At the Back of the North Wind

“But sometimes beautiful things grow bad by doing bad, and it takes some time for their badness to spoil their beauty. So little boys may be mistaken if they go after things because they are beautiful.”

This establishes the North Wind as a wise, mysterious figure in Diamond’s life. Her first lesson for him is to not make presumptions based on beauty—instead, he must observe a person’s behavior. This is good advice for any person, and Diamond’s acceptance of it nudges the reader to do so as well. This principle serves as Diamond’s guide as he moves through the world: He is not often swayed by people who are beautiful. In fact, some of his close friends are those who are not conventionally attractive, but Diamond sees something deeper within.

“That's of no consequence: every man ought to be a gentleman, and your father is one.”

This piece of wisdom from the North Wind establishes expectations of moral behavior and assures Diamond that his father is well-regarded despite his lower social class. “Gentleman” is a goal, a way of behavior, rather than a title linked to social class. It allows Diamond to be proud of his father while also having high expectations for himself. 

“‘Why should you see things,’ returned North Wind, ‘that you wouldn't understand or know what to do with? Good people see good things; bad people, bad things.’”

This is the first instance when the North Wind refers to her moral code. This sentiment is similar to “you reap what you sow” but concerns the mental component of decision-making and its consequences. Goodness results in goodness, while badness must be punished. The fact that the North Wind says this adds to her character and helps clarify the rules by which she functions. 

“Everybody can't be done to all the same. Everybody is not ready for the same thing.”

This quote from the North Wind sounds like another maxim, reminding Diamond that not everyone moves at the same pace. However, the novel’s ending gives this quote a slightly darker meaning. In it, the North Wind subtly tells Diamond that everyone’s time must come and that when it is his time he will be ready.

“He had half a notion that North Wind was a friend of his mother, and that, if she did not know all about it, at least she did not mind his going anywhere with the lady of the wind. At the same time he doubted whether he might not appear to be telling stories if he told all, especially as he could hardly believe it himself when he thought about it in the middle of the day, although when the twilight was once half-way on to night he had no doubt about it, at least for the first few days after he had been with her. The girl that swept the crossing had certainly refused to believe him. Besides, he felt sure that North Wind would tell him if he ought to speak.”

Diamond is instinctively comfortable with the North Wind, but he begins to doubt if she is real. This begins a running question about the line between reality and fantasy. 

“No; I could not be cruel if I would. I can do nothing cruel, although I often do what looks like cruel to those who do not know what I really am doing. The people they say I drown, I only carry away to—to—to—well, the back of the North Wind—that is what they used to call it long ago, only I never saw the place.”

This quote performs two important tasks. First, it establishes a further moral code for the North Wind. She feels as if the world does not understand her actions, though her actions come from a place of moral fortitude. Also, it continues to foreshadow that the country at the back of the north wind is death because she carries the people she drowns there. 

“Diamond rubbed his eyes, and wondered what it was all about. Things seemed going on around him, and all to understand each other, but he could make nothing of it. So he put his hands in his pockets, and went in to have his tea.”

This is a prime example of Diamond’s childish innocence. The North Wind has explained some aspects of the world to him, but that explanation does not make sense. Rather than worry about things that are beyond him, Diamond moves on with his day, accepting that there are some things he cannot fathom.

“Yes, it is—a very great deal, for it is a beginning. And a beginning is the greatest thing of all. To try to be brave is to be brave. The coward who tries to be brave is before the man who is brave because he is made so, and never had to try.”

The North Wind compliments Diamond on being brave as they navigate the dark stairwell of the cathedral. This claim serves as a lesson to the reader and Diamond, encouraging acts of bravery by validating the sensation of fear. 

“Because then that clergyman would never have heard of it, and set you wanting to go. But we shall see. We shall see. You must go home now, my dear, for you don't seem very well, and I'll see what can be done for you.”

The North Wind once again foreshadows that the country at her back is something other than what she has explicitly told Diamond. She also implicitly connects illness and the back of the north wind. She tells Diamond that he seems ill, and he does indeed fall sick. It is when he travels north with her, leaving his physical body behind, that his mind/soul is well enough to navigate the world at her back. 

