I Cheerfully Refuse

Leif Enger

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 2024

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-10

Chapters 11-19

Chapters 20-27

Chapters 28-37

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

The Title: I Cheerfully Refuse

Content Warning: This guide includes moments of and references to suicide, addiction, abuse, and domestic violence.

Molly Thorn’s book I Cheerfully Refuse is a motif in the novel that supports the theme of Processing Grief to Heal. The novel carries significant emotional meaning for Rainy since Molly Thorn is Lark’s favorite author and the novel is the last she ever read and the reason leading to her murder. As Rainy journeys across Lake Superior, he takes the novel with him, trying to read it but burdened by the sadness it evokes through memories of Lark. However, Sol’s arrival and her love of the book change how Rainy eventually sees it: “It was different reading aloud to a tiny rapt human. Molly told her life as if she were that moment dreaming it into existence” (208). I Cheerfully Refuse reflects Rainy’s journey through grief to healing by showing how his relationship to the novel changes between the death of his wife and his new relationship with Sol. When Sol shows how interested she is in the novel, I Cheerfully Refuse transforms from a book of sadness to one of hope, in which the passages carry more meaning and excitement as Rainy watches Sol fall in love with it. It shows him a new future in which he can find happiness, while still remembering Lark and all she gave him.

Willow

Willow is a drug that quickly provides a peaceful and comfortable death. The drug becomes quite popular in the Lake Superior area, and Werryck and the astronauts deem it a highly valuable commodity. Willow is a motif that links to the theme of Navigating Dystopia and demonstrates the need for people to envision a brighter future. The use of Willow skyrockets because of the general population’s belief that the world is only growing worse. They want to find a better world and don’t view using the drug as death by suicide but as a transition: “Willow was named for the sensation it was said to evoke of climbing through alpine tundra toward whatever comes after […] They’d been working up to this. Like all explorers they had a credo. Go in search of better” (22). The desire to find a better world stems from the deteriorating conditions in the world of the novel. The wealth gap exponentially grows, and the environment is crumbling to the point of resulting in apocalyptic scenes like corpses rising from the depths of the lake. Navigating through the treacheries of this dystopia means not only avoiding the immediate dangers but keeping a sense of hope for the future alive.

Tashi’s Comet

A symbol that represents new beginnings, Tashi’s Comet is present throughout the novel. Some characters associate comets with tragedy and horrific moments. In Chapter 1, Labrino says that the last time Haley’s Comet crossed the sky, the Challenger explosion and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster followed. Rainy, however, excitedly anticipates the comet’s arrival, refusing to see it as a bad omen.

When the comet finally arrives and reaches perihelion, the town of Jolie celebrates its arrival rather than shying away from it and even throws a party: “Jolie was throwing itself a little midweek party. They’d built a stage on the street, and the Vagrants would play, and everybody would eat and drink and dance until midnight, then shut off all the lights in town and look up for a while” (325). After hearing so much about how the comet called for terrible occurrences, Rainy finds a new community that looks to celebrate this celestial phenomenon with happiness and awe. This community’s approach to the comet mirrors Rainy’s view. Not only is this a new beginning for Rainy as he makes a new home in Jolie, but the comet arrives at the same moment that he begins to finally heal from Lark’s death. While the comet is in perihelion, he travels to the Slate Islands and feels Lark’s presence, receiving the resolution and assertion he needs from her to begin his new future. For Rainy, the worst happens before the comet, and with its arrival, a bright future awaits.