Happy Land

“The only thing I know about my grandmother’s home is that it’s an isolated area of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Zirconia, North Carolina. And the only thing I know about Zirconia is that it’s right outside Hendersonville. And what I know about Hendersonville is that it has a lot of apple orchards. A shame, I know.”

The opening lines of the text introduce the theme of The Importance of Collective History to the Self, while also conveying Nikki’s ignorance of her own history. These words set up the expectation that Nikki knows very little about her grandmother, foreshadowing how she will eventually discover her family’s past. Additionally, Perkins-Valdez’s diction, specifically the use of the sarcastic phrase “a shame, I know” emphasizes Nikki’s currently lack of enthusiasm about her past. She acknowledges that she knows nothing about it, yet also does not feel truly upset about that fact.

“In the last couple of years I’ve lost my joy for selling real estate. I haven’t sold a single property in months, and I’m about to run out of savings. If I don’t get my act together, I’m going to be in real financial trouble soon. The truth of the matter is that my life is a mess right now.”

These thoughts from Nikki introduce her primary internal conflict throughout the text. The life that she has built for herself is an unfulfilling one, as she is unhappy with her career and struggles to be happy. Nikki’s lack of purpose sets the shape of her character arc, as she will gradually gain a sense of belonging, purpose, and new sense of hope by the novel’s end.

“I was valued for my sewing skills, though I never enjoyed the task.”

The first introduction to Luella is similar to Nikki’s introduction, in that they both do not enjoy the thing that they are expected to do by society and both find their lives unfulfilling.