Clear

The issue of eviction has massive moral ramifications throughout Clear. When the idea of evicting Ivar from his island first appears, several characters have varying reactions to it. Through the moral dilemma facing John, the novel explores the nature of eviction and moral reckoning.  

Andrew, John’s brother-in-law, believes Lowrie has a right to clear any tenants off his land because of his ownership of the land. Mary, however, is the first character to express moral reservations about eviction. Mary pictures the process of eviction, thinking, “She saw them moving away with quiet resignation, leading animals and small children, carrying tools and furniture […] and the low houses they’d left behind, roofless hearths open to the rain and the wind and the ghosts of the departed” (42). Mary’s imagining of the eviction process is bleak, rife with the imagery of people carrying their entire lives on their back as they’re driven away from their beloved land and homes, and this bleakness illustrates the depth of Mary’s moral objections to the eviction and her empathy for those evicted.

The issue of eviction grows more complex when John lands on the island and meets Ivar. Instead of a nameless, faceless islander to evict, John now must face the person he’s been tasked with removing.