Set in a Finnish-American community in Upper Michigan, How Many Tears, a novel, represents the tears of pain, anger, and frustration that the protagonist, Ann T'oivonen, has shed merely because of the circumstances of her birth. It is a story of success, since she moves toward the ability to choose, toward some primitive level of autonomy, and it is a story that tries to represent the real problems of real people caught in an abusive, alcoholic world, a brutal world, where the characters find themselves neither by choice, nor by intention. Ann's struggle is made more difficult by her lack of education and support and her inability to define for herself what she wants from life. She moves from an abusive childhood to marrying an alcoholic whom she leaves only after her life has been physically threatened. Adrift in the world, she accepts charity from another man, who will be her second lover, but he too is an alcoholic, and she leaves him, finally in search of something for herself. How Many Tears is a story, not of Ann's struggle for enrichment--it is her struggle for survival. / Department of English
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/183510 |
| Date | January 1988 |
| Creators | Hirvi, Beth Louise |
| Contributors | Taylor, Harry H. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | iii, 273 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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