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
Jack is leaving. Glory, upset, comes to speak to John about it. She doesn’t understand how Jack could leave when Boughton clearly doesn’t have much time left. John understands, though—the Boughton house will soon be filled with grieving family, while Jack will have to keep his “sad and splendid treasure” a secret. John also has a wife and child, so he understands.
John understands that Jack can’t confide who he really is to his family, and that will become all the more painful in the aftermath of Boughton’s looming death. The fact that he identifies with Jack’s pain shows how much his view of Jack has shifted in a short time.
Themes
If John had married some “rosy dame” who gave him 10 children, he would have left them all on the coldest night of the world and walked a thousand miles just for a sight of Lila’s face and his son’s face. And even if he didn’t find them, he would find comfort in the mere hope. He’s trying to say that he could never thank God enough for the “splendor He has hidden from the world […] and revealed to me in your sweetly ordinary face.”
Jack’s situation prompts John to reflect with uncharacteristic passion on his own life with Lila and his son. He reflects on the fact that the most beautiful things in the world are beauties that aren’t obvious to other people, and that these are worth fighting for. He seems to be thinking of Jack’s wife and child, too, in saying this.
Themes
Similarly, John knows that if Boughton could, he would walk away from his crowd of handsome, happy children to chase after the son he doesn’t truly know, just in the hope of protecting and defending him. He would forgive Jack everything, extravagantly. John wishes he could live to see that.
John alludes broadly to the Bible’s prodigal son story here. John knows Boughton better than just about anyone, and he believes that deep down, Boughton loves his most troubled son—the one who’s caused him the most grief—more than his many “good” children and would do anything to reconcile with him, just as the father in the Bible story ran to meet the son who’d wronged him.
Themes
John himself was “the good son” who never left his father’s house—one of the “righteous” ones for whom heaven’s rejoicing isn’t so boisterous. And that’s okay with him. After all, there’s no justice or sense of proportion in love.
This is another prodigal son reference. In the story, there’s a second “righteous” son who does everything right and never leaves his father, so he never gets a party thrown for him.
Themes
Get the entire Gilead LitChart as a printable PDF.
John decides it’s time to bring his writing to an end. This morning he saw Jack Boughton walking toward the bus stop with a suitcase. John walked along with him and offered him his old, dog-eared copy of The Essence of Christianity. Jack seemed pleased with the gift. John made a few final comments about faith, namely that God’s grace can present itself in many different ways. He knew Jack must have heard all this from his father before, but he looked so lonely that John couldn’t help but make conversation.
John offers Jack the Feuerbach volume Edward once gave him. The gesture suggests that even though John doesn’t expect to convince Jack about God, he trusts that Jack, with God’s grace, will find his way one day—even if his path doesn’t look anything like John’s or Boughton’s.
Themes
At one point, Jack paused and said that by leaving, he was once again doing the worst possible thing. He smiled, but John saw fear in his eyes. And it really is “dreadful” that he left his father to die without him. Yet it’s the kind of thing only Boughton would forgive him for. John assured Jack that he spoke to Glory about it, hinting that there’s more to the situation than she knows. He also told Jack, truthfully, that he understood why he has to leave.
Jack’s leaving will cause his family great pain yet again. Jack understands it’s cruel, but there doesn’t seem to be a better way forward, since he believes it’s too late to tell his family his whole story. The whole situation shows how racism causes widespread destruction in families and communities.
Themes
As they sat at the bus stop, John persuaded Jack to accept a little money. Then John asked if it was okay if he blessed Jack. Jack conceded, taking off his hat, so John rested his hand on Jack’s head and recited the traditional blessing from the Book of Numbers. He also asked God to bless “this beloved son and brother and husband and father.” John feels he would have gone through all his years of training and ministry just for that instant. As Jack boarded the bus, John told him that they all love him.
Recall that John has wished he could baptize Jack over again and do it better. In effect, that’s what happens here as he offers Jack a farewell blessing, committing him to God’s care. This might well be the unfinished errand John has been waiting to do before he feels his ministry is complete. Even though Jack’s story doesn’t resolve happily, that doesn’t mean God’s blessing isn’t present in his life.
Themes
On the way home, John had to stop at the church to rest. He thought about his walk through town with Jack. He reflects that Gilead used to be the kind of place where “a harmless life could be lived […] unmolested.” There’s irony in that now.
John used to idealize Gilead, but he now realizes its imperfection more than ever. Instead of being a haven for someone like Jack and his family, the town effectively rejects them.
Themes
Every night, Lila makes John one of his favorite meals. His son’s face always looks too beautiful for John’s eyes. He wishes Boughton could have seen the way Jack received John’s blessing at the bus stop. He figures Boughton will know about it in heaven, and he can imagine Boughton looking back at him from there, thinking with amazement, “This is why we have lived this life!” John reflects that there are innumerable reasons to live this life, and each of them is sufficient.
Lila seems to be prepared for the possibility that John could die any day. He feels that, too, as the world’s beauty—such as the sight of his son—almost becomes a source of grief. He reflects again that we don’t fully understand life while we’re living it, but that it’s precious, nonetheless.
Themes
John had promised Jack he would say goodbye to Boughton for him. So this evening, he visited his friend, who has almost moved on from the world. His understanding is cloudy, his hearing is poor, and he’s often asleep. He knows if he spoke Jack’s name while Boughton was alert, Boughton would have more questions than John could answer, and he couldn’t bear the confusion it would cause his friend. So instead, he whispered a few words while his friend slept.
John knows it would cause his friend too great a shock to know the truth now. Even though this means Boughton will die with unresolved grief, John implies that there can still be reconciliation in heaven one day, even if they don’t know what it will look like.
Themes
He sat beside Boughton’s bed for a long time and imagined how wonderful it would have been if Boughton could have met and blessed his grandson, Robert Boughton Miles. It seemed to him that even though this never happened, the thought contains such a powerful truth that it might as well have. Before he left Boughton, he whispered that he loved Jack as much as Boughton always meant him to.
Though he doesn’t say so, John suggests that he has a kind of vision of Boughton meeting his grandson—his imagining such a meeting feels so truthful. Though John’s relationship with Jack has always been fraught, they end up reconciling as a surrogate father and son, and John knows that this outcome would have brought Boughton comfort.
Themes
