Essay On Innovation And Tradition In Richard Russo's Empire Falls

In Richard Russo’s Empire Falls we see a town going through the struggle of falling apart after the closing of its main source of income. However, the story more closely follows Miles Roby and his daughter Tick. Miles struggles through his divorce and the difficulties of running a restaurant in a failing town. This continually causes troubles with figuring out how to make money and to take a risk that could possibly ruin his life.Throughout Empire Falls we see the clash between innovation and tradition, with the whole town, Miles, and Tick struggling on how to tackle the issues ahead of them. The whole town of Empire Falls must deal with the issue of on whether to change how they should fix the local economy or to wait for the textile mill …show more content…
Miles operates a restaurant called Empire Grill, which he has been running for the last 20 years and has seen the overall town diminish. This destruction has caused his business to become largely unsustainable from the loss of labor in the town. At first we can see that Miles doesn’t wish to change and hopes that the standard that he as been accustomed to will still stay the norm. We can gather this from a conversation with Walt in which Miles thinks, “In his own opinion Walt was in the cutting edge of all that was new and good in the world… Miles, of course, had ignored all such suggestions, thereby reinforcing Walt’s contention that he was a congenitally backwards man, destined to run a backwards establishment”(28-29). This sentiment is seen by many of the townsfolk, who know that the business will have to change to be sustainable. One such example of this is Miles brother David, who is the mirror opposite of Miles. He constantly is pushing his brother to take risks, which over time leads to Miles’s reversal and acceptance of trying a bold new plan. In turn allowing Miles to deal with the burdensome trouble that had been plaguing him for a long time. This use of innovation against tradition is what allows Miles to rebuild his life, after standard tradition has failed him. Usage of innovation is what Miles needed to …show more content…
Tick is dealing with deciding to continue on a relationship with Zach, who bullies and belittles her or to start a relationship with Donny who she met on a trip and bonded with. Tick explains why she is with Zach when she thinks, “What worried her more than losing Zach was losing his friends, the whole Zach network”(80). This quotation helps demonstrate Tick staying with Zach being what is traditional, for she will be content having the people she expects around her and not having to go out and make new friends. This plays into the idea the book expresses about people continuing with tradition not because it makes them happy, but because it is easiest. The alternative however for Tick is that she starts to talk to Donny, a boy that she had connected with and generally likes. This alternative is much more difficult and requires lots of work to pull off. However, it is the right choice for Tick, since she is much happier around him. This debate is a continuous conflict for Tick, as she doesn’t want to lose both Zach and Donny at once. Eventually, Tick does come to her sense and decide upon Donny, which results in a change in Tick on the whole, as she goes from being depressed and nervous to happy and relaxed. The story of Empire Falls, written by Richard Russo is a harrowing tale of the clash between tradition and innovation. Continually we see the