![]() ![]() Margaret is feverish with a deadly illness and is confined to the Pesthouse with little hope of recovery. ![]() While Jackson continues forward, Franklin seeks rest in a seemingly abandoned stone building in a forest. Within sight of their goal, Franklin is forced, by an enflamed knee, to stop. Like many Americans, Franklin Lopez and his brother, Jackson, leave their farm to begin the long trek east. The only hope rests with reaching the east coast and obtaining passage by ship to Europe. The economy collapses, industry ceases, and the remaining populace returns to subsistence farming. In a work of outstanding originality, Jim Crace’s The Pesthouse envisions a future America in ruins and a reversal of history: desperate Americans seeking passage to the promised land of Europe.Ĭrace’s future United States is a lawless wasteland. ![]() In the imagined future, the great ships play a different role. In sight of the Statute of Liberty, the huddled masses disembarked in search of the American dream. During the years of America’s ascendancy, the great ships brought waves of immigrants to the promised land. ![]()
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