Summary Of Volcano By Nancy Lord

Topic: Discuss the volcano as a symbol.

People tend to deny their problems at peaceful times because they fear the loss of possessions until they encounter dangerous situations when they realize what they really value. In the story “Volcano” by Nancy Lord, Julia faces a volcano eruption and the volcano symbolizes Julia’s resentment in her marriage and her helplessness in changing her future. The volcano represents Julia’s marriage crisis. Her husband Dave leaves home for work every two weeks and “that [has] been the pattern of [his] life for years now” (8). Julia does not reveal any discontent at the beginning. Yet, after the eruption, she reflects and starts to question her marriage as she continually reminds herself that “[Dave]’s never here when things happen” (22). During the two weeks, Julia needs to take care of the homestead by herself. For the first time she admits that “it [is] too much work for [her] [and] [Dave] should have been here” (24). Her longing for Dave exists on a psychological level more than on the physical level of finishing homestead tasks for her. She doubts her marriage and intimacy with Dave as she asks herself if she expected “years of coping, taking charge of what needed to be done” (25) alone. Julia’s

During the disaster, her pessimistic thoughts keep emerging as she thinks “[she] can’t do anything about a volcano” (12). The eruption causes her reflection and leads to her incapability of reversing her past mistakes and thus she thinks that she should die with “quiet tears, no hysteria, stoicism mixed with regret” (26). She also believes that “a volcano is bigger than both of [Dave and her]” (28), revealing her assumption that their divergence is inevitable. She is destined to cope with challenges herself and the volcano symbolizes her fate and acceptance of her pathetic attempt to maintain their