Moon Over Manifest

“Funny how people who know exactly where they are can talk so much about directions. I guess those who don’t, just keep moving straight ahead. You don’t need much direction for that.”

Abilene listens to Shady tell her where his house is. Abilene has experienced most of her life on the move, without a clear destination—or concept of home—in mind. She realizes that movement does not imply that someone is actually making progress, they just don’t yet have a place to settle.

“Kids are universals too, in a way. Every school has the ones who think they’re a little better than everybody else and the ones who are a little poorer than everybody else. And somewhere in the mix there’s usually ones who are pretty decent. Those were the ones who made it hard to leave when the time came. And sooner or later, it always came.”

On her first day of school, Abilene sees familiar sights, even though the kids are all new to her. There are things that are always predictable. People are one of them, as is the inevitable time to move on. Her reflection about children her own age demonstrates her lived experience and signals her nontraditional upbringing with Gideon.

“Even on the run, Jinx felt a sense of freedom, and for the first time, he felt like he could make a fresh start. Still, it was hard to make a fresh start when there was a dead body in your past. It had been an accident. But Finn had said no sheriff would believe that, and his dogs wouldn’t care.”

Jinx substitutes the relief of not having been captured with the comfort of real freedom. He still believes that he killed Junior, highlighting his sense of conscience. Guilt makes it impossible for him to really start over. By the time he returns to Manifest, he knows he was not the killer, and he can finally be free.

“Memories were like sunshine. They warmed you up and left a pleasant glow, but you couldn’t hold them.”

Abilene lists the memories she has of Gideon that are a comfort, but she is less sure that they are real. The warmth of the sun fades, just like the comfort of memories. As the story progresses, the accumulation of memories strengthens the effect. Like the sunshine, comforting memories always return.

“Everyone deserves a do-over. Now you’ve got yours.”

Shady gives Abilene a skipping rope and tells her that Manifest may offer her a second chance. Later in the novel, after the Remember When contest, the people of Manifest view Abilene as their do-over. They help her begin her life in earnest, while she helps them remember the lives that they have lived without shame or remorse.

“All kinds of things can be accomplished when someone’s looking the wrong way.”

Jinx’s comment about taking Mr. Hinkley’s fireworks foreshadows the town’s future tactic to fake the Spanish Influenza to keep the authorities at bay while they attempt to raise money to purchase Widow Cane’s land. The comment reaches into the future, as it foretells Abilene’s own distraction from being left in Manifest by learning more about Miss Sadie’s stories.

“And remember, Abilene Tucker: to write a good story, one must watch and listen.”

Sister Redempta’s advice demonstrates the novel’s theme of The Power of Storytelling and speaks directly to Hattie Mae’s writing ability for the newspaper. By watching and listening, she provides summaries of events from the past in her columns, allowing Abilene to understand Manifest better.

“Maybe the world wasn’t made of universals that could be summed up in neat little packages. Maybe there were just people. People who were tired and hurt and lonely and kind in their own way and their own time.”

After finding the worms, Abilene changes her perspective on universals. She remembers Lettie’s happiness when Ruthanne asked her to sing. Abilene’s categorization of people provides her with easy answers, but now she wonders if her generalizations are making her less insightful.

“When there is suffering, we look for a reason. That reason is easiest found within oneself.”

Miss Sadie describes Jinx’s guilt over Ned’s enlistment. She thinks that sometimes suffering occurs without reason. But when there is a reason for suffering, self-scrutiny is a more useful tool than blame. Her quote foreshadows the reveal that she knows the reasons for nearly everyone’s suffering in Manifest.

“Some fish get caught for biting and some fish just get caught for being in the wrong part of the pond.”

Shady tries to calm Jinx after Sheriff Dean’s visit. He has enough insight into human nature to suspect that Jinx is guilty of little more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Drastic times call for drastic measures.”

Shady tells the crowd at the bar that they should listen to Jinx’s idea. While Jinx’s plan would be unwise during normal circumstances, these are not normal circumstances. They will do anything to acquire the land if it will help them resist Devlin’s expansion.

“Gives a body hope that maybe we’re fighting for something. Got to admit something to you, buddy. Sometimes I lose track of exactly what we’re fighting for. But then, I’ve been losing track of a lot of things here lately.”

Ned writes that he can scarcely remember why they came to war. His letters provide insight into the war overseas and how Jinx and Ned drift apart after being separated.

“If there was one thing I was learning about the town of Manifest, it was that Secret was its middle name. And if someone had a secret, I seemed to be the one to tell. One thing was clear. Those were unusual times.”

After Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Dawkins warn Abilene to be careful, she is more confused—and intrigued—than ever. Miss Sadie will eventually tell her nearly all of the town’s secrets.

