Nativity, Caucasian Response

After reading this story I realized that I could read this story several dozen times, each time discovering a new detail that I hadn’t yet comprehended. Gurganus’s writing is so rich with description that I found my mind painting elaborate pictures of the house at which the birth occurs. His word choice and ruthless description is nothing short of brilliant.

I became instantly hooked on the story after reading “I was born at a bridge party”. His blunt delivery of this line captured my attention and prepared me for what I assumed to be an intense, climactic plot line. Nativity, Caucasian was nothing short of this. In fact, I caught myself rereading passages frequently in order to allow my mind to fully grasp the chaos of the scene. Gurganus eloquently paints each scene with relentless description:

“One yard above the Persian and Caucasian rugs, temporary tabletops paved a whole new level…That season’s mandatory pastels, shoulder padding…Cloisonné ashtrays glutted with half-smoked cigarettes…A charming house chock full of lovely noise, and smokers not inhaling but hooked anyway.”

That last lines resonates especially potent with me. My mind cannot help but to imagine a smoked-filled room, chalk-full of pretentious people and a plethora of booze, incredibly ill fit for the birthing of a child. The successful execution of the climactic plot line is predominately due to Gurganus’s phenomenal description of the environment in which the birth occurs. But it doesn’t end there. Gurganus is magnificent with the depiction of each character. He describes Mikado as “an acient wheezy male animal”, and paints his godmother, Irma, as “a fashion conscious former war nurse and sometime movie critic for the local paper”. As I read the two aforementioned descriptions, I cannot help but to visualize distinct portraits of each character in my mind. I truly am blown away by the richness of every aspect of this story. There is no doubt that Gurganus’s genius shines through in Nativity, Caucasian.

Question: Seeing that the mother in Nativity, Caucasian endured two miscarriages and frequently complained about the pregnancy process, do you think the mother indeed wanted a child, or rather she desire to fulfill an obligation to society through bearing a child?