The History of Sound: Stories

“Tundra Swan” continues to develop the themes explored in the preceding story, “Graft.” These two narratives are companion stories and contain narrative and thematic overlaps. In “Tundra Swan,” Shattuck delves deeper into The Universality of Love, Loss, and Longing in the context of a new family structure. While Hope’s relationships with Harold, Sam, Eli, Davis, and Annabelle in “Graft” make her feel trapped and alone, Mark’s fraught familial situation with Ian and Julia similarly ensnares him in a life he feels incapable of navigating. The primary thread between these stories is Mark’s property, which is the same house and land where Hope grew up and later leaves Eli with Davis and Annabelle. Her personal history is embedded in the setting where Mark’s story takes place, and the challenges she faced centuries prior resonate with Mark’s ongoing challenges. The parallels between Hope’s and Mark’s versions of entrapment imply that the human experience is always punctuated by instances of love, loss, and longing—many of which feel outside of the individual’s control.

In “Tundra Swan,” Shattuck again embraces nature imagery to reinforce his central thematic explorations. The recurring images of orchards, trees, and birds evoke notions of growth and freedom. However, Shattuck subverts these archetypes. In Mark’s story, the trees are stolen and secreted, and the birds are shot and killed. The stolen trees represent Mark’s struggle to grow amidst his seemingly impossible circumstances. He understands that Ian is “in danger,” “needs care,” and that “[r]esidential treatment is the best path forward” (103). However, he can’t pursue this path until he has the funds to cover Ian’s rehabilitation. The growth and possibility that the trees represent are colored by Mark’s financial frustrations. The use of imagery also extends to the swan, which Mark initially regards the bird as a sign of hope. White swans like the tundra swan archetypally represent purity, balance, and the possibility of fruition. Further, Mark and Ian encounter three swans together, the triad symbolizing Mark, Julia, and Ian. When Ian shoots the one swan, he robs Mark of the hope he felt and taints the bird’s symbolic purity. The dead swan is also an omen of Ian’s subsequent disappearance. Although Mark is later convinced that Ian will return home, the dead swan implies that Ian’s life is out of his and Julia’s hands.

Instead of looking into the past for The Clarifying Power of History to remedy his distress the way Hope does in “Graft,” Mark finds peace by looking into the future. The image of him planting the trees represents his belief that time will cure his and his family’s troubles. He is physically located on the same land where Hope met many challenges, too. To Mark, Hope’s life is intangible, as time has seemingly rendered it irrelevant, and he hopes the same for himself. Once the trees are grown, “all of [his] and Julia’s and Ian’s problems would be so far in the past” that it will be as if they never happened (116). By imagining the future, Mark can contextualize his story within the universal human story and the long reach of history, an exercise that affords him momentary relief.