“Gideon says wandering souls tend to walk the same roads. For a lot of folks all over the country, those roads pass through places like this. Places where people who have no home, no money, no hope gather together of an evening to share a fire and maybe some beans and coffee. Where somebody leaves a mirror and a razor behind in a tree so the next fella can catch a quick shave. Where, for a time, they might not feel quite so alone.”

Abilene thinks about The Jungle and how Gideon said there were many places like it. People who wander have similar qualities. She thinks about how she identifies with people who never rest and who never settle, illustrating how she still feels like an outsider in Manifest.

“Even though I wasn’t familiar with the tales they told, I felt like I wasn’t just reading about them. It was more like I was remembering them. As if somehow their memories were becoming mine.”

Abilene’s sense of identity shifts as she reads the Remember When entries. She realizes that everyone has a story, and although the details of the stories may differ, they still bind people in a shared experience. Their memories feel familiar to Abilene because they are memories of universal experiences of love, loss, pain, grief, and desperation.

“Who would dare think the outcast and abandoned can find a home? Who would dream that one can love without being crushed under the weight of it? A miracle cure to heal the sick? Pah. What makes us think any of this could be true? And yet all of us, we participate in this myth, we create it, perpetuate it.”

Miss Sadie confronts the mythical nature of the stories she tells, reinforcing her role as the town’s storyteller. In doing so, she provides Abilene with a stronger sense of identity as she feels she can relate to the people of Manifest as they respond in such ways to their desperation, love, and pain.

“These people don’t even know you. Have you told them you’re nothing but a jinx? That bad luck follows you everywhere and people all around you end up in bad straits or dying? First your daddy, then your mama, then Junior. I’m surprised no one around here has been touched by your curse, but then, it’s only a matter of time, ain’t that right, Jinx?”

Finn’s presence is more of a curse to Jinx than anything else. He is also threatened by the idea that Jinx is bonding with the people of Manifest. This makes him more independent of Finn and makes it less likely that Finn will be able to exploit him.

“It had been such a consolation to me to get wrapped up in Jinx’s story. To grow to love him and care about him. To wish and hope that maybe he’d grown up and become my daddy. That he was loyal and faithful and true. And he’d never leave his daughter behind.”

After Miss Sadie tells her about Finn catching Jinx, Abilene tells her the story is wrong. She has become increasingly convinced that Jinx must be her father. If the story is true, it means the comfort she took from the story is meaningless and someone else left her behind. Now she’s alone again.

“The line between truth and myth is sometimes difficult to see.”

Abilene remembers Miss Sadie saying this to her multiple times. She hates the thought that her own history might just be part of a tall tale, a superstition, or a myth. Without more details, she can’t determine the truth of her own situation. She is left stuck in the middle, again, in a story without a beginning or end.

“You can tell a lot about a man by the trench he digs for himself. Some are shallow and clumpy. Others are well dug and roomy enough for two. Kind of feels like sleeping in someone else’s bed for a spell, but I always feel a debt of gratitude to whoever did it.”

Ned writes two days before his death. The war has affected him terribly. As the idea of home has gotten more distant, Ned seeks comfort in any sense of familiarity. Even the notorious trenches of World War I provide a sense of comfort in the absence of his loved ones.

“We couldn’t forgive ourselves…for not being able to live up to what we’d convinced ourselves of. That there was something special about Manifest. That we could overcome our past and start over.”

Shady tells Abilene that Jinx left after they heard about Ned’s death. Shady says the town didn’t blame Jinx for Ned’s death, but themselves. They pretended that the past could be beaten. Abilene will make it possible for them to try again and to honor their past lives while also learning from their mistakes.

“This needle always points north. But in here, she says, pointing to her heart, I have a compass that always points to you. No matter where you are, I will find you.”

The Hungarian woman says goodbye to her son at Ellis Island. She gives him a locket with a compass inside of it. It represents the same sentiment as the compass that Gideon gave to Abilene—its only purpose is to point its holder to their destination.

“But the woman, the mother, she watches, she waits, she loves. And she bears the weight of that love. She bears the loss of her son to the war. She bears the story of Manifest. When everyone else is crushed by it, by the loss, the pain. When no one else can bear to remember. She is the keeper of the story. Until someone who needs to hear it comes along. When it will be time to make it known. To manifest. That’s what a diviner does.”

Miss Sadie explains her story and how she came to chronicle and contain the story of Manifest. She remembers when the grief is too much for the others. She fulfills her duty as a mother and keeps the promise she made to the boy. She sacrificed her happiness to ensure his acceptance in Manifest.