A Land Rembered by Patrick D. Smith Essay -- essays research papers

The novel, A Land Remembered, is the epic saga of three generations of MacIveys. The novel begins with a flash back, from the last generation MacIvey, Sol. Sol was a real estate tycoon in Miami and the surrounding areas. He has chosen to give up his life in Miami to live his last hours in the cabin in Punta Rassa , Florida; the cabin his grandfather had built. Thus, the three generations of MacIveys in Florida ends. The first generation of MacIveys consisted of the father and husband, Tobias, the mother and wife, Emma, and their young son, Zech. The family had decided to escape the pressures of the Civil War in their native Georgia, and move to the scrub of Northern Florida. The MacIveys experience many troubles and learn many new things during their stay in the scrub, such as meeting Indians, that will turn out to influence their life greatly. Other experiences included Tobias being recruited by Marshall Adler to drive cattle to the confederate troops and also being recruited to chop trees to build walls of defense for the confederate forces. During the excursion to chop down trees, confederate deserters raided Emma and Zech and burned down their house. Tobias and Emma made the decision that the war was getting to close to the scrub, and that moving South would be a good idea. The MacIvey clan packed up their wagon and headed south along the St. John’s and Kissimmee rivers and settled in a hammock along the Kissimmee river. In Kissimmee is where Tobias begins his empire that turns the family into one of the wealthiest families in Florida. In the swamps of Florida, wild cows live and Tobias tries his best to capture these cows and make a drive, but without horses and dogs, Tobias makes little headway in his project. In the woods one day, Skillet, a freed slave, was found. Skillet agreed to stay on with the MacIveys and help them start their empire. Dogs and a marshtackie were given to the MacIveys by their Indian friends they helped in the scrub. The MacIveys now popped cows out of the swamp and their first drive to Punta Rassa ended in a disaster with all the cows being lost to a great flood. The determined MacIveys never looked back and gathered another heard and the whole clan drove the cows to Punta Rassa. In Punta Rassa, the cows were sold for fifteen dollars a head and the MacIvey empire begins. Also on this first trip, Hendry, the cattle buyer,... ... they too can experience the life of a Florida Cracker turned millionaire family of Florida. Throughout all three generations of MacIveys, all of the MacIvey men lose a woman who is so close to them and all of them realize once they are gone, that they didn’t do enough for their loved one, when they easily could have. Tobias had three trunks full of Spanish gold, and all he did for Emma was buy her a cook stove. Zech had even more trunks of Spanish gold, and he never took Glenda on the trips to the far away places she wanted to go. Sol had a multimillion acre vegetable business and owned half of Miami, and he never married Bonnie, yet, when he lost her, he missed her like his wife. I believe that Smith is trying to make us realize that you shouldn’t take for granted what you have, when they do so much for you. These lessons are ageless, and can be applied to today’s society as well as to the first ever society. A Land Remembered is a novel that truly is the epitome of a saga, that spans the trials and tribulations of three generations of the MacIvey fami ly as they enter Florida as a family destined to start a better life and die out as one of the wealthiest families in Florida.