Patterns In Chaos - The Restoration of First Street

Caution - Some Spoilers Ahead!

Part One

Perhaps one of my favorite sections of all the Mayfair books is the restoration of First Street.  There doesn't seem to be a time in the house's actual history that it became that dirty and deteriorated but the restoration seems to be an important theme in the Mayfair books - creating order out of chaos.  

Carlotta's attempts to stop Lasher and to assume control of the Legacy over the years failed miserably.  In her determination, she destroyed lives and hearts as well as held the family at bay by fighting them constantly.  The house's deterioration is a standing monument to her destruction.  

 

Michael Curry's life had come to a standstill by 1989.  He had achieved all he had wanted - almost.  He had an education, a successful business and his own restored home.  Yet he had only one living family member, his Aunt Vivian, and his last two serious relationships had failed.  One of his girlfriends had even had an abortion over his protests.  It was pondering this plateau in his life that led him to Ocean Beach and his near drowning, an event that would lead him straight home and to his past.  It would also lead him to Rowan Mayfair.

Like Michael, Rowan's life had reached a plateau of sorts.  She was a practicing neurosurgeon, board certified, who had plenty of money already.  She seldom kept boyfriends for long; in fact, she had a voracious sexual appetite, a trait she would later learn was common to the strongest witches.  However, the loss of her only family, her adoptive parents, left her feeling very alone in the world.  The loss of contact, of feeling loved and wanted, and the secret knowledge that she was capable of killing telepathically but not of how exactly she did it was becoming too much for her.  She was "damned sick of crying."  Her state-of-the-art home was cold and empty despite having every modern luxury. 

It was in about May, 1989 that Michael nearly drowned.  He was rescued by Rowan, who happened to be out on the bay at the helm of the Sweet Christine.  They did not meet for three months but in that time, Rowan's loneliness intensified and Michael's world crumbled around him as a result of his ability to see visions and his conviction that he had a purpose, an assignment that involved New Orleans, his childhood home.  By August, 1989, Deirdre Mayfair was dying and Rowan Mayfair finally agreed to meet with Michael Curry. 

 

By the time Deirdre died, Rowan and Michael had fallen in love and Michael had made arrangements to return to New Orleans.  Rowan already missed him terribly when she received a call meant for Ellie, her adoptive mother.  Her real mother, Deirdre, had died and Carlotta was not aware that Ellie was also dead.  It was Carlotta's own blunder - calling Ellie's home where there was a good chance Rowan might answer the phone - that caused Rowan to find out about Deirdre, New Orleans, and the Mayfair family. 

 

It was what prompted Rowan to contact the funeral home where Deirdre had been taken, which allowed her to delay the viewing, gaining time for Rita Lonigan to contact the rest of the family, who would then arrange a funeral Mass.  Jerry Lonigan assured Rowan he would not close the casket until Rowan got there.  This allowed her to leave San Francisco for New Orleans.

Aaron Lightner, investigator with the Talamasca and bearer of the immense File on the Mayfair Witches, caught up with Rowan and Michael in New Orleans where he befriended both of them.  While Rowan was burying Deirdre, Michael was reading the File.  Rowan read it days later and thanked Lightner for answering the most important questions of her life.  He reached her at the First Street house after she met her family at the funeral and after she killed Carlotta. 

 

Despite her own disgust with killing the old woman, she in fact avenged Stella, Antha and Deirdre, her lost mother.  She also avenged her own removal from her mother and family as well as took out the person responsible for so much destruction and pain. 

 

It was only after Carlotta was buried and her things were removed from the house that Rowan went into action, claiming the Legacy, reviving traditions that had existed before Carlotta wreaked her havoc and setting up funds for the restoration of First Street.  The way had to be cleared, the old had to be shed and arrangements had to be made for the restoration to be a fresh start.  Clearly, that is what Rowan and Michael intended this restoration to be for both of them.  And this was where the fun began...

 

Part Two

The restoration began really before there was a contractor on the site.  Rowan and Aaron Lightner had crated and shipped Marguerite's jars of experiments to the Talamasca as well as the dolls of each witch.  She had also given him permission to examine the records of Riverbend Plantation and of Julien Mayfair that had been culled from the long neglected library shelves.  Neither of them noticed the secret compartment where Stella's pearls, photos and Julien's haunted Victrola had been stored.

 

The whole house had been inventoried and items had been checked off a list that was almost identical to the inventory made at the time of Antha's death.  Clearly, nothing had changed since 1941, the year Antha was killed.  It was about to, though.

 

As Rowan and Michael progress on the restoration, they modernize the house and repair blunders made by contractors in the past, such as the light in one of the bedrooms, which was not wired properly.  They also find things in the attic that had belonged to Stella and Antha in addition to a host of old photographs that Rowan puts together with those that are already displayed for her wedding reception/homecoming party.  As they restore the garden, pool, cabana and garconniere, it is clear that what they are doing is setting things as they believe they ought to be and putting an end to the tragedy and heartache of the past - not just their own, but the past that existed in that house for so long.  

There is one thing they cannot foresee, however, and that is what Lasher's plan actually is.  Unlike contractors of the past, Lasher is actually allowing this restoration, because he wanted Michael to be the one to do the work and command the project.  And he knew Rowan was his thirteenth witch and he wanted the house ready for his grand entrance. 

 

I love to see things restored and renewed.  It seems as if it is a fresh start, a new lease on life, a second chance at happiness.  It seems tragic that Rowan and Michael struggle well into the time of Quinn Blackwood and their encounters with Lestat when what they had hoped for was happiness.  That was apparently what Anne Rice was trying to convey in The Witching Hour - the devil has won.  Clearly, this is about winning and losing when you struggle for your very life and soul - there is no middle ground to be had, no compromies, no deals. 

 

A person's physical habitat and appearance are the first outward signs of change.  Rowan's change from doctor's scrubs and nautical clothing to feminine clothing, Michael's shedding of the drinking that had plagued him since the first drowning, and their renewed hope in their newfound love were expressed ultimately through the restoration of this grand home and their intention to make it a hub of family life and of future generations.  These outward manifestations were just that - representations of shedding the old and inducting new life and new vitality to their mortal existences.

 

By Michael's return to his hometown and his tour of his old neighborhood and Rowan's efforts and restoring family traditions and bringing crucial data together, Rowan and Michael have both reconciled their pasts, and the ultimate destination was First Street, their home, their love nest as it was for Katherine and Darcy Monahan.  It seems as if both of them have banished the shadows, cleared the cobwebs and made their lives whole again.  

In the grand theme of literature, they should have had a happy ending.  But then, isn't the continuing "ending" Rowan and Michael actually have the type that most of us have?  Is life ever a bowl of cherries after the bad times are over?  I think not.  I think Anne Rice has touched upon an important theme in life in these books - that you can clear away and settle the issues of the past, but you can never predict or control the future completely.  There are elements and people beyond your control who will have an unexpected effect and influence on your life and you may not be prepared no matter how much you try to thwart it or learn about it.  A witch may be powerful in her own realm and sphere, but she is never powerful enough to manipulate events, time, and people to her bidding completely.  She is still subject to the laws of nature and of time.  She always will be.