“He insisted that if it did not sing tunes in people's ears, it sung tunes in their heads, in proof of which I may mention that, in the troubles which followed, Diamond was often heard singing.”

Music becomes very important to Diamond after his prolonged illness. He makes up songs for his infant siblings—songs that strike others as uncanny and do not make sense. He even hears the songs he heard at the back of the north wind in other places but can’t fully understand or absorb them. The habit of singing songs is another thing that makes Diamond unique and establishes his strangeness following his sickness.

“‘How very alive you are, child!’ she murmured. ‘Come nearer to me.’”

The use of the word “alive” here indicates both Diamond’s recovery from sickness and the ways in which the North Wind depends on him. His liveliness rouses her from her frigid sleep, enabling her to carry him home and resume her duties as the North Wind. Of course, it is also further proof that the northern country is the land of the dead: Only when Diamond returns to wellness is he able to leave it.

“For he was not an old man, and hoped yet to retrieve his fortunes. Let us hope that he lived to retrieve his honesty, the tail of which had slipped through his fingers to the very last joint, if not beyond it.”

Mr. Coleman lost the last of his assets due to his own dishonesty—the North Wind sunk his ship to teach him a lesson, leaving his family in financial strain. However, the narrator notes that more important than improving his financial status is improving his honesty.

“But the coachman had a lump in his throat and tears in his eyes. For the old horse, hearing his voice, had turned his long neck, and when his old friend went up to him and laid his hand on his side, he whinnied for joy, and laid his big head on his master's breast. This settled the matter. The coachman's arms were round the horse's neck in a moment, and he fairly broke down and cried.”

Old Diamond’s reappearance in the novel is a significant symbol for Diamond’s father. Before the loss of the Coleman fortune, Old Diamond represented stability, comfort, and loyalty. As he reacts positively to Diamond’s father’s presence, it is evident that the two of them share a connection. Old Diamond also becomes a symbol for independence. In purchasing Old Diamond, Diamond’s father can once again provide for his family, and he knows that this horse is reliable enough to help them survive. 

“Diamond's father and mother were, notwithstanding, rather miserable, and Diamond began to feel a kind of darkness beginning to spread over his own mind. But the same moment he said to himself, ‘This will never do. I can't give in to this. I've been to the back of the north wind. Things go right there, and so I must try to get things to go right here. I've got to fight the miserable things. They shan't make me miserable if I can help it.’”

Diamond here makes a mental connection between the country at the back of the north wind and his current situation, deciding that the two are in some way linked and thus he must maintain good spirits to soothe his family members. Diamond uses his optimism and innocent perspective to lighten the mood in the apartment, singing to the baby and helping his parents. This effort is a clear marker of Diamond’s difference compared to those around him, as he is able to lift spirits even when situations are dire. 

“The wind blew loud, but Diamond slept a deep sleep, and never heard it.”

It is a sign of Diamond’s health and well-being that he sleeps through the siren call of the North Wind. When he is sickly or illness is impending, he wakes to her and joins her, but he spends the middle of the novel in good health, trying to be the best possible boy he can be.

“And this misery was the voice of the great Love that had made him and his wife and the baby and Diamond, speaking in his heart, and telling him to be good. For that great Love speaks in the most wretched and dirty hearts; only the tone of its voice depends on the echoes of the place in which it sounds.”

This moment mirrors the sentiment from the North Wind near the beginning of the novel that bad people see bad things and good people see good things. Here, the drunken coachman has remorse for having hit his wife but cannot see through the alcohol enough to realize why he is truly remorseful. The implication here is that if the cabman stopped drinking, he would hear his conscience more clearly and thus navigate the world as an improved man. 

“Still Diamond, though he heard every word, and understood it too, kept on smiling. What could it matter what people called him, so long as he did nothing he ought not to do? And, besides, God's baby was surely the best of names!”

