Vampires in the Lemon Grove

Each story in the collection uses magical elements amidst a realistic setting. As a result, the magical elements are representative of a deeper psychological issue and are often metaphorical of broader commentary. This is first evident in the title story, “Vampires in the Lemon Grove.” The main character and his wife, Magreb, are vampires who live in a lemon grove somewhere in the Italian countryside. They suck on the lemons to appease their unquenchable thirst. While the lemons work for a while, eventually the placating effects of the lemons wear off, and the couple realizes that they will have to search for something else. The narrative is also a relationship story. Clyde thought he was the only vampire in the world, until he met Magreb and found his likeness in her because she, too, was a vampire. This magical element, their vampire nature, represents how a relationship, at least in the beginning, makes a person feel less alone in the world. At first, Clyde is content to let go of his former vampiric ways to make Magreb happy. However, as the years go by, he forgets who he used to be and becomes nostalgic for human blood. Here, his desire for human blood represents his former habits and way of life before Magreb. When he sucks Fila’s blood, it’s his way of reclaiming that former part of himself, but it also signals the end of he and Magreb’s relationship. Around this same time, the lemons stop quenching their thirst, which is also symbolic of the relationship ending. The lemons, which the couple once enjoyed together, by the end have no effect.

In “Proving Up,” the setting is Nebraska during the Homestead Act. Here, the characters live in the desperate poverty that is representative of the conditions that people faced during this place and time in history. Droughts prevented crops from growing and plagued the land with pervasive dirt, and many people starved to death or lived in isolation because their neighbors fled the land. In these ways, the story reflects this reality through the realism of the setting. However, the story takes a magical turn when Miles meets the murderous Stranger, who is like a ghost or monstrous creature. Although the Stranger has supernatural attributes, such as being full of dirt (and perhaps made of it), knowing Miles’s name, and having a seemingly living house, these magical features are the embodiment of the settlers’ struggle, and demonstrate the hideous psychological effects of homesteading.

This same idea of magic being metaphorical can be seen in “The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979.” The setting is a typical beach town, but the unusually large group of seagulls that blanket the beach makes the setting feel unnatural. When Miles discovers that the seagulls seem to be stealing pieces of the townspeople’s futures, the seagulls become magical elements of the story. However, the seagulls can be also viewed as a metaphor for how Miles feels like his future is being taken from him beyond his control: his mother lost her job and can’t pay for his collegiate summer opportunity, she most likely can’t pay for his future college tuition, and the girl he desires is sleeping with his brother. Miles knows what he wants, but he is incapable of making it happen. In this way, the seagulls physically represent Miles’s inner struggle and anxieties.