49 pages • 1 hour read
Kimi Cunningham GrantThese Silent Woods
Kimi Cunningham GrantFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Inescapability of the Past
Through the character of Cooper and the impact of his choices on Finch, the novel presents the negative effect that trying to escape one’s past can have. It shows the consequences of two things from Cooper’s past from which he has been trying to run: his experiences in the War in Afghanistan, and his decision to take Finch and escape to the cabin in the woods.
Cooper admits that fighting in the war had a devastating impact on him. Through his nightmares, the incident in the diner where he imagined that two civilians were carrying weapons, and his panic attacks, the reader sees the effects of PTSD. In particular, the incident wherein he kills two civilians to save the life of Jake continues to torment him. Indeed, Cooper reflects,
[I]f there is one thing I have learned in this life of mine, it’s that the mind is the cruelest of all weapons. Battles, skirmishes, they did their mean work and then they were over, but the wounds on the mind remained: scabs, welts, pockmarks. They never really went away. They could come back, strike again (108).
Although he survived the war and gained valuable survival skills from it, he also carries the trauma and guilt over what he experienced. He notes how “[i]t is no respecter of persons, war. Even if it doesn’t damage your body, it damages your soul. As it did with me. And now I’ve slipped into reliving that dreadful day yet again. Can’t ever seem to get away from it, can’t ever be free” (133). At the same time that Cooper notes the “damage” that the war had on his soul, he also notes that he cannot free himself from it; however, it can be argued that he is unable to be free from it because he has not taken the steps necessary to do so. After the diner, instead of being arrested, he is given the option to seek help because the town sees him as a hero. However, he declines the help, unwilling to seek professional treatment and therapy because he does not want Judge to get credit for “solving everything, for helping the poor wounded warrior” (166-67). In other words, it is Cooper’s own stubbornness and desire to run from his past, rather than seeking the help he needs, that causes him to continue to relive it.
Throughout the novel, Cooper presents several reasons why he felt as though he needed to forcibly take Finch and come to the cabin. He never married Cindy so his paternal rights were in question, and the Judges would have used his history to make a case against him to take Finch. He was unable to manage his PTSD, and the house was a mess after Cindy’s death as he struggled to take care of Finch. After slowly revealing these reasons throughout the novel, he concludes, “you can see how Finch and me had to come out here. You can see we had no choice” (170). He firmly believes that he was left with only two options: lose Finch or kidnap her. Although he chooses the latter and stands by that decision throughout the bulk of the novel, he also realizes the consequences of not taking the appropriate steps to take her legally. As Cooper explains it, “I know the list. The many things Finch is missing out on, based on my decision to bring us here. I’m well aware that there are things that she will simply not have, some of which are rather significant” (86). Finch’s isolation, her lack of an understanding of the larger world, and her awe at something as simple as a television and a grocery store are just a few of the consequences that come as a direct result of Cooper not taking responsibility for his actions and instead fleeing into the wilderness.
The Desire for Connection in the Midst of Isolation
Throughout the novel, Cooper’s decision to isolate himself and Finch from the rest of the world creates a dichotomy between these two ideas: living alone or experiencing human connection. For the first eight years of Finch’s life—and throughout the first part of the novel—Finch and Cooper live in isolation from the outside world. Although Scotland visits them occasionally and Jake comes once each year with supplies, they otherwise have only each other as their only form of company. As a result, there are advantages to this isolation that are shown through Finch’s character. At only eight years old, she is a strong reader, with a vast knowledge of American literature and poetry, and she regularly recites poetry and applies it to their everyday lives. She is also very knowledgeable of nature and living on the land, able to hunt, humanely kill animals for food, trap smaller animals, and find her way around the forest and do so stealthily. Each of these traits are the result of their isolation at the cabin, as Cooper notes that “it’s in her blood, something inherent and primordial, instinctual” as a result of living her entire life that way (100). Despite these advantages to isolation, the novel also posits that there is still a need for human connection and interaction. Finch finds that human connection through Scotland and Jake—befriending both despite Cooper’s hesitancy to trust Scotland.
