One Of Ours

Maps are a prominent motif throughout One of Ours, an emblem of Claude’s gradually changing relationships to Nebraska and France. In the first half of the novel, Claude struggles with feelings of displacement; though he has a limited understanding of spaces beyond Nebraska, he begins to realize that he might be better off elsewhere, and France particularly beckons to him. When he is assigned to write a term paper on Joan of Arc, Claude reflects that “he had never seen a map of France, and had a very poor opinion of any place farther away than Chicago; yet he was perfectly prepared for the legend of Joan of Arc” (109).

When the Great War breaks out, Claude and his mother begin to obsessively pore over maps, locating places they read about in the news. They are particularly fixated on Paris after the Germans seize the city. This connection to France and to its precise location on a map foreshadows Claude’s future move abroad.

The symbolic significance of France becomes clearer when Claude’s wife, Enid, pursues her own move to China. Enid’s father proclaims, “A man hasn’t got much control over his own life, Claude. If it ain’t poverty or disease that torments him, it’s a name on the map” (361).