A journey bridges the first two settings of Yonnondio. Though there are other brief episodes of happiness in the novel, this scene (Chapter 3) is uniquely joyful, marked by singing and bodies in relationship: ''Willie slumbered against Mazie's shoulder. Ben drowsily had his head in her lap, staring into the depthless transparent green above. . . . . 'Roses love nightwinds, violets love dew, angels in heaven, know I love you.' Their voices were slow curving rhythms, slow curving sounds. Voices, rising and twining, beauty curving on rainbows of quiet sound" (38). Throughout the chapter, the emphasis is less on the passage from place to place than on the community created by the travel. The family's bodily support of one another is imagized in the twining voices. The passage suggests an understanding of human bondedness and the possibility of human cooperation.
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Mazie is infused with feelings of expansion: "[She] stood up, her hands on the wagon seat, screaming with delight. The wind came over her body with a great rush of freedom" (35). A range of nature imagessnow, wind, rainbow, sunshinepoints to the characters' anticipation and wonder as they travel. The girl, in particular, senses the flow of life's energies and intuits her connection with the vast possibilities of the new geography.
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Joyous, exhilarating, the journey is portrayed from Mazie's perspective as a wondrous moment, for Anna it is a hallmark of the future: "with bright eyes [she] folded and unfolded memories of past yearsplans for the years to come" (38). The family's search is for work, home, schooling, for identity and connection. In their moving, the Holbrooks express their dearest hopes: "A new life . . . in the spring" (38). Thus the journey is metaphoric of the desire for opportunity and renewal. They hope not merely for survival, but for beginning and building: "lovely things to keep, brass lamps, bright tablecloths, vines over the doors, and roses twining" (38). Things of material beauty suggest a sense of permanence and belonging, where children can ponder questions and invite their souls to wander, where relationships that offer sustenance for life can be fostered.
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In the Holbrooks' journeying, two human quests are metaphorically intertwined: one, the necessary quest for sus-
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