63 pages • 2-hour read
Great Circle
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Symbols & Motifs
Airplanes
Marian’s early years take place in a world where airplanes are cutting edge technology. She is born at the turn of the 20th century; her life can be charted alongside the development of the very first airplanes into a functioning and necessary technology, to the point where her adult life takes place in a world where aviation is commonplace. In this sense, airplanes symbolize rapid modernity in the novel. The planes illustrate the way in which society can change rapidly and then how these changes are inoculated by familiarity. The wonder and spectacle of the first airplanes gives way to a need to break records and chart new courses to keep alive the energy and excitement of flying. Planes show that, like Marian’s distant horizon, the expectations of technology and society are always shifting further and further into the distance.
Planes are also a personal symbol for Marian. To her, they represent a freedom and escapism that cannot be found on solid ground. Growing up in an isolated house in an isolated part of the world, having lost her parents and with only a few people she can depend on, Marian places no limits on her ambitions. She yearns to be free and independent, but only when she sees a plane for the first time does she understand these feelings. Planes allow Marian to throw off the shackles of sexism, expectations, limitations, and tragedies of her world. To Marian, a plane symbolizes her own ability to defy expectations and achieve independence.
Marian’s relationship with flying becomes a symbolic death and rebirth. She stages her plane crash and abandons the idea of flying entirely. She gives up the one life purpose that gave her an identity and a sense of direction. This decision is a symbolic gesture: She denies herself the joy of flying to atone for her failings and evince her desire to be reborn as someone else.
Painting
Wallace and Jamie are both painters by trade. They take pleasure in painting the natural world of Montana, honing their craft by replicating the beauty of the countryside around them. The paintings that Wallace and Jamie produce become symbols of the goodness and the beauty of the natural world. The forests, streams, and animals in their pictures are adored by fans across the country, who appreciate the attempt to bring a slice of nature into the industrialized cities. However, these paintings also symbolize the chasm between the wilderness and the desolation of the cities. The paintings stand out because they are filled with life, implying that the cities lack a natural vibrancy that can only be found in the wilderness.
As Jamie becomes a more celebrated artist, however, his paintings take on a different symbolism. He realizes that his attempts to replicate his subjects are impossible. For all his skill and his talent, he will never be able to capture the whole essence of a tree or an animal. Jamie realizes that all art is just a distant echo of reality, an attempt to compress the totality of life into a few brushstrokes. His work becomes more abstract as a result. He plays with perspective to try and replicate the general unreality of art. Just as Hadley’s film can never capture the complexity of Marian Graves, Jamie’s paintings can never truly portray the complexity of his subjects. Jamie’s work ultimately symbolizes art’s fundamentally impossible aim: to replicate life and meaning all at once.
Jamie joins the military during World War I, and he is given the task of capturing the essence of war in his paintings. He struggles with this role but still strives to create. His paintings are more perfunctory and quicker, though the most notable of them are the abstract scribbles he produces after shooting three Japanese soldiers. Jamie’s sketchbook is filled with scrawled, abstract lines that he believed were an accurate portrayal of his emotion at the time. These wartime works add to the symbolism of Jamie’s paintings, showing how he has transcended the need to replicate his subjects realistically. Instead, he focuses on the pure emotions of the moment. The results horrify him, as the symbolic representation of war is as terrifying as war itself.
Sitting-in-the-Water-Grizzly
Marian learns a Native American folk story about a woman who chooses to live as a man. One of the names this person takes for themselves is Sitting-in-the-Water-Grizzly, and the story becomes a symbol of the fluid nature of gender. Marian empathizes with the story because she does not want to be constrained by society’s expectations of women. She dresses as a boy from an early age and takes on roles that were traditionally associated with men. Her blunt determination to succeed means that she dedicates her life to becoming a pilot, even as every male pilot scoffs at the idea. Nevertheless, not only does she not conform to gender stereotypes, but she actively defies them, dressing and presenting herself as a man. Marian does this throughout her life, frequently referring to the story of Sitting-in-the-Water-Grizzly as a symbolic precedent for her aspirations. The story is an inspiration for her, voicing a sentiment that she never knew how to voice for herself.
The story of Sitting-in-the-Water-Grizzly also symbolizes the intimacy between Marian and Caleb. After her plane crashes and she retreats into a new life in New Zealand, Marian sends Caleb a newspaper picture of herself dressed as a man. The only addition she makes is to scribble the words Sitting-in-the-Water-Grizzly in the margin. Marian does not say anything more, nor does she explain herself to Caleb. She knows that he understands her well enough to absorb the full meaning of the message. Caleb understands, and he goes to Marian. The story of Sitting-in-the-Water-Grizzly symbolizes the bond between Caleb and Marian because their mutual understanding transcends explanation. The story is a symbolic artefact of their shared childhood, and Marian does not say anything more because she does not need to; the story is so imbued with symbolism that the mere mention of the name Sitting-in-the-Water-Grizzly ensures Caleb’s understanding.
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