Explication of Loss of Loved Ones in The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys

In the novel The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys, three characters experience number 36, loss of loved ones, out of Polti's thirty-six dramatic situations. The character of Gwen Davis in the novel could be described as a humble and honest women, who desires love because she is so empty inside, she experiences loss of loved ones in many ways. "Gwen seeks comfort in her knowledge of flora and in the weight of her massive volume of Ellen Willmott's Genus Rosa, which she sets on top of her chest and imagines that it is the weight of a lover"(Sawka, Karma). In the novel it is clear to see that all Gwen wants is to be loved, as a child her mother would always ask her self, "how could I have produced such a creature"(Humphreys)? Her mother never showed any love towards her, and Gwen never really had the chance to love her mother either. They never had a normal loving mother-daughter relationship, which is why I believe that Gwen strives for love throughout the novel.

When Gwen finally experiences her first love, she doesn't know how to go about things. She falls in love with officer Raley and takes a leap of faith and tells him. For that one moment she felt alive, until she made the mistake of "calling it love"(Humphreys, 197). Raley reveals to her about his friend who died."Peter. He wasn't just my friend. He was my lover. We have been, had been, lovers since we were young. I've tried, while I've been here at Mosel, I've tried to get over it. But I can't. There is nothing else for me"(Humphreys,197). This information to Gwen was like taking a bullet to the heart, her first attempt at love is shut down so quick, there is also no closure between the two of them as Raley leaves the next day to be sent out to front lines. Gwen experiences the loss of a loved one.

Another instance where Gwen experiences the loss of a loved one is when her only true friend Jane passes away due to not eating. Jane decided to stop eating when her hope that she had for her husband missing in action is put to a stop. Jane had has much hope for her husband to be found alive, this hope that Jane had gave Gwen hope for love as well. Jane kept her husband alive in her head by loving "him fiercely and absolutely. Believe him alive"(Humphreys 133). Gwen liked this character trait in Jane and admired her for it, this may have been the reason that they became to close, they opened up easily to each other. Eventually Jane's hope was put to a rest when letter had been sent to her saying that "they had found the body of Andrew. He hadn't been over the ocean as expected. His plane crashed over land. His body had been found in the woods in France, hanging from a tree by his parachute. He had been dead for months. He had been dead the entire time having being reported missing"(Humphreys, 207). This upsets Jane greatly and she falls into a depression mode and stops eating to the point where she is "too weak to leave her room"(Humphreys, 207). Gwen now has to watch her friend that had been so strong in the past, die a slow and painful death. This is extremely hard for Gwen as she knows she will be losing another loved one. Jane was the only person that Gwen could ever connect with and she "will be remembered"(Humphreys, 211). Gwen experiences another loss of a loved one.

Overall, Gwen lived a hard life. It would be hard to imagine what it would feel like to be Gwen. A hopeless dreamer of love at heart, but never being able to experience what it felt to be loved back. A women who lives with the fact that the only hope of love she ever had has left or passed away. The only love she has left is the love for her gardens. Throughout this book we realize the hardships that Gwen has lived through. She truly experiences Polti's number 36, loss of loved ones in this book, as she never was loved, or felt loved by her mother, she loved only one man, who denied her and left, and had to witness her only friend Jane, whom she loved, die. Gwen believes " every story is a story about death. But perhaps, if we are lucky, our story about death is also a story about love. And this is what I remembered of love"(Humphreys, 212). If Gwen had the true experience of love in her life, then her perception of love would not be so harsh, as her story reassembled hurt more than it did love. It is sad to think that this is someones perception of love. Gwen truly suffered from loss of loved ones, unfortunately, the loved ones that she lost did not always love her back.