The Tin Flute - Gabrielle Roy

1. A pretty anti-war theme riding through this novel.  The futility of war and the dangers of overzealous nationalism/patriotism.  Each side geared up to hate the other - for what?  For a paycheque.  This was true during the WWII and it still is today.  Poor Americans are generally the ones who join the military and get deployed to dangerous zones to protect the empire - only today, they masquerade as 'peacekeepers'.  I love the social commentary on draft dodgers vs. pacifists.
2. Women seem to do the majority of the work (paid and unpaid) in the Lacasse household.  The men can only support their family when the enlist in the army.  Families torn apart for the others can live.  Futility of war.  Who really wins?  Takes me back to Marcus Aurelis - defend the empire for what?  For whom?  Is it really worth so many innocent lives tortured and lost?
3. Sacrifice as an act of love.  Emmanuel for Florentine.  Azarius for his wife and family.  Eugene for his mother and family.
4. Jean Lévesque striving for something better than his childhood riddled with poverty - nothing wrong with this - we all want to be able to live a comfortable life but I think we mustn't forget our roots either.  He is of the higher working class striving to be in the upper class.  He is trying too hard to escape his poverty and alienates those around him and he, denying himself love and happiness.
5. Rose-Anna reminds me of my own grandmother and her poverty during WWII also.  My grandmother also ate less so the rest of the family can eat.  The other children of my grandmother were malnourished in their younger days during the war and so they are the smallest children of the lot of nine children.  The role of housewife, mother and wife is a difficult one.    Under-appreciated unpaid work, even still today.
6. At what breaking point do we break our pride so we can live?  I know I don't lack the pride to take on a 'lesser' job if I had to.  I don't look down on these professions and so it doesn't seem demeaning to me, rather it is a necessary step to being to support myself but perhaps this is easy for me to say when I have a better way 'out' than the characters in Roy's novel.

Interesting that M levels a criticism against Roy in that her characters in dire poverty seem to lack agency and reflection.  I certainly agree with M's assessment but I do not generally critize an author of fiction on her characters.  I may critique the characters but not necessarily the author.  The novel/work of art is what it is and we all intepret it in different ways.  We will never really know the intent of the author.  We can speculate and theorize until we are blue in the face.  For me, The Tin Flute is a novel with an anti-war message, highlighting the desparation of men in dire poverty and its connection to war.