Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2009

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-13

Chapters 14-17

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Symbols & Motifs

William Blake

William Blake (1757-1827) was a British poet, mystic, and artist whose work never achieved prominence during his lifetime. In the centuries since, he has come to be viewed as one of Britain’s greatest writers. Blake permeates the book from start to finish. The novel’s title is taken from his “Proverbs of Hell,” originally published as part of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Each chapter of the Tokarczuk novel begins with a short Blake quotation from “Proverbs of Hell,” “Auguries of Innocence,” “The Mental Traveller,” and his personal letters. Throughout much of the story, Janina and Dizzy are involved in translating Blake’s works into Polish.

Blake’s writings offer a particularly appropriate recurring motif in the novel since his life and words support all three of the book’s themes. He was himself something of a misfit. A few of his contemporaries were convinced that he suffered from mental problems. In that respect, Blake would have fit right into Janina’s circle of friends. He also shared her respect for all forms of life and frequently noted the unity of the cosmos. “To see a world in a grain of sand” is one of his more famous lines. His capacity to see unity where others saw only difference allowed him to exhibit the same reverence for all forms of life that Janina displays. During his lifetime, Blake railed against the hypocrisy of organized religion in much the same way that Janina does during the Saint Hubert’s dedication ceremony.

Most significant of all is the degree to which Blake’s visionary work placed him far ahead of his time. In this respect, Janina parallels him as well. While her small country village finds her animal rights stance absurd, the larger world currently seems to be coming around to her perspective. Sadly, all prophets need to wait for the world to catch up with them. Janina’s crimes might be considered praiseworthy in another 100 years.

Astrology

Astrology is a symbolic system of correspondences and is also a significant symbol in the novel, reinforcing the theme of the connectedness of all life. The stars guide Janina’s life, and she works very hard to make her belief in astrology fit the facts. Even though the reader eventually learns that Janina herself is responsible for all the murders in the village, she calculates the birth charts of her victims and explains the circumstances of their deaths within the matrix of astrology, which may be a way of absolving herself of guilt for their demise. If one follows her line of reasoning, the stars predicted the date on which each hunter would die. Janina is simply acting as an instrument of destiny.

Astrology also offers a convenient cover for Janina’s lethal activities. By writing multiple letters to the police that blame the stars for the murders, she is likely to be viewed as a harmless crank by the authorities. This perception of Janina’s character reinforces the book’s third theme about the function of misfits. Those who are odd will be ignored by the rest of society. Quite possibly, Janina is aware of the reaction she will receive from the police. They will ignore her, thus allowing her to pursue her vendetta against the rest of the hunters unhampered by scrutiny.

A quote from Blake makes one perceptive observation about an astrologer obsessed with reading the future. This pursuit can be viewed as a form of self-delusion. Dizzy leaves this passage for Janina to read:

The Man who can Read the Stars often is oppressed by their Influence, no less than the Newtonian who reads Not & cannot Read is oppressed by his own Reasonings & Experiments. We are all subject to Error: Who shall say that we are not all subject to Crime? (268).

Pulpits

The word “pulpit” usually refers to an elevated platform from which a religious leader delivers a sermon. However, the word is also used in another context in the novel to refer to the elevated blinds that hunters use to pick off unsuspecting prey. In both senses, the pulpits in the novel speak to the theme of the value of all life.

Both structures are physically elevated above the heads of others, creating a distinction between the person in the pulpit and those below. The preacher and the hunter are both looking down from a superior position. The priest takes a stance of moral superiority. From his pulpit, he lectures a congregation on proper behavior. Similarly, the hunter in a pulpit takes a superior physical position relative to his prey. He does not dominate through words but the brute force of a gun. Like the priest, the hunter assumes himself to be superior. As a human, he believes that he possesses more intrinsic value than the animals whose lives he takes. The very act of taking life confirms his dominance.

In the novel, the two pulpits merge during the Saint Hubert dedication when Father Rustle ascends his pulpit to praise the actions of the local hunters. Thus, an act of physical violence is given moral sanction when the hunters receive the church’s blessing. The religious commandment stating, “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” apparently doesn’t apply to animals. Janina says:

Now it seemed clear to me why those hunting towers, which do after all bear a strong resemblance to the watchtowers in concentration camps, are called “pulpits.” In a pulpit Man places himself above other Creatures and grants himself the right to their life and death. He becomes a tyrant and a usurper (242).

In failing to value all life, the hunters and their priest forfeit the right to the same consideration. Janina values all life, but she is willing to make an exception in their case.