Finding Ourselves

For my group’s literature circle, we chose “The Strength of God” section and I am assigned as the “connector”. I’m glad that I got this position because in my opinion, the most fascinating part about literature is deciphering the author’s main message which often time relates to the real world. One thing that I noticed was that Reverend Curtis Hartman is far too timid. At times however, his shyness works to his advantage because people appreciate a less radical approach to religion. But, I also realized that his timidity is creating a barrier between what he truly feels that he needs to express. I think that most people can relate to Reverend in this aspect. I know that for me anyways, it’s hard for me to completely express a thought unless I am comfortable with the listener. Our thoughts are precious and subjective and therefore people do not always feel okay with expressing them. But perhaps it would be better for everybody if more of our deeper ideas were expressed more openly. I also noticed that the reverend mostly marries for ritualistic and traditional reasons. The desire to fulfill society’s expectations is outweighing Reverend’s actual wants. Society is guilty of this for sure. We are all so concerned on following the “path” that society has created that we forget to explore a little. In Alpharetta, going to college really isn’t even a question. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very thankful for this because I have always intended on furthering my education, but I’m sure not everybody feels the same way. Some people in Alpharetta might want to go on to learn a trade or skill; not everybody is meant to go to college. It’s sad though because even the kids more interested in pursuing a trade are probably too intimidated by the high expectations of the Alpharetta culture to ever actually go through with the idea. So, like the reverend, tradition is undoubtedly holding back society from exploring all of life’s options.  Additionally, the minister’s sinful thoughts demonstrate the hypocrisy of the world. It’s discouraging to think that the minister, the man everybody looks up to for moral guidance, is considering giving into his sinful thoughts. Had the reverend not had his epiphany, he would have been just like everybody else. I think that this is Anderson’s way of putting to light the issue of hypocrisy in the world. There is a reason that we are told to “practice what we preach”, and it’s because society has such a difficult time doing this. Maybe Anderson is also trying to tie in religion to this. Unfortunately, religion often times gets a bad name because those advertising their religion tend to also do things that counter those beliefs. Hypocrisy makes people look pretentious and dumb; as a whole, society should be more aware of this. If a person actually believes what they are saying, they will be more likely to follow through with what they say. I guess all in all, Anderson asks us to be more in tune with who we individually are and what that means.