LITERATURE ANALYTICAL ENTRY

"And now, from nowhere, the black memory of his brother's death rushed over him again, mindless and inexorable as a wind or wave, the huge cultipacker lifting- only an inch or so- as it climbed toward the shoulders, then sank on the cheek, flattening the skull- and he heard, more real than the morning, his sister's scream." (254)This quote was taken from Redemption, a short story by John Gardner. Redemption was how Jack Hawthorne, the voice of the quote above, ran over his younger brother as a child. This tragic accident makes Jack try to find his faith in order to survive. He wasn't like his family; running to religion to get through the unfortunate event. Redemption can be related to the topic of religious tolerance because Jack's family wasn't able to come to understand Jack's decision. Jack was able to deal with the pain he felt by his brother's death because of music. Playing the French horn helped instead of religion. Jack's family didn't acknowledge his new faith. For instance, during dinner, his sister didn't understand why Jack didn't say grace before eating. In order to please her, Jack lied and told her that he said it in his head.

Except for Jack, each character in the short story uses religion in some way to relieve their heartache. Jack’s dad, Dale, was able to become dependent on God and faith but then when one tiny misfortune occurred, he made a drastic change to atheism. His mom turned to church work and teaching at the high school. His sister, Phoebe, went to praying and believing that David was in heaven. The different ways that religion is used shows how every person should be aware of each other. How there needs to be tolerance in religious affiliations because even if everyone were to be one religion, it doesn’t necessarily imply that everyone uses it in the same way.

I believe that this theme of tolerance is shown because John Gardner wants to convey how religion isn't always the answer. Not everyone works in the same way; therefore, each person can get over a travesty differently. In Jack's case it was music, in his sister's, religion. Even though they are both going through the grieving cycle, Jack's family didn't approve of the way that he is doing it. "But there was nothing they could do."