Outside Over There---2: Papa and Mama

 When I first leafed Outside Over There reading it, the two characters that fascinated me the most were the father and mother . They are strongest characters in the framing story in which Ida's story plays out, both in the real world and in the goblin realm. 

The very first words of the book are "When papa was away at sea." Upon reading this I knew that one of the fundamental themes of the book would be the absence of the masculine authority. One can read everything that takes place in the story as being a consequence of this.

On the next page, we meet the mother, who has retreated to the arbor. At least that's what it looks like. In the absence of the masculine hierarchy, the feminine is overwhelmed bearing the full responsibility of order and retreats to the garden. The mother's posture is one of defeat. Her gaze is out to sea, towards her absent husband.  Initially it is she who has turned her back on the children as seen in that plate, so it is little wonder her daughter will do the same to her sister. The goblins have already taken notice of this weakness, instigated by the absent father, and have brought their ladders to assault. All the dysfunction is on display. Even the dog is placid while the goblins romp.

The core issue is then misattention. Being a sailor is an honorable occupation, and for the father to be at sea is not considered true abandonment. Because of this, the crisis will be muted and rectifiable. The goblins can be turned around and defeated. Yet it is still a willful absence, a placing of his attention elsewhere, and we will need a willful restoration of his presence to allow the feminine to solve the crisis.

In this sense, I imagine the title Outside Over There to be perhaps what the mother, in her melancholia, tells Ida when asked where her father is, and perhaps what Ida tells her baby sister. "He's outside...over there," while gesturing to the sea. The vagueness is what lets goblins enter, from their own land of vagueness.

Ida's horn is fascinating to me. When we see her in her bedroom, she holding it (while ignoring her sister) in such a way as it looks like a hand mirror. The mirror is the very symbol of the feminine, and in fairy tales, we learn that one dysfunction of the feminine is self absorption into a mirror. Once her father's voice is heard, however, it becomes the (masculine) trumpet that sends the goblins in flight. It reminds me of the horn blown by Gideon in the Bible. The instrument itself is arbitrary. It is the righteousness by which she uses it that matters.

Also it is fascintaing to mo that the re-establishment of communication from the father apparently happens simultaneously in both the dream realm of the goblins and in the real life framing story. This is what re-establishes the proper order in the family, where the attention of all is focussed in the right place. 

I love the contrast of the mother initally in despair the arbor compared to follow up plate when she receives the letter from her husband. Her change is posture is striking. She is flowing with life again. That's all it to fix things---the father's letter that does not even specify a time for his return. With merely the genuine anticipation of the return of the masculine, the feminine, no longer overwhelmed, is able to spring into effective action and the demons are banished.