Comment on language / meaning

An interesting point in Count the Ways is the method Maynard uses to count time. Instead of counting by years or ages of the children, it is counted by significant events. This way of counting time is similar to the way a mother busy with taking care of a family and working would count time. For instance, long after Eleanor and her children stop making the cork people, Eleanor thinks of early March as “cork people season, not that Eleanor and the children made those any more” (278). In another reference, Eleanor refers to one year as: “That was the Christmas — Christmas, also Toby’s birthday — when Eleanor made the bûche de Noël” (159).