JumpOff Creek

Jump Off Creek

The Jump-Off Creek introduces the reader to the unforgiving Blue Mountains and the harsh pioneer lifestyle with the tale of Lydia Sanderson, a widow who moves west from Pennsylvania to take up residence in a rundown homestead. She and other characters battle nature, finances, and even each other on occasion in a fight for survival in the harsh Oregon wilderness. Although the story is vividly expressed through the use of precise detail and 1800s slang, it failed to give me a reason to care because the characters are depicted as emotionally inhibited.

Gloss attempts to draw the reader into the story with Lydia's diary entry, giving a taste of the slang used in the 1800s, boosting the reader's curiosity, and showing a little of Lydia's personality and schooling through the character's writing: "6 April Bought the black hinny Mule today, $18, also the spavint gray as my money is so short and I have hope he will put on wt, his eyes are clear w a smart look in them and his feet not tender. Believe I am now outfitted, shall start out at Day Break." (1)

She then moves on to describe each of the characters, and in doing so, their surroundings and how they fit in: "He was cold and wet, and the best part of the day had been used up anyway. He wiped his hands on the grass and let the pinto horse take him toward home. There was little enough comfort there. The house crouched dumb and blind on the high bench in the rain. Jack's horse stood droop-necked and dismal inside the strand of rope fence, but there wasn't any smoke coming from the damned stove (28)."

As evident in the example above, Gloss is a master of description, but she is lacking in the description of her characters' emotions, as seen here: "It had been a while since Lydia had cried over anything. She was surprised when a few dry tears squeezed around the edges of her eyes. But it was the lost babies, she thought, and could not be loneliness, that made her feel this quick, keen need of Evelyn Walker's friendship (82)." It appears that Gloss attempted to show a little of Lydia's emotions, but though her point was expressed clearly, it was said far too dispassionately for the reader to care that Lydia was crying over the lost babies and loneliness.