Clara Callan: The Bonds of Sisterhood

Richard B. Wright emphasizes a specific relationship between two sisters in Clara Callan, about opposing lives and views but fueled by love and respect for one another. The entire novel is centered on the relationship between Clara and Nora through an epistolary style, with the sisters writing back-and-forth to one another. Furthermore, the differences between the two sisters are unmistakable, and they only are emphasized more strongly with one living in New York and the other in a small town in Ontario. Clara and Nora can easily be seen as polar opposites, and yet, the love and respect they hold for one another is clear. Clara and Nora reflect and dramatize each other through the different styles in which they live their lives, and yet, as different as their lives are, they always return to a meeting point in which they are once again joined as ordinary sisters.

The first factor in Clara and Nora's relationship is the difference in geography. The sisters are separated by different geography. Nora lives in the ever enticing and most exciting city of New York, while Clara lives in a small and dull town in Ontario. The difference in geography for the two sisters contributes to the different cultures that they live in, as well as the contrast in their personalities. Nora is the sister who does things with her life, and who is always off in search of more adventure, while Clare is the sister who chooses to write about them. However, this is made more apparent by the fact that Nora is the sister who chose to change her life, and to make it more exciting by moving to New York by herself. Clara doesn't want Nora to move to New York, "Nora left for New York City today. I think she is taking a terrible chance going all the way down there but, of course, she wouldn't listen" (3). The fact that the sisters live in completely contrasting cities alters their relationship due to the fact that they are surrounded by different norms in their specific cultures. Clara lives in a small village where nothing is kept secret, and where a person is easily discriminated against. It is the complete opposite for Nora. New York is so massive in comparison that nobody knows anything about the other person, and people are always doing such bizarre things that nothing is ever given a second thought. An example of this is the comparison between Clara dating Frank who was an older married man, and Nora dating Les who was also married:

Nora phoned this morning. She and Mr. Cunningham had a "swell time" together this weekend; they went to some resort. I could not help feeling a little angry and jealous as I listened to her. Nora lives in an immense city where a woman can do whatever she likes with her life. Here it is "What will the neighbours think?" (298)

Nora has absolutely no trouble dating a married man in New York, but for Clara it causes talk, and thus is looked down upon by her friends and the rest of the town. Therefore, the big city mentality versus the small-town mentality highlights the vast differences in the two sisters lives.

Although, Nora is the sister living in the sophisticated city, Clara is the sister who is portrayed as the sophisticated one. Nora enjoys going to parties and living her life day-to-day, but Clara prefers the quieter lifestyle. It even takes some pushing to convince Clara to visit Nora in the city. She is portrayed as a character that prefers her small town to that of visiting her sister in a new city, even if it is just for a short while, "I don't know about New York. It's a long way to go and travel is so dear. I'll have to think about it, Nora" (65). Clara rejects all signs of an evolving world. She refuses to invest in a telephone even if it would make communication between the two sisters easier, and even after Nora buys Clara a radio as a gift she rarely uses it. Instead Clara prefers living the rural lifestyle of a schoolteacher who has followed in her father's footsteps. Nevertheless, Clara's sophistication stems from her interest in highbrow literature. She responds to these classic novels, which contain values that she attempts to adopt herself. She wants to possess the sophistication, goodness, and beauty, which highbrow literature depicts. In addition, Clara's highbrow literature is the complete opposite of "The House on Chestnut Street," which shows yet another contrast between the two sisters in terms of their interests and viewpoints. Another element of Clara's sophistication appears in the form of her poetry. Clara's poems are centered on depressing and dreary subject matter, but lack her satisfaction, which causes her to discard them. However, the fact that she isn't writing cliché poetry serves to aid in her sophistication. She looks at the world beneath the layer of beauty that everyone else views, and instead focuses on the things that most would choose to avoid, "Clara ponders life, meaning, loss and love (or lack thereof)" (Joelle M. d'Entremont, Cercles). Clara's poetry also provides an important distinction between the two sisters. An example of this is seen when Nora can't understand why Clara would choose to write about such things as Henry Hill, "Why would you write a poem about that dirty old Henry Hill and Father's overcoat? Aren't there nicer things to write about?" (19). Nora doesn't understand why anyone would choose to write about such things, and through this the readers are able to see the dissimilarities in the personalities of the two sisters. Thus, Clara adopts values, interests, and beliefs that are a complete reverse to those of Nora's exciting and ever-changing ones. The evidence is therefore in the fact that although Nora lives in the city of sophistication it is Clara who integrates herself within the lifestyle of sophistication.

As sisters, Clara and Nora assume completely different lifestyles. Nora chooses the life of a performer. She wants to see if she can succeed in New York as a radio performer and therefore leaves Whitfield, and Clara, in search of bigger and better things. Nora's artistic and melodramatic personality is described within the first page of the novel, "Father used to say that Nora's entire life was a performance" (3). Nora makes a life for herself in New York, and enjoys attending parties, traveling, meeting new people, and partaking in the splendors of such a city as New York. In comparison, Clara chooses to live a life of routine. Clara follows in her father's footsteps and becomes a schoolteacher at the small schoolhouse in Whitfield, Ontario. When Clara is not at the schoolhouse she mostly keeps to herself by taking walks, learning to stoke the coal furnace, writing misunderstood poems, and above all else refusing to invest in a telephone until an older and undeniably married man enters her life. Clara lacks almost everything that Nora has access to. She leads a restricted lifestyle that is largely enhanced by the small-town mentality of isolation. However, although Nora's is the more exciting lifestyle, it is Clara within the small Ontario town whose life takes a traumatic turn. She becomes pregnant at the hands of a rapist, is discriminated against for engaging in relations with a married man causing the loss of her job, and nearing the novel's conclusion becomes pregnant again with Frank's child. It is obvious that there is a reversal of roles. Nora transforms into the older sister coming to the aid of her older and seemingly struggling sister. Furthermore, although it is Nora who has moved to the big city of New York, it is also Nora who tries to persuade Clara to be realistic and accepting of her life, "[Nora] turns out to be the naive, sentimental sister, romanticizing the simplicities of village life" (Margaret Cheney, The Washington Post). It is only when Clara has no other choice that she breaks her silence, and it is when the silence is broken that Nora takes a step forward and Clara a step backward. Clara becomes the sister in need of help, differing from the idea at the beginning that Nora would be the sister who would need her sister's help. In addition, although it is evident that Clara would have been more than satisfied in leading a relatively boring and uneventful life in Whitfield, while her sister engaged in the exciting lifestyle, it is the opposite that happens. Nora becomes the grounded one, and Clara becomes the one forced to endure rape, abortion, the loss of her job, heartache, and another pregnancy. Therefore, it is not only the careers and cities Clara and Nora choose which aid in shaping the lifestyles of the two sisters, but also the events that are endured by the sisters within the contrasting cities of New York and Whitfield.

Clara Callan is a novel about the bond of sisterhood, and the hardships and heartaches that Clara and Nora are forced to endure. It sets forth the element of love, respect, and faith in two sisters who live different lives, driven by their own decisions, and yet disrupted by chance. They are sisters in two different worlds, but who always return to one another. Furthermore, it is the differences in Clara and Nora's personalities and lifestyles, which shape their relationship into one that is forced to endure much more than could ever be thought possible. Therefore, it is the experiences faced together, if not physically, then through faithful letters, which solidifies the relationship of Clara and Nora into one of no boundaries.

Works Cited

Cheney, Margaret. "Northern Souls." The Washington Post. Oct. 2002: BW06.

D'Entremont, Joelle. "Clara Callan." Cercles. 2002.

http://www.cercles.com/review/r7/wright.html>