every spring it loses its fragrance to the earth in one reckless gesture, like a young boy standing at the rail of the ship and saying to his friend-Let us take our coats off and throw them in the sea" (210). This is the story that Raley shared with her one night, his friend was his lover, and this was what she remembered. Her love, and her lover's love.

In conclusion, of Polti's Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations, Obstacles to Love was the situation that agreed with the events that played out in the pages of Helen Humphreys' novel, The Lost Garden.

"Dead flowers hold their fragrance. That is one truth. Sometimes our passion is our ruin. That is another" (209).