63 pages • 2 hours read
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
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Themes
Nature as a Source of Inspiration and Renewal
Authors, poets, and painters have long heralded the natural world as a place of escape, a source of spirituality, and an opportunity to return to childhood innocence. Harold has not spent much time outdoors in the last 20 years, preferring the comfort of his favorite chair to the fresh air outside. He mows his grass regularly but otherwise does not interact with the natural world. After receiving Queenie’s letter and deciding to walk the length of England on foot, Harold plunges himself back into nature, which immediately becomes a source of comfort and inspiration for him as he travels. From the moment he steps outside his door, the beauty of the natural world he ignored for so long overwhelms him: “[…] it was as if everywhere he looked, the fields, gardens, trees, and hedgerows had exploded with growth” (39). Significantly, Harold begins his journey in the spring, a time of physical rebirth when flowers burst into bloom and many animals are born, as well as a season of spiritual rebirth when Christians celebrate Easter in remembering the resurrection of Christ. Harold is not religious, but as his journey progresses, nature becomes the backdrop for his spiritual rebirth and renewal. In The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce explores the idea of nature as both a redemptive force and a reminder of the circle of life.
Spring is a joyful time of rebirth, yet it must be preceded by death. Just as the old leaves and blooms wither and die before new buds spring forth, Harold is reminded of the losses in his past as part of his process of reawakening to life through the beauty of nature. Though the lovely flowers and melodious birdsongs are a balm to his soul, he cannot escape the pain of his parents’ abandonment and the tragic death of his son. Harold is reminded of the potting shed, a place that once was connected to Maureen’s love of gardening but became the scene of the defining tragedy in their lives. Harold destroys the shed; symbolically, the loss of his son fractures his connection to nature. The longer he endures his journey and emotional turmoil, the more nature becomes an oppressive force. Either burned by the relentless sun or pelted with bullets of rain, Harold is broken physically by the forces of nature, just as his subconscious is buffeted by psychological torment. Each time Harold makes peace with a part of his past, nature once again becomes a comfort to him. He even takes to sleeping outside under the stars and foraging for his food and water to become closer to nature. As his dependence on nature grows, Harold releases his need to control every area of his life. While Harold tramps about living off the land, Maureen’s love of nature is also rekindled through her friendship with Rex.
Gardening was once a treasured pastime for Maureen. Many of Harold’s favorite memories are of her digging in the garden. However, when David died in the gardening shed, her love of planting and harvesting also died. Instead of toiling happily in the dirt, she turned her attention to scrubbing away every inch of grime from the inside of their home as if she could expunge their grief or wipe away the past. When Rex befriends her and encourages her to take up gardening again, he helps reawaken her love of nature: “It was good to feel the soil inside her nails, and to nurture something again” (193). Tending to the young plants aids in healing Maureen’s heart: If new life can spring up in her garden, there is hope her marriage can also live again. The novel begins with Harold and Maureen trapped inside their home and their prisons of grief. By surrendering to the uncertainty of life that is ever present in nature, they reconnect with the power of the natural world and with each other. The novel ends symbolically with them standing outside, facing the ocean and their future together. Harold and Maureen’s transformation through their renewed love of the natural world highlights the rejuvenating and redemptive power of nature on wounded and damaged humans.
The Experience of Knowing Someone Who Is Dying
The subjects of illness and death are often shunned by society and avoided in casual conversation. Facing the uncertainty of a terminal diagnosis or incurable illness requires one to confront mortality. The novel’s opening lines deliver news of impending death, and the characters must come to terms with mortality and with the pain of watching an illness rob someone of their vitality and strength. Harold deals with the knowledge that he will lose someone he loves while he also reckons with the corporeality of his own body. This novel examines both the physical and spiritual pain patients and caregivers endure in the face of impending death.
Though Harold has not seen or spoken to Queenie in 20 years, the news of her terminal diagnosis is made no less painful by distance. He struggles to form a response, feeling any words he sends are inadequate to respond to the direness of her situation. Harold naively thinks he can save his friend from the ravages of cancer just by walking to her, but once he reaches her hospice bedside, he understands how little power he has over illness. Reckoning with Queenie’s incurable state also leads Harold to a better understanding of David’s illness. Though his body was not riddled with cancerous cells, David’s addiction ravaged his mind and ultimately destroyed his body. While Queenie is present only briefly in the novel, the narration conveys the intensity of her pain and suffering. Likewise, Harold’s memories of his son reveal the torment of addiction: “And what no one else knew was the appalling weight of the thing they were carrying inside. The inhuman effort it took sometimes to be normal, and a part of things that appeared both easy and everyday. The loneliness of that” (90). Through visceral detail and moments of great emotional intensity, the author displays the anguish of a person who is close to death. However, she also clearly illustrates the injurious effects of illness and loss on caregivers.
