Lorrie Moore's "Birds of America" is not for the weak of heart. It begins with a scenario of hopeless loneliness in "Willing," and in "Dance in America," the question of loneliness and existential crisis takes on another layer: A child with cystic fibrosis will never know what it's like to dance freely. This type of hopelessness is the stuff of severe depression, and by the time the collection is over, there is no getting around it. These are stories about severely hopeless people facing the question of suicidal despair.
For this analysis, let's not look into Moore's pictures of despair, because those themes are explored so blatantly that not much needs to be said. Suffice it to say that Moore includes a story about a would-be mother who accidentally allows another person's child to die. That's the caliber of despair that we're talking about. It's David Foster Wallace type existentialism.
But there's so much more in these stories than their bleak surface. There is no more beautiful image in the collection than the treasure trove that is Peed Onk (pediatric oncology; the child cancer ward). The title itself speaks to the dilemma of optimism and pessimism; "People Like That Are The Only People Here," asks "people like what?" People whose children are dying of cancer. That's the answer on the surface, but it's not the final answer, because the place is full of infinite, unbridled love, support, positivity and that makes the children's dying into a beautiful struggle.
This is essentially an existentialist response to suffering, because it asks the reader to consider the way those people who are suffering the ultimate test are succeeding. They're succeeding because they have finally managed to live as a communal support system, given the extremeness of their plight.
Therefore, the underlying question of the collection is answered. The question of despair that many characters ask in this collection, "Why not kill myself?" is answered: There is hope because there is love in the universe, and there is plenty of love for those who can find it on the earth.
The final story is the dilemma unanswered. The "Terrific Mother" must forgive herself before she can stand the shame of company, but if the Peed Onk society can find hope, then perhaps she will too.
