Hope versus Sorrow

Every person's life will be affected by sad events, but Barnhill's novel focuses on the importance of a person's resilience to their sad encounters and how they use their experiences to help or harm. The Protectorate is seen as the least resilient force in this novel. While it is made up of lots of people, the Protectorate operates as one character in many ways. The townspeople live together in the Bog, and they survive in the dark fog together. Likewise, the townspeople wake up and live in the fog together, in one simultaneous event. The Protectorate is established by Sister Ignatia, who claims that the city is for anyone who needs a safe place to live after the volcano eruption. This is a sad start to a city, and the Protectorate itself is not resilient at all. It is described as being "A dismal...