If this state was a person, it would have been the product of a slammed Saturday night between Jimmy Buffet and General Lee's wife. There exists a strange contrast between all things inherently southern about Florida, and the developed,strip-mall commercialism that floods the state. My girlfriend aptly calls it "Dixie with Neon".
Having lived in New England for the majority of my life, I was utterly confused upon arriving in Tampa for the first time. The city just spreads; extending outwards into the bay. No one really lives downtown, and a majority of the population lives in expensive suburban homes in south Tampa or in apartments elsewhere in the bay area. It just felt like, well, someone designed the city wrong. You can't really walk anywhere. A car is absolutely essential.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on Florida. I love me some Publix. Hungry Howie's pizza,(only cajun crust or you're a goddamn commie) as blasphemous as it is to my northern roots, is delicious. The scent of orange blossoms on a sunny day while driving on 60 is intoxicating and going to the beach in February is unnaturally great. It's just that, it seems like something went wrong along the way. I really do love Florida.
I discussed this with a friend of mine a few months ago while he lamented about the loss of Jeb Bush as governor. (Something that happens frequently apparently) After my 22 year old friend put down his FCAT study guide, He suggested I read a book that many public school students are required to read in Florida called A Land Remembered by Patrick Smith. I agreed and let it sit on my desk for the next few weeks. I eventually picked it up so I would have something to read and work and was not disappointed.
Simplified Synopsis:
The book chronicles three generations of McIveys; a family that leaves Georgia for Florida during the Civil War. They settle in what I assume was the Kissimmee area where they found their "hammock" which is slang for "da crib" in the 1860's. The story powerfully tells the tale of a cracker family that survives off of raccoon meat and cat-tail flower (not unsimilar to Cletus from the Simpsons) and how they transform into self-made citrus and cattle tycoons. The most important part of this book, and arguably all books, are the relationships formed.
First and foremost, A Land Remembered beautifully delineates a loving family that survives in the midst of adversity. I'm not talking about "Billy didn't make the baseball team" or "Margaret bitch slapped Ms. Lewis at the PTA meeting last week" adversity. I'm talking about "grandpa got his head swiped off by a fucking bobcat" adversity. In case you couldn't guess, Florida was a shitty place to live in the 1800's. Tobias, the first McIvey to settle Florida, sets the moral precedent for the family. He is a hard working, loyal, and religious man. You come to respect him more and more with each page, both for his work ethic in taming the Florida wild and for is sheer love for his wife Emma. You also see him develop as a tender father figure for his son Zech. One thing this book does frequently is make you feel like a member of the McIvey Clan. This is both a good and bad aspect. You rejoice and celebrate in their successes and, more frequently, mourn their loss and pain.
While the aforementioned relationship certainly dominates a majority of the narrative, I think the most important aspect of this book is the relationship between "man vs nature" and "need vs abuse". Throughout the entire novel, the McIveys are pitted against the uncontrollable fury of the Florida wilderness. The McIveys eventually become simpatico with the Seminole Indians (and eventually family, because Zech couldn't keep it in his pants). They teach the McIveys how to live with the land, how to work with the wilderness to receive the best returns. There is no competition, there is co-existence and the realization that human beings are not totally removed from the threat of nature. While the McIveys initially heed their instructions, it eventually becomes evident that as Florida becomes more populated man declared war on nature, claiming it as his own, dredging swamps and starting cattle wars. By the time the third McIvey , Sol, comes to age it appears that his family is in direct conflict with nature, and winning. This is until a massive hurricane destroys his cabin and kills his would-be wife. For me, this really hit hard. It illustrates the illusion of progress. It shows that no matter how hard we as a race try, we are still play things for tornadoes, typhoons, earth quakes, whatever you can imagine. Removing ourselves as a part of nature is only a way of making ourselves feel safe.
One thing I found to be bizarre in this book was the brutal, sudden and just straight-up, gut wrenchingly tragic way all of the women die in this book. Emma has a massive coronary episode and dies in the woods. Glenda (Zechs wife) literally gets ripped in half by a bull. Bonnie (Sol's would be wife) gets blown away by a hurricane. Tobias, following Emmas death, warns Zech that he should always let his wife know she is loved and not to wait to do tender things for her. None of the McIvey men get to do this. I'm not entirely sure what author intended with this part of the book. I interpreted this as nature re-asserting itself where it hurts most. I don't mean to anthropomorphize nature as this conscious, evil monster, but rather to display it as a sleeping part of every single aspect of our lives
This is where I think Florida may have gone wrong a little. Everybody banked in on the beaches not looking back. Not to mention it all happened so fast. I don't know if I would go as far to say that Florida now fails to recognize and respect it's bountiful natural resources. Florida still produces some of the best free-range, grass fed beef and top of the line citrus. It just feels like somebody tried to build Vegas in the swamp and it didn't work out. People forgot what made Florida beautiful. I think I'd like to end with something Sol McIvey said near the end of the book:
"When I first started out alone after my pappa died, I didn't know what I was doing, and I thought I was doing the right thing. But you sons a' bitches knew and you did it deliberate. That's the only thing that marks me from you. The catchword with me is stupidity. With you it's greed. More is better, bigger is better. Well you bastards are too stupid to know there soon won't be no more. Else you havent been here long enough to remember...Progress ain't reversible. "
PS: Thanks for reading! There's more I could write about this book, but I have early class tomorrow. Just read this book. It made me appreciate those around me much more and I also learned a lot I didn't know about Florida.
