It is interesting to look at how the author characterizes life.
She says, "...when you bear a child from your own body, you give your life to that child, the firstborn. Your life is no longer with you, it is no longer yours, it is with the child. That is why we do not really die: we simply pass on our life, the life that was for a while in us, and are left behind" (76).
I thought of the five bodies, of their massive, solid presence in the burned-down hall. Their ghosts have not departed, I thought, and will not depart. Their ghosts are sitting tight, in possession (104).
She seems to view life as a circle. People are born; life is passed from the parents to the child. Then that child grows up and becomes a parent. This way she claims that no one really dies and life is just passed on to others. When she says the five young people had their ghosts or spirits "trapped in them", she affirms this. These young people were killed before they could reproduce. The 'life cycle" was interrupted in a way. They "died." They could not pass on their life to their potential children.
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It is interesting to link these two posts you have written--mother love and the life cycle. I had not thought of it this way until I read your posts, but her understanding of the life cycle as the passing on of spirit, linked to immortality, explains why motherhood is so central to her life. Care-taking is a central part of her life; it is a spiritual calling for her. She is a guardian of life. Yes, that is interesting!
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