The section I have selected for my close reading consists of the last five sections of the Chapter ‘Empty Chair, Hanging from a Tree’, pages 162-169. We pick up the story with Clarissa’s first night out since she has been ill. She accompanies Henrik to a local bar with the intentions of seeking out her father from the locals, or at least finding someone who might be able to help her with this task. After realizing that this plan was a lost cause she requests a ride back with Henrik’s female cousin. “ ‘I’m going to go’ I said to Henrik and Karin. I didn’t know what I was doing at this bar. Dad was dead, my mother was raped, and the mayor was talking to my breasts. ‘I need to go’” This statement conveys a her loss of hope for the evening, she realizes that no one there could possibly help her, not even the mayor who would’ve known the most out of anyone. The line ‘Dad was dead’ conveys two important ideas, first that she is recognizing Richard as her father and secondly an idea that whatever she was looking to find could not be found. She was looking for a biological father but it was too late to find a real father, the only father figure she had or ever would have was gone. It almost sounds as though she gives up and excepts the situation for what it is, her ‘father’ was gone, her biological father was nothing but a rapist, and even if she wanted to look for him even the mayor would not be able to help.
When Clarissa and Karin walk out to her car she asks Karin where she could go to find out more about the Sami involved in the Alta Dam protests. At this point Clarissa is clinging on to anything, she is taking maters into her own hands to look for her biological father. Karin suggests the Sami Parliment , which needless to say spurs Clarissa’s next course of action to travel up to Karasjok. When Karin mentions that it is in Karasjok, Clarissa recalls that she had passed through karasjok. To understand the significance of this we must understand the circumstances under which this trip to Karasjok, on page 120. Clarissa had just found out about her mother’s rape and that Euro was not her biological father. She didn’t have any clues or anyone who could help her but she is determined to find her biological father so she boards a bus heading north and incidentally spends some time in Karasjok. This is important in two ways, first is that she arrives in Kararsjok each time with the same state of mind and by the same course of action. Both times she doesn’t really know what to do but she is trying anything to find some sort of clue. Secondly, she ends up there after the two biggest clues about her father are revealed. The first time is after she finds out that Euro is not her father and her real father was a rapist. The second time is directly after she first hears of her biological father, even though she doesn’t realize it.
“And her son, something was wrong with him.’ She touched her forehead and looked over at me. ‘I didn’t know she had a son.’”
Although Clarissa doesn’t know it yet this son is her biological father and this scene is when she to first told of his existence, even if she does not yet know the significance. This is interesting because all night she is looking for someone who could help her find her father. By now she has given up that idea and has taken matters into her own hands. She is now in the car with someone who could tell her everything she wants to know, someone who is her blood relative, the blood relative of her biological father but she doesn’t even know it.
In the next section it is morning and Clarissa prepares for her trip to Karasjok. “The was a bus to Karasjok that afternoon, but I didn’t want to wait. I was tired of buses...” The first time she was in Karasjok she was stuck there for two hours waiting for a bus, which may have subconscious implications for this present sediment. As she prepare to leave and states what she hopes to find there are clues to how worn out she is of this search, that maybe subconsciously she doesn’t really expect to find anything helpful. I think it’s interesting that her goal of visiting the Sami museum is to obtain a list of arrests during the protests. The only problem with this plan is that she knows her mother never filed a report, Euro told her this in the beginning, she knows that the rapist was not arrested. She is also very sloppy in her planning, she knows that last night when henrik took her out was a saturday and she notices Anna’s special apparel that morning and then her absence. She doesn’t make the connection that it is sunday even though all the signs are there, it’s like she just wants to get it over with and doesn’t care enough or doesn’t have enough energy to think it through.
On her ride there a very random scene is mentioned and although it doesn’t fit or seem meaningful it seems as though it should have deeper implications. “Outside the window, all was white. Flat snow-covered fields. In the distance, I saw a large shape hanging from a tree. A white plastic chair.” This scene is where the title of this chapter comes from, which means that it obviously has some significance to Clarissa, the author, the chapter or something. My interpretation is that hanging in the tree the chair has no purpose, it can not be used to sit in and although though it is not permanently broken it can not be used until it is removed from the tree. It is temporarily suspended in time and purpose. Just as Clarissa is stuck at this point in her life, she cannot move on and continue her life until this journey is completed. She’s not permanently broken, she will be able to continue life and living her purpose as soon as she is released from the tree but she does not have any control over when that will happen or how long it will take. The chair also had no say in the matter, it was placed in the tree by someone else, it didn’t decide to hang it’s self in the tree and it doesn’t particularly want to be there, but it is and it can not change that fact. This is parallel to Clarissa’s situation, what she is currently dealing with was not her chose but instead it was the results of others actions, such as her mothers and her biologicals fathers. Finally it mentions that the chair is white surrounded by flat snow-covered fields, thus to some degree it blends in with its surroundings, at least visually it is camouflaged. But at the same time it stands out, it it is a chair, hanging from a tree, that’s not natural or at least not in that capacity. This is similar to Clarissa herself in that physically she appears Sami and from a distance blends in with Sami people. However when she is examined closer she doesn’t fit, it’s unnatural and peculiar. Being an American is an obvious difference but it is more than this, if she where there under normal circumstances she would still be different but not so peculiar and out of place. Just like if the chair where not hanging in the tree, the chair is different from it’s surroundings but what makes it peculiar is it’s situation, the fact that it’s hang from a tree. The situation which lead her to lapland and the story behind why she remains there is what makes her different.
I skip now to the last three paragraphs of section five, where Clarissa has been dropped off in the parking lot of a shopping centre after her attempt at the Sami Parliment had failed. “They walked into the grocery store and I was left in the parking lot, among the running cars.” This situation is parallel to her mother leaving her at a shopping centre. The parking lot of running cars symbolizes her watching other people live, she was a spectator in her life, watching and confused. “I could get into any one of the cars and take off. I would drive a Ford, I decided, nothing obvious. I walked up to the window of the red one. The keys were in the ignition, the door unlocked. Discreetly, I looked around. No was watching me. The lot was empty of people, all herded in by the cold.” Once again this scene symbolizes the reoccurring theme of running away from life, and wanting to just jump into a new life and run away. More specifically she wanted to take the Ford because she said it wouldn’t be obvious but yet she picks the red one, like subconsciously she wants someone to notice. “ I would get in the car, pick up Henrik, and we would drive to his island in the west. Or to Russia. Together we would raise this child.” The main idea is that she doesn’t want to raise the child by herself, this feeling is also what her mother experienced. This sheds light on her mother and fathers relationship, they married in a living room, perhaps the only reason she married was because she didn’t want to raise the by herself, not necessarily because because she loved him.
