Jim Harrison Dalva Depression

Jim Harrison’s novel Dalva (1988) has a unique way to integrate depression and everyday life expressed throughout the novel in the character Dalva herself. Dalva faces numerous events throughout the novel that brings her depression to the surface, which adds a drama irony aspect to the novel in response it shows Dalva does not realize that throughout most of the novel she was expressing a depressed behavior. The novel Dalva by Jim Harrison expresses a depressed behavior through the main character Dalva by challenging her mental toughness which causes her to react in such a behavior.
Spread throughout the novel, Dalva had developed a behavior of having a reasonability o keeping the Northridge dynasty going without having any key family members there to support her such as her father or grandfather. Stories throughout her childhood and within journals she read, she understands how her family was such a helpful and important aspect to their community at the time. After her grandfather died, Dalva had to reductively continue the Northridge dynasty even though
Dalva was a very beautiful woman which resulted in her being able to date and make love to a lot of men. She rarely had deep feelings for any of these men other than to make love to become pregnant which she did with one man and that unique man was Duane. Harrison made this character a motivation piece in this novel by making him the root of her life and the prime cause of her depression. Her depression was partly devoted to Duane so much that “she would see him at night” as well as “hear him breathing and singing” (233). Harrison right off the bat in the book developed Dalva as a character to have this depressed and negative behavior which comes up repeatedly in the novel. As the author of this book, Harrison added an aspect of the novel of an addictive will to understand where her next or past relationship will take her