Jerra is a strong man and fulfills his roll as a son, husband and a father. Sometimes he thinks about what is missing in his life. Throughout the novel he struggles with the difficulties with his wife and his son, “Everything was changed, how long had it been since they were happy”, ‘Forest Winter’. The death of his father was an impact to him, but he learned from the event. Before his father died, they talked, and his father encouraged him by saying he has done well. Jerra becomes depressed and sad because his family is just holding onto the edge. When Rachel had the baby she was quiet for a long time, “having the baby had muted her”, ‘Forest Winter’. Many things had changed. Jerra finds it difficult letting go of the past and is always telling stories. He wants to re-live some aspects of his life.
Rachel is the strong one out of all the characters who tries to let go of the past. She was broken at first and became silent after the first baby was born. She didn’t talk to Jerra much, she lived in a mundane life. In the stories, it was never mentioned that they hugged or kissed. Slowly, she began to gain her conscious, “never before she had felt such strength”, ‘The Strong One’. Rachel announced to Jerra that she wanted to start studying in ‘The Strong One’. Rachel lets go of her past and tries to get on with her life.
The boy finds it difficult to accept change. This chapter describes important sections of the boy’s life, and the events he does not want to accept. The boy’s friend and his friend travel up the coast together to his mother’s holiday house. The boy is quiet and doesn’t want to lose his friend. He follows them wherever they go, he doesn’t want to believe that things are different, “he swears things are the same”, ‘No Memory Comes’. The boy does not want to let go the past, and he is trapped. He can no longer stand the fact that everything around him is changing so he stabs himself.
‘Minimum of two’ demonstrates how Jerra and the boy find it difficult to let go of the past. Jerra is nostalgic and tells a great deal of stories; he has trouble of letting go of the past so he tries to re-live it. The boy doesn’t want to accept that everything around him is changing, he is trapped in the past and does not want to let go. Rachel, however, finds the strength to overcome her past, she slowly began to gain her conscience. Jerra and the boy find it difficult to let go of the past, however Rachel gets on with her life.