Here’s another allusion on page 96 of Green Grass Running Water: “The grass near the wall seemed unusually dry and the leaves on one of the new elms appeared yellow and curled. The big oak wasn’t showing any signs of improvement, either.” This quote from the book refers to Dr. Hovaugh. King presents Dr. Hovaugh as a confused and clueless old man. The only thing he cares about is his dying garden. Through out the novel i felt that King was using Dr.Hovaugh as a god-like figure and his garden represented our world. To support this, there was a passage on pg. 16 which correlated to a passage from the book of Genesis.
“Dr. Hovaugh sat in his chair behind his desk and looked out at the wall and the trees and the flowers and the swans on the blue-green pond in the garden, and he was pleased.”
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1:27-31)
The dying of the garden can also represent Dr. Havaugh himself. It shows that he is now old and his way of seeing the world has passed and it is time for him to step side and watch what is to happen.
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