‘The Helpfulness of Those Who Cannot Help’
— Reneé Bibby
Mrs. Mori, the protagonist of Amanda Tigue’s story insists, “There is nothing wrong with sleeping in the nursery.” By the end of the story, the statement proves both true and untrue. It’s true that Mori’s grief at the death of her child is warped and perhaps bent irrevocably to madness by the time she spends in the nursery waiting for the apparition of her daughter to visit for even the tiniest moments of time, yet it is also true that Mori’s insistence that grief of such magnitude shouldn’t be boxed in and ignored by the dictates of cultural norms liberates other parents from isolation. Mori is both a catalyst for a global movement and an outcast in her community. Just as she comes unhinged from grief, she comes into the world with great force and intention. A mother who waits at the bridge for a child’s return, and a woman who launches a second life as a translator and organizer—in such a way, the story is about death, and an awakening.