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Pages 63-66
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Gilead, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Life, Death, and Beauty
Christian Faith, Mystery, and Ministry
Memory, Vision, and Conviction
Estrangement and Reconciliation
Loneliness and Love
Summary
Analysis
John is trying to think of heaven this morning, but it’s difficult. After all, he couldn’t have even imagined this world if he hadn’t spent so many years in it, and it still astonishes him each day, “like Adam waking up in Eden.”
The world still feels miraculous to John—almost like discovering paradise anew each day. He seems to become more sensitive to these beauties as he gets closer to his own death, suggesting that death can make someone love the world even more, rather than simply making them want to escape it.
Themes
John’s mind may have had its deficiencies, but it’s served him well over the years—containing lots of poetry and Scripture. When he was small, his father would give him pennies for memorizing Bible verses. Sometimes they’d play games, where his father would say a verse and John would have to say the next, and they’d go on and on that way. His son knows some Psalms and the Lord’s Prayer.
John recalls that his father found fun ways to instill Scripture in him as he grew up. Though his son knows some of the basics, John knows his son won’t get the chance to learn from him the way he learned from his own father.
Themes
His wife seems to want John to know that she’s going to raise their boy as a Christian. John says this is wonderful because, when he first met her, he’d never met anyone who knew so little about religion. When she first started coming to church, sitting in a back corner, he felt she was the only real listener. Even before he knew her name, his sermon felt like ashes in his mouth each week, and he was sure she’d never come back. But she did.
Raising their son as a Christian will be challenging for Lila, since she apparently wasn’t raised that way herself—yet John suggests that her lack of religious training gives her a special openness to religious ideas, hence her receptivity to his preaching.
Themes
John had a chat this morning with Tobias’s father, Mr. Schmidt, who was concerned about the kids using inappropriate language while joking around. John had a hard time keeping a straight face during the conversation, and he said he thinks it’s better not to be overly strict with children, as it won’t be effective in the long run. Mr. Schmidt finally deferred to him, though he did ask if John was Unitarian.
John’s conversation with Tobias’s father shows that in some ways, he’s a relatively lenient father. This might be partly because, after decades as a pastor, he’s gained a lot of perspective on what works and what doesn’t among the families he’s known. Amusingly, the stricter Mr. Schmidt implies that John’s easygoing attitude must mean he's a liberal Christian. (Unitarians began as an offshoot of Christianity but reject many central doctrines such as the Trinity and have a progressive reputation.)
Themes
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Boughton laughs, too, when he hears the story. He’s in a good mood because he’s heard from Jack. John decides not to tell his wife about the talk with Mr. Schmidt because she worries so much about their boy and always assumes things are her fault. She also said the other day that she wants to read John’s old sermons. He figures he might as well sort through some of them for his own peace of mind. He wonders how he’s lived with the knowledge that the sermons are his life’s major work.
John refers to Boughton’s son Jack again, though he doesn’t yet comment on the nature of their estrangement; he seems to be putting off that story, implying it’s a difficult one. Thinking about his old sermons is also tough for John. While he might not disavow the sermons, he seems to feel that they weren’t enough—that his work as a minister is somehow unfinished.
Themes
