Sam Sheehan Scandinavian 482 Rooted Relationships in Pan and Growth of the Soil
Knut Hamsun utilizes contrasting romantic relationships between characters in Pan and Growth of the Soil to demonstrate the significance that being tied to a stable location brings to the health and growth of relationships; establishing each relationship with a distinct role in the plot with regards to the underlying association of being anchored to certain aspects of their lifestyle.
The narrator of Pan is Thomas Glahn, a hunter living high in the Norwegian mountains. He lives a very self-reliant lifestyle that he embraces. He meets Edwarda, the daughter of the town trader described as “A child, a schoolgirl. I looked at her — she was tall, but with no figure to speak of, about fifteen or sixteen,” (Ch.2) her father, Mack, and a doctor. Edwarda visits him again and after offering Glahn to come visit her and her father, he accepts. She quickly falls in love with him, then after only somewhat being attracted to her, he begins to fall deeply in love with her. Throughout the summer their relationship becomes more established. She says things such as: "’I shall have Lieutenant Glahn. I don't care to run after anyone else.’"(Ch.10) and in response, Glahn writes: “I was deeply moved at that; the helpless look in her eyes and her little thin figure were more than I could resist; I was drawn to her in that moment. (Ch. 10)” However, he rejects her advance and says: "’afterwards,’" I said, "’No more now.’”(Ch. 10). Their relationship seems to be consistently unstable as whenever either attempts to further their relationship, the other stops it. However, as this is taking place she also has a relationship with the doctor and a Baron in town, which confuses Glahn. He becomes very confused with their relationship and then sleeps with two other women, one of which he begins a relationship with, Eva. His relationship with Edwarda eventually ends as the falls comes around and he beings a relationship with Eva although he is still somewhat attached to Edwarda. Glahn goes to visit Edwarda for one final time, and when she asks for his dog, Aesop, he refuses. He shoots Aesop and sends his body to Edwarda before he leaves to go off to serve duty as a lieutenant.
Hamsun forms the relationship between Glahn and Edwarda in an abbreviated fashion and creates and very unique relationship between the two that is drawn out over the course of the novel. The quickly-established physical nature of their relationship soon after their first meeting provides the basis for the turbulence of their relationship. At the core they are romantically dysfunctional; at different points in the book each yearns for the other, but each time this is very short lived and quickly fades. Neither one acts in a stable enough manner to further themselves romantically, and as a result they are not representative of a compatible relationship in any way. While they do not have any sort of claimed agreement of exclusivity, at different points, each of them acts as if they do and become very jealous of one another. Upon learning of Edwarda’s relationship with the doctor while on an island trip with them both, he states: “then I did something I repent of, and have not yet forgotten. Her shoe fell off: I snatched it up and flung it far out into the water, for pure joy that she was near, or from some impulse to make myself remarked, to remind her of my existence--I do not know. It all happened so suddenly I did not think, only felt that impulse.”(Ch. 15) Much later after hearing of her relationship with the Baron, Glahn becomes very upset and acts dramatically saying that: “I went up to the Baron, bent over him as if to whisper something—and when I was close enough, I spat in his ear.”(Ch. 26) Similarly, in hearing of Glahn’s involvement with Eva, Edwarda says sarcastically: "’it is intolerable to be constantly looking after you” How mercilessly she said it! A very bitter pain passed through me., ‘You might get Eva to look after you, perhaps. It's a pity though, that she's married.’"(Ch. 22) By both acting out in regards to others involved in their love life, it makes it seem as if they each had felt they had some sort of exclusive right to the other’s affection. However, their jealousy is not justified as they only had a physically-based relationship and were not mutually bound to one another. Their fragmented relationship cannot be justified solely by the claimed feelings of one another and it is apparent that in the context they have a very senseless relationship fostered by lust and complete short-sightedness.
Growth of the Soil is written by Hamsun 25 years further into his writing career, and demonstrates transversely different examples of underlying relationship functionality. The novel begins by introducing Isak, a man with no past who begins a farm soon after moving out in the country. He clears the land, builds a shelter for himself and acquires the basics to run his farm. He begins to grow his farm by working very hard and investing in the land that he has for himself. He meets his wife, Inger, when she travels down to his farm and introduces herself. Both Isak and Inger are described as not having much to offer physically besides size and strength, allowing for a capacity for hard physical labor. Isak describes the basis for their relationship with saying: “save that her mouth was disfigured, she would hardly have come to him at all; he might well be grateful for that she was marked with a hare-lip. And as to that, he himself was no beauty. Isak with the iron beard and rugged body, a grim and surly figure of a man.”(Ch. 1). Both are seemingly happy with one another because they both lack many other options for a suitor to marry and value hard work over nearly all else. Over the coming years they work very diligently together investing in the farm, and begin to see some success from their hard work as the land flourishes. They begin building a family together and initially have two healthy children. However, the third child, a baby girl, is born with a hare-lip similar to Inger’s. Inger kills the baby to prevent her child from suffering as she did, she later confesses to the crime and is sent to prison in the city for five years. While there she gets her hare-lip fixed and becomes accustomed to civilization, and that lifestyle. Upon returning, Isak sees her as having been corrupted by civilization as she returns and is no longer content with the simple life of working on their farm. Through this, they remain married and while they disagree at the end of the novel, it is clear that they successfully worked hard enough to create an established family and very successful farm.
