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
This morning, John met with the church trustees. He knows they’re planning to tear down the old church after he dies. He’s glad he won’t be around when that happens—he figures the grief would kill him. Of course, there’d be poetry in that.
John is deeply attached to the church where he’s spent his entire life and career, so it makes sense that even if the congregation survived, the destruction of the building itself would be devastating. Still, John manages to keep a sense of humor about the possibility.
Themes
John ponders whether he might be impatient to die. He quotes George Herbert on God’s preservation being like a new creation every moment; he hopes that his son has read Herbert. He watches his son playing on a swing beneath his window and experiencing the childhood pleasure of discovering things like gravity and light for the first time.
John seems to feel ambivalent about life at this moment. He’s lived a long and full life and, in some ways, he’s apprehensive about what might come next, if he lives much longer. And yet, dying will mean missing so many milestones and opportunities to teach his son things, like George Herbert’s poetry.
Themes
John didn’t mean to criticize the church trustees; it makes sense not to invest in the church building at this point. He did tell them that the church’s weathervane was brought from Maine by his grandfather. The vane has a rooster on it, and there’s a bullet hole at the base of the rooster’s tail. There are various stories about how it got there. He suspects the true story is that his grandfather fired a rifle to call a meeting to order.
John shows his humility in his attitude toward the church trustees; he understands that the congregation’s future is bigger than himself and might not include the church building that means so much to him. The building’s importance makes sense: it isn’t just a structure, but something that contains memories and even bits of people’s personalities, like the weathervane that his grandfather likely shot.
Themes
John points out that these churches weren’t meant to be “venerable”; settlers built them as an adequate shelter for the time being, and they grow shabby over time. He used to think that all churches had steeples in order to draw lightning away from other buildings, but eventually he realized that not every church had his father in its pulpit. He wants his son to know that he understands the church’s complex history. These days, many people think that loyalty to the church is “benighted.” He knows his own experience has been sheltered in many ways. But the church is also universal, and it means more than John can find words for. He hopes his son will “put [himself] in the way of the gift.”
John’s comment about the church’s steeple is a little hard to understand. He implies that, like steeples draw lightning, his father’s ministry—perhaps especially his preaching—tended to draw fire. This might be a way of suggesting that his father’s preaching was controversial. In any case, John also tells his son that he knows that the church, as a human institution, has its flaws. But in spite of this, he also wants his son to be open to the beauty and blessings to be found in its midst.
Themes
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John did something strange this morning—he danced to a waltz tune on the radio, even though he didn’t really know how. Thinking of his youth reminds him that he didn’t really have much of one, and that he will miss the beauties of this world. He figures he’ll do all his waltzing in the privacy of his study, and if he starts to feel pain, he’ll clutch a special book. He changes his mind since a book might gain unhappy associations if it’s found in his dead hands. But he considered Donne, Herbert, Barth’s Epistle to the Romans, and the second volume of Calvin’s Institutes.
As he nears death, John seems to grow more whimsical and more appreciative of life’s everyday joys. This attitude even extends to his anticipation of dying. He thinks it would be appropriate to die with a favorite book in his hands, like poetry or a theological work of special significance, but he decides that might be too traumatizing for those who find his body. But his musings suggest that he’s able to think about death in a fairly matter-of-fact and even humorous way.
Themes
