The Pacific by Mark Helprin
"The Pacific" by Mark Helprin is a poignant narrative set during World War II, focusing on the life of Paulette Ferry, a young woman working in a defense factory located along the picturesque California coast. As the war rages on across the Pacific, Paulette's husband, Lee, is serving as a Marine officer, prompting her to take on the vital role of a precision welder, crafting altimeters for American aircraft. The story explores themes of love, sacrifice, and the emotional toll of war as Paulette dedicates herself to her work, believing that her efforts can somehow influence Lee's fate on the battlefield.
Amid the idyllic surroundings, Paulette grapples with the harsh realities of life on the home front, where she balances her duties at the factory with the anxiety of waiting for news of Lee. Their correspondence reveals their deep connection, though Lee prefers not to dwell on her daily struggles, instead requesting glimpses into her personal life. As Paulette's determination escalates, her relentless pursuit of perfection in her work becomes both her coping mechanism and a means of honoring Lee's service.
The narrative culminates in a profound reflection on love and loss, encapsulated in the bittersweet realization that despite her hopes and efforts, the miracle of Lee's safety may remain elusive. Helprin's work sheds light on the experiences of women during wartime, emphasizing their resilience and the emotional sacrifices they make while their loved ones fight.
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The Pacific by Mark Helprin
First published: 1986
Type of plot: Psychological
Time of work: World War II
Locale: California
Principal Characters:
Paulette Ferry , a young woman working in a defense factoryLee Ferry , her husband, a Marine Corps officer
The Story
A factory dedicated to the production of war materials is located in an idyllic rural landscape on the edge of the Pacific Ocean in California, north of Los Angeles. It is World War II and most of the factory's assembly-line workers are women, many married to soldiers who are far across the Pacific waging war against the Japanese.
One worker is Paulette Ferry, a young woman in her mid-twenties, originally from South Carolina. Her husband, Lee, is a Marine officer. While training on the east coast, Lee commented to Paulette that after the war, if he returned, they should go to California, where, because of the light, it would be like living in a dream. They did not have to wait until the war ended, however. Lee was assigned for further training at Twentynine Palms, in the desert outside of Los Angeles. With help from their parents, Paulette was able to accompany him, and they crossed the country by train, in perfect weather and north light, committed to embracing the experience as something to seize and remember in the event there was no future to share.
During the six months that Lee was at Twentynine Palms, Paulette worked in a defense factory south of Los Angeles. When Lee received his final embarkation orders, she moved north to the small town where the newly constructed factory was located. At the edge of the continent, where she would have a small house and a garden to till, only the air and the sea separated her from Lee.
Paulette, with her small hands, is a precision welder. Her factory produces altimeters used on American aircraft above the islands where Lee and his Marine comrades are fighting for their lives. One evening, Paulette takes on additional work when one of her coworkers on the assembly line becomes ill. She continues the double duty, telling her supervisor that she can work twice as fast as before. Everyone wonders how long Paulette can keep it up, but she does not falter.
Although physically spent when she returns to her small home in the early morning hours after her ten-hour shift, Paulette refuses to succumb to sleep. Instead, she sits in a chair, staring over the Pacific and trying not to sleep. While Lee was still in training, he told Paulette about the time when his company marched for three days and nights without rest, and afterward, while the rest of his company slept, he was assigned sentry duty despite his exhaustion. If he failed and fell asleep, he could be courtmartialed and sentenced to death. Just as he did his duty, Paulette now does hers.
Lee and Paulette exchange letters, but Lee does not want to hear about her life on the assembly line, or even about her garden, but only about her—what she thinks, what she eats, and how she looks. He asks for one of her barrettes as a keepsake, and he vows to come home. He is fighting for his life while she lives among golden hills on the edge of the Pacific where the clear sunlight "seemed like a dream in which sight was confused and the dreamer giddy."
In late 1943, Paulette learns that Lee and his Marine division are engaged in brutal combat on the island of Tarawa. Each day she scans the casualty lists in the newspaper for Lee's name. Her work is an escape—she cannot think about anything else under the pressures of the assembly line—but so long as she does her work and so long as Lee stays alive, she senses some sort of justice and equilibrium. Now instead of writing, she speaks silently to him. On the assembly line, she pushes herself faster and faster, all for him and for love, in the unstated hope that by so doing she can create a miracle that will keep Lee alive far across the misnamed Pacific. The story closes with the simple statement that the miracle "was not to be hers."
Bibliography
Alexander, Paul. "Big Books, Tall Tales." The New York Times Magazine 140 (April 28, 1991): 32.
Keneally, Thomas. "Of War and Memory." Review of A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin. The New York Times Book Review, May 5, 1991, 1.
Lambert, Craig. "Literary Warrior." Harvard Magazine (May/June, 2005): 38-43.
Linville, James. "Mark Helprin: The Art of Fiction CXXXII." The Paris Review 35 (Spring, 1993): 160-199.
"Mark Helprin's Next Ten Years (and Next Six Books) with HBJ." Publishers Weekly 236 (June 9, 1989): 33-34.
Max, D. T. "His Horses Used to Fly." The New York Times Book Review, November 7, 2004, p. 24
Meroney, John. "'Live' with TAE: Mark Helprin." The American Enterprise (July/August. 2001): 17-20.
Rubins, Josh. "Small Expectations." Review of Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin. The New York Review of Books 30 (November 24, 1983): 40-41.
Solotarfoff, Ed. "A Soldier's Tale." Review of A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin. The Nation 252 (June 10, 1991): 776-781.