November 11, 2016 - 20:20
Burying Seeds of Thought
“Imagine you are a seed…” (Ozeki 3). When Yumi Fuller spoke this request, she ironically touched upon on a motif that was splattered throughout All Over Creation. Unknown to Yumi, her parents channeled the emotions that they could not bring themselves to directly express through seeds. This usage of seed imagery as a substitute for communicating actual human emotions emphasized the human nature to prefer hiding in the safety of indirectly expressing innermost feelings over having to face the consequences of direct communication. This theme is seen most prominently in relation to the Fuller family, especially with Momoko and Lloyd. Through the imagery of seeds, one can navigate the hidden story of unspoken emotions. A story that is full of both desperation and hope.
In an environment revolving around nature and the preciousness of life, seeds naturally were used to describe all things young, alive, and precious. With Momoko, her seeds were her connection to her heritage. They were more than just plants. They were her children whom she loved dearly. In this sense it was almost natural for Yumi to be represented through these seeds. However, with this idea exposed, many actions take on entirely new meanings. For instance, Momoko’s whispered catch-phrase “Gambatte ne, tane-chan” (Ozeki 5) took on a new light when analyzed with the idea that Yumi was represented through seeds. This quiet cheering represented Momoko’s silent desire for Yumi to grow and continue to develop independence. This idea was furthermore supported through several of Momoko’s actions, such as sending money to Yumi for college and keeping in touch through correspondence.
The idea that Momoko supported Yumi in her choice of independence was unspoken throughout the novel. The closest clues that we knew of were Momoko’s silence towards Lloyd after Yumi had left and the monetary support she gave Yumi. Momoko’s silence was a common motif when it can to expressing her opinions with other human beings. In a way, the only way Momoko could actually express her love and acceptance of her daughter’s choices was through indirect means. Her greeting and quiet encouragement of her garden’s seeds was the only method in which Momoko, with her habit of silencing her own opinions, could express her support for her daughter.
In terms of Lloyd, the treatment of seeds uncovered a hidden side to the emotions involved in the events of Yumi’s withdrawal. These momentous interactions with seeds were especially prevalent when Lloyd was in the hospital after his heart attack. During this time, Lloyd had several seed related delusions that contained underlying implications about his suppressed emotions towards Yumi. While the relationship between Lloyd and Yumi was shown to be strained throughout the novel, Lloyd’s interaction with the seeds revealed buried issues and emotions related to Yumi’s departure. In the end, Momoko and Lloyd’s treatment of seeds were an allusion to their repressed emotions towards Yumi’s departure and Elliot’s interference.
The significance of Lloyd’s treatment of seeds was revealed in the instance where Lloyd was frantic about needing to save “his seeds” (Ozeki 351) from the Terminator, a figure Yumi revealed to be Lloyd’s hallucinated symbol for Elliot (Ozeki 329). This continued on until Lloyd seemed to lose all hope and began to dejectedly mumble about how he was “too late” (Ozeki 351). These outbursts and hallucinations revealed Lloyd’s devastation in the face of Yumi’s exit from his and Momoko’s lives. In addition, his use of the terms “save” and “too late” indicated how Lloyd felt responsibility for Yumi and how he felt distain towards himself for not being able to save his daughter from the dangerous Terminator. In this instance, Lloyd truly sees Elliot as the Terminator, the one element that caused his precious seed to change from how he nurtured her to be into something completely foreign.
In this context, Lloyd had many feeling of regret and pain in regards to his inability to protect Yumi from Elliot and his inability to make Yumi stay afterwards. His stubbornness and his beliefs caused him to push his daughter away when he should have tried even harder to protect her after his failures. The resulting self-hatred that resulted from his regrets manifested both physically and symbolically through his heart attack. When Yumi asked Momoko if the heart attack was her fault Momoko responded “No. It was his heart. His fault.” (Ozeki 332) Lloyd’s inability to express that he still loved Yumi in the aftermaths of Yumi’s abortion showed how his own metaphoric heart failed him when he needed it most. In the novel, having to live with these repressed emotions of regret caused him to redirect his feelings of love and protectiveness for Yumi to his seeds. If Lloyd could not protect his daughter back then, then at least he could protect his seeds now.
It was evident that both Momoko and Lloyd directed their emotions for Yumi through their seeds. This was especially seen when the Seeds of Resistance decided to distribute Lloyd and Momoko’s seeds to other farmers and Lloyd’s became indignant at the thought of “his seeds” (Ozeki 357) being given away. This revealed how he compared Yumi’s departure as the loss of something that was his to protect and nurture. Even the explanation that “it’s so the Terminator won’t get to them…” (Ozeki 357) did not satisfy Lloyd. Only Momoko was able to calm Lloyd with what must have been a frequently used argument. Despite Lloyd’s complaints about how the seeds, how Yumi, was theirs and that they need to keep her safe, Momoko quickly shuts down his argument. She blatantly told Lloyd that “keeping is not safe. Keeping is only danger” and the only ‘safe’ option is to let go and let Yumi be free (Ozeki 358).
The continuous use of seed imagery and analogies in order to express unspoken emotions demonstrated these two characters’ inability to express these suppressed feelings to individual whom said feelings are about. Momoko’s upraising and tendency to not speak out her own opinions forced her to express her acceptance of Yumi’s choices through symbolic messages and actions. Lloyd’s belief that he failed to save his daughter was one that his stubbornness would never allow him admit out loud. The use of seeds to represent Yumi revealed an unspoken story about a father’s regrets and a mother’s acceptance. It is with this that the readers were shown that the truth laid not within the dialogue characters spoke, but with the seeds of truth that characters dropped through subtleties and symbolic actions. However, this truth also shows a tragic reality that despite the deep emotions expressed through indirect means, without direct communication these emotions would wallow forever in their unspoken significance, never to truly be recognized or explored by those most effected by said emotions.