Evolution: The Signature of All Things

I finally finished Elizabeth Gilbert's novel, The Signature of All Things. With 500 pages (and quite a few real life distractions), it has taken me much longer than usual to finish this book, but it was worth the wait!

Gilbert is most famous for her memoir Eat Pray Love, and on the surface this novel couldn't be more different. Set between the years 1760 and 1883, the story follows Alma Whittaker, the daughter of a world-renowned botanist and heiress to a great fortune. She grows up with every advantage in life, but her lack of beauty and the fact that she lives on a secluded estate cause her to be painfully anti-social. She is incapable of truly connecting with nearly everyone in her life, including her adopted sister and her only friend, not to mention potential suitors. Alma's story includes love and lust, but it is filled with disappointments. In the end, it is only her love of science that prevails.

I admired Gilbert's ability to use the backdrop of the industrial revolution for her story; from the rise of modern medicine to the emancipation of American slaves, historical events shape the  characters but never take center stage. The novel also has a few "mature audiences only" scenes that I found surprising, but ultimately they added an honesty and vulnerability to the overall narrative that I appreciated.

While much of the novel centers around Alma's pursuit of human connection, her study of botany--specifically, moss--is a constant for nearly her entire adult life. It leads her into the daring discovery of evolution, an idea that (in reality as well as the book) made waves when Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859. Alma and most of the other characters are practicing Christians, and each find different ways to reconcile these new ideas with their faith.

The title of the novel comes from a theory of Jacob Boehme, a real-life philosopher and mystic, who "believed in something he called 'the signature of all things'--namely, that God had hidden clues for humanity's betterment inside the design of every flower, leaf, fruit, and tree on earth. All the natural world was a divine code, Boehme claimed, containing proof of our Creator's love" (229).

As a botanist, one might think that Alma would be drawn to this theory. However, we find out much later that Alma is basically an atheist, although she never uses that term: "You see, I have never felt the need to invent a world beyond this world, for this world has always seemed large and beautiful enough for me. [...] All I ever wanted was to know this world. I can say now, as I reach my end, that I know quite a bit more of it than I knew when I arrived" (497).

I love the idea of focusing on the beauty of the world right in front of us rather than worrying about the next one. Certainly this is easier for someone privileged like myself, or Alma Whittaker, to do. I would not be the first to point out that people in lives marked by poverty, violence, and death are often the most devout; the promise of an eternal reward is too compelling when the life in front of you is filled with sadness. Alma's life, too, is marked by sadness. She out-lives everyone she loves, never finds a true partner, and fails to publish the scientific breakthrough that would have made her famous. Yet her admiration of the natural world never falters.

The novel made me think about how interesting it is that some people find evidence of God in the natural world, while others find evidence against. I will be leaving soon for a trip to the mountains, where I always feel a sense of insignificance as well as purpose. It's an odd paradox; to realize that you are just a tiny speck in a vast universe of experience, while also feeling that the beauty before you is undeniable proof of some greater design.

Alma grows up being told that love and marriage and children give one's life meaning, which causes her great pain and resentment. Yet, despite her misfortunes, Alma is grateful at the end of her long life that she had the chance to explore and discover the world, showing that her own personal evolution is the true heart of the story.