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
It’s a beautiful spring day. John notes that his son was almost late for school today because he’d procrastinated on his math homework. He observes that his son is so serious about everything he does, like the “half sadness and half fury” he saw for the first time when he met the boy’s mother (Lila). He first noticed it in his son when the boy was three, trying to fix a broken crayon, looking much older than his age.
John’s letter to his son often describes everyday events and observations because, by the time his son is grown up, he might not remember much about the life he shared with John before John’s death. Here, John also alludes to sadness and pain in his wife’s background. He doesn’t explain their source here, but he suggests that sorrow and anger are so much a part of Lila that the same things appear in their son, too.
Themes
John notes that his father left him a trade, which is also his vocation. It was second nature to him because he grew up with it; but he knows that for his son, that probably won’t be the case.
John doesn’t distinguish between the ideas of “trade” and “vocation.” Usually, “trade” is associated with hands-on skills requiring special training, whereas “vocation”—especially in a religious context—often refers to a calling, more than just a job, to which a person is especially suited. John seems to regard his ministerial work as a matter of both technical skill and spiritual calling. Both aspects of the job came to him easily because he grew up in a pastor’s family. But John seems accepting of the fact that his son’s life will probably be different, and that for the first time in several generations, his son probably won’t carry on the family “trade.”
Themes
John notices a fat blue bubble drifting past his window and looks down to see the boy and Lila in the yard, blowing bubbles at the cat, Soapy, who leaps in the air. They are having too much fun to notice the “celestial consequences of your worldly endeavors.” John admires his wife’s blue dress and his son’s red shirt and their shared laughter, thinking, “Ah, this life, this world.”
John’s reflections are rarely detached from the delight he finds in everyday events, like his wife and son blowing bubbles at the cat. Simple details like his loved ones’ clothes and laughter remind John of the beauty present in this world—even though he believes he’ll soon be with God in heaven, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t find earthly life incredibly precious. His remark about “celestial consequences” is playful but genuine—the bubbles literally float skyward, and at the same time, John implies that simple actions on Earth—even games with loved ones—somehow impact eternity as well, even if we’re unaware of it.
Themes
