Hannah Coulter

Nathan’s death marks the end of a lifelong partnership, prompting Hannah to reflect on the meaning of their shared life. Nathan’s choice to die at home reflects a view of death as a quiet, natural part of the life cycle, sad yet filled with grace and gratitude. His gentle passing symbolizes that death, while painful, is an inevitable part of life, and a life lived well can also end well. For Hannah, Nathan’s death is not the end of love but the beginning of a new kind of relationship defined by memory and solitude. With Nathan’s passing, Hannah loses the person with whom she built a life on the farm, a family, and found a place in Port William. His absence leaves a profound stillness and silence in their home, reiterating The Power of Memory and Storytelling in keeping the legacy of lost loved ones alive. Hannah’s stories about Nathan represent a sacred preservation of memory and a way to honor the dead. Hannah’s perspective emphasizes that love doesn’t die with the person but lives on in memory, in the land they tended together, and in the lives they touched. Nathan may be gone physically, but he remains a central presence in the rhythm of her days and in the legacy they built together.

Hannah’s quest to learn about Nathan’s time in the war is revealing to her. Nathan’s lifelong silence about his experiences reflects the reality of many veterans, especially those from rural communities who carry their trauma silently, integrating it into their lives rather than externalizing it. Hannah’s research unearths the visceral experience of fear, destruction, and dehumanization that many soldiers experienced. The violence of war contrasts with the gentleness of the life that he built with Hannah. Okinawa was the farthest Nathan would ever be, both geographically and spiritually, from Port William, and the displacement, destruction, and alienation he experienced represented the opposite of what he pursued after returning home. Nathan’s return to Kentucky, to farming and family, is a deliberate turning away from the violence of war and a reclamation of the values that ground him. Okinawa becomes another lens through which she views Nathan, expanding her understanding of the inner pain he carried. It allows her to understand his quietness and see him as a man who has survived profound darkness and chosen to live in light.

After Nathan’s death, Hannah feels not only a personal loss but also a cultural one, as the Rural and Agrarian Values they lived by are threatened by modernity, the absence of their children and grandchildren, and the disconnection of the world around them. Nathan’s death symbolizes the end of an era and the steadfast commitment to farming and place he represented—a kind of life, Hannah believes, is growing increasingly rare. Kelly Crawley’s veiled offer to buy Hannah’s land reveals that he sees it as an asset, something with financial value, but not sacred—a perspective antithetical to everything the land represents to Hannah and Nathan. For them, their land is not just soil, but a place where love and legacy became the fertile ground for their marriage, family, and community membership to flourish and grow. For them, Port William isn’t something that can be bought piece by piece, it’s something that must be earned through relationships and shared life. Kelly’s gesture illustrates Hannah’s perspective on the emptiness of a culture that prioritizes money and profit over relationships and interdependence.

Berry contrasts Kelly’s visit with Virgie’s return to the farm in the novel’s resolution, underscoring The Significance of Place and Belonging. While Kelly’s visit is transactional, Virgie returns home not to buy or claim but to be present, learn from, and embrace the land that made him—both a spiritual and physical return. Virgie’s decision to work the land signals a possible future, however uncertain, for the legacy that Hannah and Nathan planted there. His return sows a seed of hope that not all who leave are gone forever. By returning to the land, he becomes a vessel through which Hannah and Nathan’s memories can be carried on. He enters the membership by apprenticing with Danny and learning about his family legacy through the story of its people. By telling Hannah a tale about Burley, a beloved figure in the membership, Virgie takes his place in the circle of memory and belonging—a passing of the torch in which Virgie becomes a storyteller, taking up Hannah’s mantel. Something has been planted in Virgie and taken root, and Hannah can now die knowing that their legacy lives on inside their grandson.