The relationship between Isak and Inger is animalistic; there is little thought or emotion as to why they end up together. Inger knew the consequences of initially walking down to Isak’s farm but was driven to do so because of her need to have someone else in her life. There is no sense of courtship between the two in their first meeting; both initially accept one another for what they can provide, as separately they have very little to offer. Isak and Inger’s marriage is stable throughout and represents the ideal bond between two common people. By working hard together for many years, they are able to grow the farm and their family and become successful. Nearly all aspects of their lives become stabilized; they are married for many years and work the same jobs on the same piece of land. While their physical relationship is far from romantic, they are able to show love for one another through continual hard labor on the farm, sharing their resources and caring for the sustainability of their relatively simple lives. Instead of expelling his energy romanticizing Inger, he proves his love for her by investing his body into the land that they come to share. They are instinctively brought together, a theme that contributes to their successful relationship throughout.
The comparison of character relationships in Pan and Growth of the Soil draws very few similarities between the two, as Glahn and Edwarda set about establishing a relationship in very opposing terms as Isak and Inger. The distinct differences between the two can be seen from each initial meeting; while Glahn and Edwarda begin seeing each other out of physical desire for one another, Isak and Inger begin their relationship out of necessity, not romance. The relationship between Isak and Inger is very healthy, as throughout everything and years of being together they remain dedicated to each other and work to strengthen their relationship. They act consistently within the understanding of self-worth and knowledge of what is needed to become successful, much of which is hard work and based on each other. From starting his farm, Isak demonstrates the awareness that wealth is accrued slowly and that there is no substitute for hard work and established stability. Comparatively, Glahn and Edwarda cannot be looked at as healthy people in society, that is, their relationship must be looked at as if they both suffer from mental sickness. They act very irrationally, clinging onto their relationship as if it is something substantial, while simultaneously attempting to limit its scope and romantically establishing relationships with others. Glahn lives a very unstable life, having just moved for a temporary amount of time, without solid goals or plans in his immediate future. Edwarda is similarly unstable as she is very young and acts deceptively towards all men she is involved with.
Hamsun creates an association between the functionality of a relationship and how anchored each character is to their location and their ties to a place. The connection to the land can be seen comparatively between both of Hamsun’s works. In Pan, Glahn is not tied to his soil, he owns a hut in the woods. While he attempts to begin a relationship, he knows that he will be called on to leave in less than a year’s time. Had he committed to settling in the area and tying himself to the ground, he would have sought a relationship with someone whom he saw as potentially helping him achieve successful life. His relationship with Edwarda is representative of this instability; he does not feel strongly towards her all of the time, acts out of jealousy yet feels entitled to her exclusive affection. Isak initially strongly committed to tying himself down to the land he owns and working hard to achieve his goals. His lasting relationship with Inger results from this; there are no ulterior motives as can be seen from the simple, consistent work towards maintaining a successful life. Had Isak not been firm in anchoring down to his farm, the relationship between he and Inger would not have been nearly as stable as the inconsistencies between them and their goals and objectives would have changed their relationship dynamic. Had the farm been taken from their relationship they would not have had any need to remain together and might not have found one another at all. Isak’s goal stability of investing in the farm only strengthened the success of their marriage. When Inger was sent to jail and was no longer tied to the soil of the farm, it damaged her relationship with Isak upon returning as she was not content with remaining on the farm and towards the end, Isak’s ideal way of life is seen as gone and his marriage begins to falter.
Achieving stability in both lifestyle and marriage allows you to become much more stable in all different aspects of life. Isak and Inger adopted the common man’s approach to happiness of building a family, seeking only what they need to maintain the lifestyle that they want to live and finishing happiness in the simplistic things. They approach life through working to achieve success and being able to leave behind more for others than they were given in their lives. They are able to achieve stability in all aspects of their lives. In comparison, Glahn and Edwarda approach happiness looking for instant gratification, as demonstrated by their relationship and relationships with others. Although Edwarda is in the upper-middle class and is very fortunate in her upbringing, her personality attempts to deceive others and cheat the traditional mutual relationship bond, leaving her unsuccessful and unhappy. As she is not anchored to even the soil around her and constantly looks to change herself, she is not able to find stability in any aspect of her life, especially not relationship stability with Glahn.
Hamsun effectively uses his prowess as a writer to create two very distinguishable relationships in Pan and Growth of the Soil, both of which are unique and can be compared in a multitude of different ways. By comparing the location and relationship stabilities, he is able to demonstrate how differences in lifestyle stability can contribute to the strength of relationships as well as what each member of the relationship is trying to accomplish.