Why were Jack and his brother digging post holes? A fence there would run parallel to the one that already enclosed the farmyard. The Welches had no animals to keep in or out - a fence there could serve no purpose. Their work was pointless. Years later, while I was waiting for a boat to take me across the river, I watched two Vietnamese women methodically hitting a discarded truck tire with sticks. They did it for a good long while, and were still doing it when I crossed the river. They were part of the dream from which I recognized the Welches, my defeat-dream, my damnation-dream, with its solemn choreography of earnest useless acts.
Jack and his brother were digging post holes for a fence that served no real purpose, as the Welches had no animals to confine or protect. The task seemed futile, highlighting a sense of pointlessness in their labor. This situation resonates with the idea that some work can feel meaningless, echoing their experiences on the farm where efforts lack tangible outcomes.
Reflecting on this notion years later, the author observes two...