Eight

     Mazie’s hopes and willingness deteriorates along her family’s trails and her future of becoming her mother is undeniable to happen. During their stay in Wyoming and western Nebraska, Mazie was not easily angered as she is in the slaughterhouses’ neighborhoods. As time passes and the ongoing struggle of living in poverty, Mazie begins to transform into an angry, bounded, and realistic adult. Olsen shows the transformation during Mazie’s escalating temper with herself. Mazie thinks about telling Erina her dream of how she used the Big Dipper to drink the ice stars, but “scornfully” realizes the “stars are fire, not ice-stars are suns.” 

     When she starts realizing she is going to end up like her, Rufus Wainright’s “The Dream”  depicts how Mazie begins to feel about her situation. Listeners can connect this song to Mazie’s lost innocence and questioning. She loses her hope and purpose making her into one of the women of her time.
(Listen to the indicate lyrics/time)



(0:10-2:02)

The dream has come and gone
The earth lumbers on
The dream is back in space
Back where it came from

The dream has gone away
The earth could not play
The earth just spins in place
Throwing things away

And I am left behind
Corrupted crushed and blind
All for a dream
That in truth was never really mine

     Mazie has few moments of hope when she wishes that she could return to the farm, and imagines the “old old people lying” naming the stars. Mazie was once imaginative, optimistic and kind to her family, but this once young spirited child turned into an unenthusiastic and bitter adult. Mazie sees the reality of the world she lives in. She once thought of the stars as “flowers growin in the night” and her “great hurt and wanting” to be “aknown.” This can be perfectly displayed and connected to Wainright songwriting:

(2:44-3:42)

Don't get me wrong
I wanted to go
I wanted to see
I wanted to know

Mazie had dreams, but she did not realize how restricted it would be for her. When she knew she would never have a “white tub” or travel, her dream had “come and gone.”