It is important to read this quote, which comes from the
final sentence of this chapter from this excellent and moving novel, in the context of
the whole chapter. Sam writes about the way that the coming of the garden brought a new
sense of purpose and peace and also harmony amongst the multicultural neighbourhood.
However, at the same time, he then goes to chart how this sense of unity gradually
becomes eroded, bit by bit, as first the lots become segregated on the basis of
ethnicity, and then there were quarrels about garbage. Finally, when the crazy homeless
man who slept on a broken couch had his bed taken away from him, he reacted by ripping
up plants. Before you know it, people start putting fences around their gardens with big
KEEP OUT signs. Sam's final paragraph says it all:
God, who made Eden, also wrecked the tower of
Babel, by dividing people. From Paradise, the garden was turning back into
Cleveland.
Sam is making a
very sad comment about the human tendency to quarrel, to separate and to divide
ourselves. Sam watches as the garden, which starts off as having so much promise and has
the potential to unite a mixed group of people, then merely becomes another
manifestation of man's selfishness, greed and inability to work with others. Paradise
had briefly been achieved, but now it was swiftly returning to normal
Cleveland.
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