How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Valerian turned his attention to refining the house, its grounds, mail service to the island, measuring French colonial taxes against American residential ones, killing off rats, snakes and other destructive animal life, adjusting the terrain for comfortable living. (2.25)
Valerian's tendency to force nature flares up when his own life isn't going too well. At no time does making nature do his bidding become a bigger preoccupation than when he feels estranged from his son Michael. Michael, you see, was supposed to be Valerian's heir and legacy. But when Michael deserts his mother and father, Valerian realizes that when he dies, there'll be no one left to carry on his life. That's why he pours all of his sad, disappointed energy into controlling as much of life as possible while he slips into old age.
Quote #5
When he knew for certain that Michael would always be a stranger to him, he built the greenhouse as a place of controlled ever-flowering life to greet death in. (2.25)
Valerian is obsessed with his greenhouse and spends nearly every waking moment hanging out inside it. And the reason he built this greenhouse is because he isn't able to control his son Michael. Valerian is really freaked out about his own mortality, and he feels that the only way to feel better is to control his surroundings. That's why he becomes so obsessed with forcing plants to grow in exactly the way he wants them to.
Quote #6
Fog came to that place in wisps sometimes, like the hair of maiden aunts. Hair so thin and pale it went unnoticed until masses of it gathered around the house and threw back one's own reflection from the windows. (3.1)
Morrison has a tendency to use a lot of personification when she talks about nature in this book. She likely does this in order to show us that no matter how hard we try to control the world around us, we are always doomed to fail. Valerian, for example, can cut down all the trees he wants; but he has no power over the thick fog that circles his island.