The Grass is Singing

The contrasts between farm life and city life are at the center of Mary’s struggle with both her identity and purpose. When Mary lives in the city as a single woman, she benefits from a great job that allows her financial security and even the occasional frivolity. She goes out nearly every night with friends and sees no need to marry. Though she eventually meets Dick, she has no real love for or interest in farm life, which Dick embodies. Dick Turner hates city life and the frivolities that accompany it. When in the city, he wants nothing more than to leave, even feeling violent when in the city and among all the people. Mary feels the same way about farm life. On the farm, she wants nothing more than to return to the city and is violent toward the natives partly because of her unhappiness. Her hope is that Dick might make enough money for them to leave the farm and return to the city. Despite the years on the farm with Dick, farm life is hard for Mary to adjust to. There is often nothing for her to do because of their poverty. City life meant that she was always occupied with something, but out on the farm, boredom and lack of purpose consume her, casting her into a deep depression.