The Wizard’s Tide is a novella written by Frederick Buechner. This story highlights the struggles many families went through during the Great Depression, a time of severe economic downturn which had led to many struggling not only financially but emotionally and mentally as well. One of the most difficult things for people to do in this time was to transition from living in a life of luxury to one where some even had next to nothing. Some were not able to accept this fact and had trouble fully adjusting to their new circumstances.
But this was not entirely their fault, many factors played into this and some were so great it greatly impaired their ability to adapt to this new change. Mrs. Schroeder is an excellent example of this and after closer analysis it becomes clear that Mrs. Schroeder’s upbringing plays an important role on her characteristics throughout the novella. Buechner uses Mrs. Schroeder to develop the idea that a person’s ability to change is heavily dependant on past experiences and the inability to do so can often lead to people having unrealistic expectations.
Experiences in our past build the foundations of who we are and can greatly affect how we react in certain situations. Mrs. Schroeder shows throughout the course of the novella that she struggles with adapting to her new surroundings by consistently building the illusions for herself of a wealthy lifestyle. But why is that? When looking back at her past we see a young girl preoccupied in things such as “call[ing] up the tobacco store” or “Hail a streetcar”, things describing a carefree childhood, one with not many responsibilities. Though this may only seem like a young girl enjoying her youth and therefore harmless, these xperiences in childhood coupled with the fact she live in a very wealthy family are the building blocks of who she is.
This is because childhood is a time when many people develop key experiences that help define who they are. Many characteristics and habits created in childhood carry on into adulthood and as a result can be very difficult to change. When a person who grew up in a life of wealth and no responsibilities is suddenly pounced on with a surge of financial problems and responsibilities it can be difficult adiust as person needs to change the fundamentals of whom they are as a person and change who they.
It was this transition that Mrs. Schroeder and many others during the Great Depression had trouble dealing with. However, Buechner’s idea is not just confined to this era. In fact this is applicable to all people, no matter the time. Adding on to this Mrs. Schroeder grew up in a family where her parents provided for everything, a household where all her needs were taken care of. Significant figures in our life, such as parents play an important role of who we are. They are one of the first people we meet when we enter this world and we imitate many of their qualities.
There is a reason why it is often said people will end up parenting the way they were parented. In addition to this, parents are a source of comfort and security and if a person are way too exposed to this security and don’t develop the ability to be independent and handle life situations. Mrs. Schroeder’s over privileged youth leads to many consequences over the course of the novella. We see her set high expectations for herself and other even when they seem quite unrealistic.
This is shown by how she constantly sets high expectations for her husband and is critical of him over the course of the novella. She grew up in life of wealth and expects it to come to her without any work. When something is so simple to get it can be difficult when this is suddenly so difficult to obtain that it can lead to person not accepting this and still expects it to come easily to them. This is why it may seem she is hypocritically criticizing Mr. Schroeder for his lack of”get-up-and go”.
She attempts to break him down in order to perhaps motivate him to try harder, however this ultimately backfires. This form of motivation though may seem harsh, is the only way she knows to help him as a result of the society she lived in and how she was brought up. This form of motivation still is common in today’s world and has the exact same consequences. In terms of education, many parents feel the need to break down their children as form of stimulation in order for them to hopefully ignite a spark within the children to motivate them to try harder and achieve higher marks and success.
To a blind eye this may seem like good parenting, but as Buechner reveals that this form of motivation instead produces the opposite effect and can lead to dire consequences. Shown in the cases of both Mr. Schroeder and Grandpa Schroeder, they both faced constant criticism from their spouses and instead of being motivated it produced the opposite effect. It created a sense of hopelessness within them in different ways, it led them to feel incompetent and not worthy of support from their spouses and everyone else.
The extreme result of this can be shown with Mr. Schroeder when constant criticism from Mrs. Schroeder are one of the key factors in him deciding to end his own line. Mrs. Schroeder unknowingly does this and this does not mean that she is malevolent. She is uncertain of her future, which is highly dependent on her husband’s success and out of desperation resorts to the only way she was taught to motivate. Another consequence of Mrs. Schroeder’s past is that it is so engraved into her she can never let it go no matter how hard she tries and ultimately ends up affecting her own happiness.
Throughout the course of the novella, coming from a wealthy past, looks for ways help build that illusion of wealth for herself. She constantly is surrounding herself with rich dresses, getting her breakfast brought up to her on Sunday’s or going to the theatre to watch the Mikado. One thing to notice though is that in all of these things she never truly finds happiness. When looking deeper into the novel only one scene depicts true happiness for Mrs. Schroeder and in fact everyone else and that is the beach scene in chapter 5.
What makes this scene so special is the simplicity within it. There is no fancy dresses involved, no Mikado’s, no wealth. It is just a family having a good time at the beach. Buechner uses this scene to emphasis the fact that happiness does not need large extravagant things. Wealth does not need to define your happiness and therefore even the littlest of things can create happiness. This is a beautiful fact that many people should embrace. Especially during the current economic situation, many families are struggling to find happiness.
This problem could be easily fixed by finding happiness in the little moments. Essentially Buechner is trying to say is that when the good times come enjoy it but when going through tough times, make most of everything no matter the significance. Not everything needs a Mikado or a fancy dress. However so many people fail to realize this and still need wealth to fulfill their happiness and that is the sad part. Mrs. Schroeder fails to realize this as well, and continues to do so over the course of the entire novella. Even after her husband’s death, one would expect her to change.
But really she never does, when she moves out to live with her parent’s, one of the things she “sent [was] her wardrobe trunk and a few big boxes full of linen and summer clothes”, showing her attempt maintain her illusion of wealth. Her eagerness to maintain wealth is shown again by how quickly she puts on the blue silk Chinese mandarin’s coat after it was given to her by Dan. One major thing that shows how little Mrs. Schroeder has progressed as a character is that she returned back to her parents when tough times came upon her.
She returned back to where she came from, back at home with her parents taking care of her, showing just how much the past can affect us. Tough times come and go, however it’s the ability to find happiness within ourselves and with others regardless of the situation that is the most important thing. As Buechner reveals, all happiness does not have to come at all the peaks in life, happiness can be achieved in the simplest of things without the need of the luxuries in life; all you need is the willingness to accept change and embrace it.