As Marie and Casey are introduced in the novel, Finch immediately seeks connection with them as well. During Marie’s first night in the cabin, the bond that Finch immediately forms with her forces Cooper to reflect on the fact that “[i]nside I’m seeing that in spite of everything I can give Finch out here—and it’s a good life, the best I can do—there is also something missing. A woman to love and soothe and guide her. A mother” (160). in other words, despite all of the advantages of isolation, one strong argument against that life is the mother figure that Finch is missing in her life. This idea is reflected in Cooper’s interactions with Marie as well. As he grows close to her and realizes how much he misses human connection himself, he becomes internally conflicted: “Torn, that’s how I feel. Pulled in too many directions. […] That she’s even here: another adult, a beautiful woman. All of it” (158). He notes that there is “something blooming between the two of [them]. A closeness. A possibility” (186). To this point, Cooper had felt that his life with Finch was enough; however, being with Marie and having a connection with her reveals the reality that, in many ways, human connection is vital and more important than the advantages that isolation offers.
The Ambiguity of Right and Wrong
These Silent Woods presents the idea that the line between right and wrong is unclear, often changing depending on circumstances, point of view, and who is involved. For Cooper, even something as supposedly clear-cut as the law is ambiguous, as his decision to kidnap Finch and flee to the woods is legally wrong, but in his mind justifiable. Throughout the course of the novel, he attempts to justify his decision and explain why it was right. He slowly reveals how he struggles with PTSD, how Cindy’s parents sought to take Finch from him, how his aunt’s home was a mess and reflected poorly on him, and how the mess only became worse after Cindy died and he was forced to care for Finch alone. In his mind, from his perspective, he did the right thing by taking Finch and coming to the woods—even if the law and the public see him as a “first-rate monster.”
Cooper’s central justification throughout the novel for this decision is that being with Finch and raising her will give her “the best life” possible (54). He believes that he can teach her the difference between right and wrong, as is shown by his explanation of the “ethics of the woods” (4), and his explanation that his second goal for her—second only to being with Finch—is to “help her grow up to be a person with good values […] who did the right thing, no matter what” (227). However, the idea of what is “the right thing” becomes clouded, as Cooper’s vision of what is right—remaining hidden in the woods in order to stay together and hide from his past—and Finch’s vision—helping an innocent girl who is being attacked by her boyfriend—conflict. When he confronts Finch about potentially exposing herself to Casey’s boyfriend, she argues with him: “He was hurting her. What was I supposed to do, just stand by and watch?” (226). Cooper thinks to himself: “Yes. No” (226). Cooper’s inability to answer this question exposes the ambiguousness of what is right. On the one hand, he has attempted to raise her to do the right thing—such as protecting an innocent girl; on the other, his version of right has always been to remain together at all costs so that father and daughter can be together. This ambiguity, in turn, causes him to question his past and the decisions he made that brought them here. When he finally reveals his history to Finch and why they are in hiding, she questions him: “‘Still. It was wrong of them to want to take me away from you.’ Was it? I look back now with a degree of clarity that my grief blinded me to, back then” (245). For the first time, Finch’s courage, which risked their living situation, forces Cooper to consider his own feelings of right and wrong.
Ultimately, the novel leaves it up to the reader to determine how to define right and wrong, and whose actions in the novel were the correct ones. Cooper’s thoughts about Judge best exemplify this, as he thinks,
The thing is, me and Judge had never gotten along, and here’s why. He always saw everything in black-and-white, which is maybe what judges are supposed to do. Me, I saw things how they really are: not black-and-white, but a hundred shades in between (165).
In other words, few things in life are clearly defined, most of all the idea of right and wrong; instead, things are ambiguous and dependent upon many factors.
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