Absent

In a world of isolation, bitter cold, and icy graves, it would take a miracle for love to thrive. Sjon, the author of The Blue Fox clearly doesn't believe in miracles. What astonished me the most about this short one hundred and fifteen page book, was the surprising absence of love. It seems to have fled this land, leaving only cold behind. Not once can I recall the mention of a married couple, or even a couple, except for one instance. That is with one of the book's main character where his past love (or absence of it) with another woman created the plot of the book. This character, Reverend Baldur Skuggason, had been in relations with a woman long before the events  of the book take place. These situations are vaguely mentioned, but he had a daughter with this woman, and the daughter had Downs syndrome. For a reason unknown to the narrator, the couple spared the young girl's life, which was quite rare for people living in 1800's Iceland. Normally, I would be able to provide some insight as to whether or not this was a strength or a weakness, but in a book as complex and dreary as this one, I cannot. I do not know the reasoning behind keeping this child, whether it was for love or personal gain I cannot say. Moving on, the girl escaped her house unknowingly, where she was found by a different man, who eventually tracked down her parents and returned her home. This man comes back to the home years later to find the mother dead from poison, and the Reverend trading his daughter into sexual slavery for a gun and some ammo. Fast forwarding into the future, the daughter is found and eventually taken to the town where the Reverend presides. Being the awful person he is, he does not let her participate in Mass because her out of tune singing interferes with the others' connections with God.

I just remember now that there is one other relationship present. The Reverend's main helper is actually in a love affair with the Reverend's daughter. Yet no love is ever shown between the two, it is just mentioned and hinted at.

This absence of love, however, is a vital piece of evidence for my question. There is no love present in this relationship. The mother dies for an unknown reason, she may have been the one that saved her daughters life from beginning because of love, but that cannot be proven, all we know is that the father has no love for his daughter. This upsets me. I do not see the reverend as strong because he doesn't love his daughter. Throughout these various works we are reading, I am starting to a see  a pattern that the only needed, the only important love, is that between parent and child. When this love does not exist, chaos seems to follow. All the other love in this world may be trivial but the love a parent bares for his/her child (not the other way around) is the only love that truly matters.