Pandemic Literature: An Escape Into Reality | Importance of Perspective

For the reader who prefers a warmer narrative filled with character growth and dialogue that includes lighter undertones of pressing issues concerning pandemics, this is the read for you. William Maxwell wrote They Came Like Swallows, a novel set in 1918 just after World War 1 and just before the Spanish Influenza pandemic. Maxwell took the title of this book from the poem by William Butler Yeats titled “Coole Park”: “They came like swallows and like swallows went,/ And yet a woman’s powerful character/ Could keep a swallow to its first intent…”. 

They Came like Swallows follows the Morison family, Elizabeth, James, Robert, and Bunny, with the narration being told from the perspectives of Bunny, Robert, and James. While this book is about the hardships a family faces due to war and a pandemic, it is somehow in the same respect hardly about that. It focuses more on their journey as a family, their familial relationships with one another, more importantly their relationship with Elizabeth, and their emotional issues they each deal with. Elizabeth is the mother of Bunny and Robert and the wife of James. Each character’s relationship with Elizabeth is of great importance to this story. Afterall, the “powerful woman” described in Yeats’ poem is portrayed through Maxwell’s character Elizabeth. It is so enlightening to see the story told through each of the men in her life and get an understanding of how they view their relationships to her. 

Switching the narration throughout the book respectively from Bunny, the youngest brother, to Robert, the oldest brother, then to James, their father, is a great way to portray the ideas and voices of people at different stages in life dealing with the same difficult period. This ultimately is what allows the writing to feel so transparent and authentic. The lens of a child’s eye offers a certain sharpness and authenticity frequently overlooked. The eyes of a young mind are always to be trusted and grant total curiosity; a great way to open the novel and grab the reader's undivided attention until the narration switches on into the last pages.

Maxwell has such a tender and beautiful style of writing that creates an air of grace and simplicity while discussing ideas that have tragically affected people. Nothing about this book is exciting or deeply telling, yet it does such a wonderful job of entrancing readers into caring about a family’s life. Maxwell writes this story with memories of what he lived through and the comparison can be made between him and Bunny, the youngest character. Themes of isolation, longing, and perseverance are best learned in this novel and that is what makes it so difficult to put down. “It was the unexpected that happened, always.”

This book is well written and does exactly what Maxwell intended for it to do; allows an inside look into a family’s life amid two terrible life-altering events and what this means for their family. A war and a pandemic are not easy nor are they fun things to live through. They Came Like Swallows is an incredibly affecting and enthralling story of family and living through tough times. This is the perfect read for the reader who prefers a heartwarming account of how a family meets and grows from tragedy.

Works Cited

“Coole Park, 1929- The Poem” Critical Guide to Poetry for Students Ed. Philip K. Jason. eNotes.com, Inc. 2002 eNotes.com 20 Nov, 2020.
Maxwell, William. They Came Like Swallows. New York: Vintage. 1997.