Grief

Grief is a major theme in this novel. The story of the trouble at Swamplandia! began when Hilola Bigtree died of ovarian cancer. From that point things went progressively worse and worse, like a domino effect. A good deal of the tragedy in the novel is caused by the way the characters deal with their grief.

The character who had the biggest impact on the events on Swamplandia! because of the way he chose to deal with her grief was the Chief. The Chief was Hilola’s husband. While it is understandable that he would grieve for his wife, he seemed to retreat from life. He threw himself into his work and paid attention only to the physical labor that needed to be done on the island. Even though Kiwi and Ava told him that Ossie was dabbling in the occult, the Chief passed it off...