Unrequited Love

The main theme of The Unquiet Earth by Denise Giardina is love. But there are several sub-categories of this theme. One theme that runs throughout the story which relates the lives of several generations of a family in a coal mining community in Appalachia is that of unrequited love and how it impacts one's life. From the time Dillon is a young teenager to the end of his life, he loves Rachel Honaker. But for many reasons, which are included in the second sub-category of the love theme, Rachel never fully returns that love. Dillon is a very loyal person. He is the type of person whose love never weakens or vanishes but only strengthens and grows. Since Dillon can not have the woman he loves, he never marries. And since he can not claim the daughter that he feels in his heart is his, he has...