The Road Toward Arcadia

The Ax

Burke’s journeys across New England and New York become a geographic record of his movement from unemployment into criminal action.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The First Circuit The First Circuit from "The Ax". The First Circuit A Deliberate Route Burke drives through back roads and state lines to reach Everly’s home, avoiding places where familiar people might…

The First Circuit from "The Ax". The First Circuit A Deliberate Route Burke drives through back roads and state lines to reach Everly’s home, avoiding places where familiar people might…

The First Circuit A Deliberate Route Burke drives through back roads and state lines to reach Everly’s home, avoiding places where familiar people might recognize him. The route is part of his attempt to keep the crime detached from his everyday life. Homeward Concealment After the shooting, he follows a planned path toward Albany and returns as though from an interview. The ordinary travel narrative hides a radical departure in his life.

The Road to Longholme The Road to Longholme from "The Ax". The Road to Longholme A Day Built Around Work Burke drives to Massachusetts while Marjorie works at the dentist’s office.

The Road to Longholme from "The Ax". The Road to Longholme A Day Built Around Work Burke drives to Massachusetts while Marjorie works at the dentist’s office.

The Road to Longholme A Day Built Around Work Burke drives to Massachusetts while Marjorie works at the dentist’s office. He parks near Exman’s home and waits for an opportunity that does not arrive. Time Becomes a Constraint The need to collect Marjorie at six governs how long Burke can stay. Family logistics shape the operation even as he tries to keep his criminal purpose separate from family life.

The Northbound Drive The Northbound Drive from "The Ax". The Northbound Drive A Landscape of Transition Burke travels along Route 5 and Route 8 toward Lichgate, reflecting on canals, roads, and changing technologies.

The Northbound Drive from "The Ax". The Northbound Drive A Landscape of Transition Burke travels along Route 5 and Route 8 toward Lichgate, reflecting on canals, roads, and changing technologies.

The Northbound Drive A Landscape of Transition Burke travels along Route 5 and Route 8 toward Lichgate, reflecting on canals, roads, and changing technologies. The drive gives him time to turn his personal crisis into a theory of historical upheaval. Arrival at Dynes’s Town The journey ends in a former factory town whose industrial prosperity has faded. Burke’s surroundings echo the loss of work that brought him there.

The Drive to the Hudson The Drive to the Hudson from "The Ax". The Drive to the Hudson A Difficult Route Burke crosses the Hudson and searches for Exman’s home in Sable Jetty.

The Drive to the Hudson from "The Ax". The Drive to the Hudson A Difficult Route Burke crosses the Hudson and searches for Exman’s home in Sable Jetty.

The Drive to the Hudson A Difficult Route Burke crosses the Hudson and searches for Exman’s home in Sable Jetty. The town’s roads and steep terrain make surveillance difficult. Place Limits Control The drive reveals that geography can obstruct Burke as effectively as other people. He must change his plan because he cannot control where Exman lives or when he leaves.

The New Commute The New Commute from "The Ax". The New Commute A Familiar Direction Burke drives west toward Arcadia at dusk, telling himself he is beginning the commute he hopes to make for work.

The New Commute from "The Ax". The New Commute A Familiar Direction Burke drives west toward Arcadia at dusk, telling himself he is beginning the commute he hopes to make for work.

The New Commute A Familiar Direction Burke drives west toward Arcadia at dusk, telling himself he is beginning the commute he hopes to make for work. The journey carries both expectation and concealed purpose. A Return Without Arrival After Fallon’s death, Burke travels home without knowing when the job call will come. The commute exists first as an imagined future, built on a crime he has not yet been rewarded for.

May 8, 1997

May 12, 1997

Late May 1997

June 9, 1997

Late June 1997, after dinner