One Two Three

Many people in the town of Bourne have missing limbs or body parts that are only partially functional. For example, Mab’s friend Pooh is not able to walk, and when readers are introduced to a group of the townspeople at Norma’s Bar where Nora bartends, they meet Zacharias, a former plant worker who had gotten “a rare bone cancer in his ankle” and had lost his leg “from the knee down” (46). Depictions of these characters abound within the narrative, but Frankel does not use them to stigmatize or stereotype the inhabitants of Bourne. Although these injuries speak to the theme of Corporate Greed and Environmental Justice in that they represent damage that a predatory corporation has inflicted upon the town of Bourne, in a broader sense, they also speak to the theme of Resilience in the Face of Adversity because they ultimately do not hinder the townspeople from pursuing meaningful and successful lives. Thus, missing limbs become a symbol of strength. This dynamic can be seen in Zacharias’s story, for he once was a line supervisor at Belsum’s chemical plant but is no longer able to stand for long periods of time. He now works at the 7-Eleven, which, although it may be a humble job, provides a necessary service to the people in Bourne. He even jokes that he should get a peg leg and change his name to “Zach-arr-ias.” He is social, friendly, and popular among his fellow townspeople.

One of the key messages of One Two Three is the lack of utility of terms like “normal” and “abnormal,” and the way that Frankel represents missing limbs speaks to this larger philosophical idea. Through characters like Pooh, Zacharias, and the many others whose bodies do not look “whole,” Frankel issues a plea for the larger world to reconsider pity as a proper response to disability. Although life in Bourne is not what could be called “easy,” the town has rallied in the wake of environmental tragedy and formed a community that is accessible, supportive, and relatively happy. There is not one character who is truly disempowered by congenital abnormality, illness, or injury. Instead, they adapt and pivot. Although he lost part of his leg and his job, Zacharias is not to be pitied. He is just as valuable to his community as his entirely able-bodied friends and neighbors. Through these kinds of representations, Frankel aims to humanize disability and illustrate the inherent value of human life across a range of ability levels.

River is the only son of Nathan and Apple Templeton and is the grandson of Duke Templeton, the owner of Belsum Chemical during the years its plant operated in Bourne. The Templeton family knowingly deceived the community of Bourne into believing that its production process was safe and created a devastating environmental disaster that, 16 years later, still impacts the town. In addition to being openly deceitful, the Templeton family is unwilling to take responsibility for having poisoned Bourne’s water supply and falsely insists that the river is unpolluted and the tap water is safe to drink.

That Nathan and Apple chose to name their son River becomes a symbol for this spirit of deceit and denial, and the irony is not lost on the people of Bourne. They are incredulous that a family who knowingly poisoned an entire river would choose the name River for their son, and they rightfully interpret this detail as the deepest kind of denial; rather than running from their crime, the Templetons flaunt what they perceive as their own innocence. Surely, a father who would give the name River to his son had nothing to do with an environmental disaster that profoundly impacted an actual river. Whereas the family sees their choice of the name River as proof of their innocence, the town recognizes it for what it is: proof of the depth of their denial.