Chapter 6: In the Grand Scheme of Things – Summary and Analysis
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
The poem opens with an image of wrens that “sound like cheap toys” wound up and let go, their chatter reduced to mechanical noise. An airplane seen from a distance seems barely to move, “chalking a line” between two trees. The speaker then reflects on the phrase “the naked eye,” arguing that the eye is never truly naked—it is the world that refuses to reveal itself unless we look away. What the world shows us is always partial and deliberate.
The poem takes a darker turn when the speaker hears a “skeletal rattle” at the window. It might be “hellion roses” scraping their thorns against the glass, or it might be “bones.” This ambiguity leads into a political statement: “The country we call ours / isn’t, and it’s full of them.” The “them” are bones, ghosts of the past, implying that the land holds hidden histories of violence and loss.
The speaker then describes an annual ritual of digging a rosebush from the garden, calling it a “tumor.” Despite the effort, the rosebush always grows back “thick and wild,” refusing to be eradicated. The poem closes by interrogating the clichés “in the grand scheme of things” and “that’s not how the world works,” exposing them as hollow constructions that fail to capture reality.
Key Events
- The speaker observes wrens and an airplane, noting their diminished scale and mechanical quality.
- Reflection on the concept of the “naked eye” and what the world chooses to show.
- A skeletal rattle at the window is heard—attributed either to roses or to bones.
- Political turn: the speaker declares that the country is not truly “ours” and is filled with bones.
- The speaker annually digs up a rosebush, comparing it to a tumor, but it regrows persistently.
- The poem ends by questioning the validity of the phrases “in the grand scheme of things” and “as if the world works.”
Character Development
The only character present is the speaker. The speaker moves from a detached observer of small natural events (wrens, airplane) to a visceral participant in a struggle with the rosebush, and finally to a philosophical critic of language and national identity. This arc suggests a deepening awareness of the limits of human perception and control. The speaker’s frustration with the rosebush reflects a larger frustration with forces—both natural and historical—that resist human will.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- Perception vs. Reality: The poem questions what the “naked eye” can truly see, suggesting that reality is always mediated and selective.
- Persistence of Nature: The rosebush that returns every year despite being dug up symbolizes natural forces that cannot be tamed or erased.
- Political Critique: The line “The country we call ours / isn’t” evokes the hidden costs of nationhood, particularly the bones of those who suffered or died on the land.
- Language as Cliché: The repeated use of “we say” (twice in the closing lines) critiques the way people rely on empty phrases to impose order on chaos.
- Mortality and Violence: The “skeletal rattle” and “bones” connect the natural world with death and historical trauma.
Why This Chapter Matters
“In the Grand Scheme of Things” is a pivotal poem in Goldenrod because it synthesizes personal, natural, and political concerns into a single meditation. It challenges readers to distrust easy explanations and to acknowledge the unruly realities—whether a thorny rosebush or a nation’s bloody past—that resist tidy narratives. The poem’s skepticism toward its own title phrase reflects the collection’s broader refusal to offer false consolation.
Study Questions and Answers
1. How does the poem use the image of the rosebush to explore human attempts to control nature?
The rosebush, which the speaker calls a “tumor” and digs out every year, represents any persistent, unwanted natural force. Despite the speaker’s annual effort to remove it, the bush grows back “thick and wild,” showing that human control over nature is temporary at best. The rosebush becomes a metaphor for all the things—within the garden, the country, or the self—that refuse to be eliminated.
2. What is the significance of the phrase “the country we call ours isn’t”?
This line moves the poem from the personal to the political. By adding “and it’s full of them [bones],” Smith suggests that the land contains traces of past inhabitants, conflicts, or injustices that challenge the idea of ownership. The phrase implies that national identity is built on contested ground, both literally and figuratively.
3. Why does the poem end by questioning the phrase “in the grand scheme of things”?
The poem concludes by exposing the phrase as a false comfort. It implies that there is no overarching, orderly plan that makes sense of life’s details—the wrens, the airplane, the rosebush, the bones. By saying “as if there were one” and “as if the world works,” the speaker rejects the idea that the world follows any coherent scheme, leaving readers with an unresolved, honest uncertainty.
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