The Cone Gatherers

About the author Robin Jenkins was born on 11th Septmeber 1912 in the village of Flemington, near Cambuslang and attended Hamilton Academy and Glasgow University. He taught English in Glasgow and Dunoon. In 1956 he went to Afghanistan to teach then went to Spain and to what is now Malaysia before returning to Dunoon. He died in February 2005. He became a committed pacifist and during World War II, Jenkins was a conscientious objector and worked for the Forestry Commission. His experience of forestry work in Argyll from 1940 to 1946 is reflected in his novel, The Cone Gatherers He himself wrote that he did ‘once gather cones, in an autumnal wood, in wartime’ and that, in his writing, he explores ‘the virtues and vices’ of people as well as good and evil itself. There are themes of good versus evil in nearly all Jenkins's books or short stories. Jenkins' anti-war viewpoint was something he tried to convey through his stories - he saw war as evil caused by men who are themselves evil.

Introduction ‘The Cone-Gatherers’ by Robin Jenkins is set in Scotland during World War II. It is set on the estate of the Runcie-Campbell’s, a wealthy Scottish family. The action takes place over a few days in Autumn in the forest on the estate. The trees are to be cut down to provide wood for the war effort. The cones from the trees are to be collected before the forest is destroyed so that the trees can be replaced. Brothers Calum and Neil have been sent to do this hard, demanding work.

Macrocosm – The Big Picture 1939 – 1945 World War 2 Britain is at war with the evil dictator, Adolf Hitler There are rumours of millions of people (especially Jews, gypsies and the disabled) dying in concentration camps (The Holocaust)

Microcosm – the small picture The story is set in Ardmore, a privately owned estate (The Runcie-Campbells) in North West of Scotland. In this small place battles will also take place – class, good and evil, and psychological (internal conflict).

Maps

Publication 1955 The book was published shortly after World War 2 and Jenkins sought to address in story form two pressing questions of the time: What kind of evil was there in human beings which had got out of control and had led to WW2 and its aftermath? Where, if anywhere, was there hope for the future?

Religious Imagery It is arguable that TCG is an allegory – that is a story with a second level of meaning. To understand that second level of meaning we have to understand some Christian ideas from the Bible. Robin Jenkins was a committed Christian and his audience (when his book was published in 1955) would have known a lot of Christian ideas not so well known today.

Christian Imagery In the beginning Man and God lived in perfect harmony in the Garden of Eden. Hint – look out for a perfect setting in ‘The Cone Gatherers’

In this Garden there was an evil presence (a snake, Satan, Devil) Hint – look out for an evil character in ‘The Cone Gatherers’

The snake persuaded man to disobey God and sin (the capacity to do evil) entered our perfect world. Therefore man deserved to die. Hint – look out for an evil character persuading others to do things which will cause trouble in ‘The Cone Gatherers’.

God’s problem was, ‘How do I fix this?’ Man Hint - look out for ‘broken’ relationships in ‘The Cone Gatherers’

God sent his own son (Jesus) to fix it (a 100% innocent person). Hint – look out for an ‘innocent’ character in ‘The Cone Gatherers’.

St Francis of Assisi “Chaffinches fluttered around him”

Jesus died on the cross (crucifixion) for our sins bringing back peace between man and God. Hint – look out for a horrendous bloody death in ‘The Cone Gatherers’.