Up the Coulee

Reconciliation

In "Up the Coulee," Hamlin Garland depicts what occurs when Howard McLane is away for an extended period of time and begins to neglect his family. Howard's family members are offended by the negligence. Although his neglect causes his brother, Grant McLane, to resent him, Garland shows that part of having a family is being able to put aside negative feelings in order to resolve problems with relatives. Garland demonstrates how years apart can affect family relationships, causing neglect, resentment, and eventually, reconciliation.

After a decade of not seeing his mother and brother, Howard returns to his hometown in Mississippi. It is evident how thrilled he is. As the train approaches town, he begins "to feel curious little movements of the heart, like a lover as he nears his sweetheart" (par. 3). He expects this visit to be a marvelous and welcoming homecoming. His career and travel have kept his schedule extremely full, causing him to previously postpone this trip to visit his family. Although he does not immediately recognize his behavior in the past ten years as neglectful, there are many factors that make him aware of it. For instance, Mrs. McLane, Howard's mother, has aged tremendously since he last saw her. She has "grown unable to write" (par. 72). Her declining health condition is an indicator of Howard's inattentiveness to his family; he has not been present to see her become ill. His neglect strikes him harder when he sees "a gray -haired woman" that showed "sorrow, resignation, and a sort of dumb despair in her attitude" (par. 91). Clearly, she is growing old, and Howard feels guilty for not attending her needs for such a long time period: "his throat [aches] with remorse and pity" (par. 439). He has been too occupied with his "excited and pleasurable life" that he has "neglected her" (par. 92). Another indication of Howard's neglect is the fact that his family no longer owns the farm and house where he grew up. They now reside in a poorly conditioned home:

It was humble enough--a small white house, story-and-a-half structure, with a wing, set in the midst of a few locust trees; a small drab-colored barn, with a sagging ridge pole; a barnyard full of mud, in which a few cows were standing, fighting the flies and waiting to be milked. (par. 74)

Grant explains to Howard, who has obviously forgotten, that the mortgage on the old farm was too expensive for them to afford. The McLane's wrote Howard a letter asking for financial help, but Howard claims to never have received such a letter. He realizes his absence has affected his family more drastically than he had imagined. His negligence has come so far that he does not realize the condition of his mother's health or the family's domestic situation until his visit after ten long years.

Despite Howard realizing his wrongdoings, Grant holds the committed mistakes against him. In the story, Grant's resentment is the major reason why Howard comes to realize he has been negligent. Grant resents his brother for neglecting their mother and for the loss of the farm. Although the brothers kept in touch by letters, "when Grant wrote, which had been more and more seldom of late, his letters had been cold and curt" (par. 72). Grant has developed a bitter and cold attitude