Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun
It concerns a man named Isak who emerges from the wilderness and starts to establish a farm. He weds Inger, a person who has a harelip. Isak is able to make a living and endure the ups and downs of a straightforward, hardworking life. He eventually transcends existence and starts to experience prosperity. Along the way, Inger gives birth to their first two sons, but their third kid, a girl with a harelip, is suffocated. Immediately after making her decision, Inger determines that killing the child is the best course of action. When her cousin Oline discovers what she has done, Inger is sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun
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While Inger is away, Oline moves in with Isak and his two sons to maintain the home’s stability. But Oline resembles Inspector Javert from Les Miserables a much. She abides by the letter of the law but not its spirit. She is nefarious and uses deception for her own gain. Inger’s prison sentence, which was rarely hard time, ended up working in the city. That escaped my understanding. She had lived in the town for eight years when she returned home, and because of this, she felt superior to everyone else. Was anyone surprised that someone would kill the child they gave birth to? Inger wasn’t the only one, though. Axel, a young guy, hires Barbro, another character, to be his servant.
Near Isak and Inger, he owns a farm. Axel soon becomes pregnant by Barbro, and to show his willingness to marry her, he presents her with a silver ring. However, Barbro has no interest in marrying Axel. She drowns the newborn as soon as it is born. Axel learns that Barbro had killed her own kid before, yet he still has feelings for her. And Barbro continues to commit two murders for her own convenience while Axel continues to support her. I felt that Isak and his son Sivert were really admirable individuals. Everyone else in the cast has a dark side.
The story is told with the same objectivity of nature itself, without passing judgment on the decisions made by the humans who inhabit the Norwegian settlement and the surrounding wilderness. It does a great job of capturing the hard life that those living in the countryside led and the harsh reality of life before modern technology changed everything. How difficult it must have been to not only succeed back then but also to survive.