It is a testament to Diamond’s character that he doesn’t react when people call him names. Although meant to be derogatory, Diamond claims the nickname of “God’s baby” without question, believing that as long as he acts as he should, nothing else matters. This calm temperament is one of the things that draws Mr. Raymond to him, allowing the rest of the novel to unfold.

“Diamond lay awake for a few minutes, thinking what he could do to catch worms. It was very little trouble to make up his mind, however, and still less to go to sleep after it.”

After reading a poem about birds seeking worms, Diamond mulls over the question of what he can do to help his family during his father’s illness. The worms here represent money, and Diamond makes the connection between morning work and what he can do to help his loved ones. His chosen line of work, cab driving, is something that is both an honest living and something he is skilled at, so he has no doubts as to his own capabilities and no difficulty sleeping.

“So he had come back a more humble man, and longing to ask Miss Coleman to forgive him.”

Here, we see yet another result of the North Wind’s interference. Mr. Evans, Miss Coleman’s suitor, did not want to marry her until he had money for a lavish lifestyle. However, following the crash of Mr. Coleman’s ship, he was deserted on an island, and it gave him perspective. Through his experience, the novel demonstrates that love is more important than riches. The happy ending for the two lovers also reinforces that true love can conquer all.

“‘Why, that girl must have been to the back of the north wind!’ thought Diamond, but he said nothing, only stared; and as he stared, something of the old Nanny began to dawn through the face of the new Nanny. The old Nanny, though a good girl, and a friendly girl, had been rough, blunt in her speech, and dirty in her person. Her face would always have reminded one who had already been to the back of the north wind of something he had seen in the best of company, but it had been coarse notwithstanding, partly from the weather, partly from her living amongst low people, and partly from having to defend herself: now it was so sweet, and gentle, and refined, that she might have had a lady and gentleman for a father and mother.”

The reader never receives confirmation that Nanny experienced the back of the north wind, but it is evident that her experience of illness has changed her. Diamond does not think poorly of her for having been rough to survive her difficult life, but he immediately recognizes a change within her. In this way. Nanny joins the trope of angelic children that developed during the Victorian Era. She also receives prophetic dreams after this moment but, unlike Diamond, views them only as dreams and does not place any weight on them. 

“One hour would make a difference to old Diamond. But that's not the main point. You must think what an advantage it would be to the poor girl that hasn't a home to go to!”

This moment exemplifies the kind spirit of Diamond’s mother and shows where he receives his attentiveness from. While Diamond’s father is at first concerned with the financial risks of taking in another horse and another child, Diamond’s mother corrects his thinking and notes how important it would be for Nanny to have a safe home to recover in. Diamond’s mother is a strong, moral guide for her family and exemplifies the spirit of goodwill. While following her advice temporarily brings strain to the family, it is eventually resolved when Mr. Raymond “rewards” them and offers them a home.

“I think not. You might have loved me in a dream, dreamily, and forgotten me when you woke, I daresay, but not loved me like a real being as you love me. Even then, I don't think you could dream anything that hadn't something real like it somewhere.”

The North Wind comforts Diamond about his concerns as to whether or not his experiences with her are real. She soothes him with the knowledge that his love is so powerful that there must be a real connection, made outside of the realm of dreams. This makes Diamond feel better, and the two of them deepen their connection because of his full acceptance that she is real. The idea that dreams always reflect some truth relates to the novel’s Christian framework, which sees such things as signs pointing to God’s existence.

“‘I thought I liked the place so much,’ said Diamond to himself, ‘but I find I don't care about it. I suppose it's only the people in it that make you like a place, and when they're gone, it's dead, and you don't care a bit about it. North Wind told me I might stop as long as I liked, and I've stopped longer already. North Wind!’ he cried aloud, turning his face towards the sky.”

Diamond learns an important lesson about nostalgia in this moment. While he has fond memories and thoughts of the place where he spent his early childhood, he discovers that without his parents and the Colemans, it does not mean very much to him after all. This deepens his love for the people in his life because he realizes that they are responsible for making a place a home.