Having little knowledge of how to help their son, Harold and Maureen did what they thought was best by concealing his addiction for fear it would shame David. Maureen took him to the doctor, but without access to specific therapy and psychological help for addiction, David’s bag of pills did little to help his illness. More painful than the addiction itself were Harold and Maureen’s feelings of helplessness while trying to save their son. Their experiences reflect the hardships caregivers endure and the emotional and physical toll caring for a sick person can have on an individual or a partnership. Harold and Maureen almost lose their marriage and themselves through attending to David in his illness, and Harold nearly destroys himself walking to try to save Queenie. The reminder of the loss of David, coupled with Queenie’s imminent death, leaves Harold diminished physically and emotionally and forces him to accept the inevitability of death, even his own: “The past could not be changed. Inoperable cancer could not be cured” (182). In the end, the couple embraces the unpredictability of life and accepts the possibility that either of them may become the other’s caregiver, choosing to live in the joy of the present moment instead of lingering in the pain of loss or the anxiety of an uncertain future. The novel explores the universality of pain and the ways humans endure and emerge from seasons of suffering.
Making an Ordinary Life Extraordinary by Engaging with Humanity
A common theme in Joyce’s work is the value of human connection and the importance of community. When the novel opens, it is evident that Harold and Maureen Fry are isolated from their community as well as from each other. This reclusiveness bred bitterness in each of them. Harold’s first steps outside his door force him to chat with his neighbor, Rex, and it is clear in his discomfort during the conversation that Harold is unused to talking with others. His meeting with the garage attendant brings Harold’s first meaningful conversation with another human in a long time, and the heartfelt exchange not only inspires his journey but also reverberates throughout the entire trip, as he maintains correspondence with the young girl until he reaches Berwick. After a long season spent alone, Harold finds a connection with a stranger, and the emotional high he experiences from this connection propels him to keep walking and to keep talking to others. On the path to Berwick, Harold befriends an exhausted housewife, a closeted gay man, a middle-aged woman who self-harms, an immigrant female doctor estranged by her partner, and a young man who is struggling with substance abuse. Through his exchanges with these unique individuals, Harold connects with the world outside his home for the first time in decades. Having felt all his life that he is nothing special, Harold learns that by simply listening to other people’s stories, he can positively impact their lives and be exceptional:
He learned that it was the smallness of people that filled him with the wonder and tenderness, and the loneliness of that too. The world was made up of people putting one foot in front of the other; and a life might appear ordinary simply because the person living it had been doing so for a long time. Harold could no longer pass a stranger without acknowledging the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and that this was the dilemma of being human (158).
Harold’s journey teaches him that he is a part of something bigger than himself. By removing himself from the center of the story, he opens his mind and his heart to the expansive diversity of the human condition and the interconnectedness of all humanity.
Harold meets many individuals who challenge him to view the world differently, but he also encounters people—such as Napier and the jaded actor—who frustrate and anger him and remind him of the cruelty and injustice in the world. When he becomes an unlikely star and the other pilgrims join his walk, Harold is forced to endure a plethora of bad behavior and must carry on with his mission despite the inconvenience and annoyance that the followers add to the process. The needs of the collective weigh him down, and at times he finds himself unable to carry the heavy burden they impose. Seeing just how many other people in the world also suffer pushes Harold toward nihilism, and he fights to maintain his optimism: “Was this how it went? That just at the moment when he wanted to do something, it was too late? That all the pieces of a life must eventually be surrendered, as if in truth they amounted to nothing?” (17) However, each time Harold finds himself at a low point, he finds hope in a small conversation with a stranger, comfort in the offer of a hot meal and a place to rest, or affection in the simple companionship of a stray dog. After his son’s death and his own perceived failures in life, Harold concluded he was better off alone. However, through his journey, he learns that life is meant to be shared with others, and by creating and cultivating meaningful relationships, ordinary life can become extraordinary.
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