Quotes+and+Themes

1. "Then I wondered if that's all God ever is--somebody who loves you enough to come back from the dead to visit every now and again. Or if that's all that other people ever are--different faces of God walking around." — Rapture of Canaan


 * Theme: Througout the book Ninah's individuality pokes through Grandpa Herman's overbearing teachings. Ninah finally starts to define religion for herself as a less harsh, more accepting way of life rather than rules followed by extreme punishments. Reynolds' message is that it's okay to define religion for oneself without the fear of being sentenced to "a night in your own grave."**

2. There's only so much room in one heart. You can fill it up with love or you can fill it up with resentment. But every bit of resentment you hold takes space away from the love. And the resentment don't do no good noway, but look what love can do." - The Rapture of Canaan


 * Theme: Nanna's message to her grandaughter is one of forgiveness. Despite Grandpa's heckling and publicizing of Nanna's past, she still feels no resentment towards him because of her obvious prioritization of love first. She sends this message not only through her words, but through her interactions with everyone. Nana represents a contrast to the entire mindset of the cult by putting love first instead of blind wrath and punishment.**

3. It wasn't easy to undress for gym in front of all those girls who had bras. I couldn't do gym in a dress. I couldn't tell Mamma or Daddy because if they knew the school issued us shorts and T-shirts, they'd call up and make a scene. James had already warned me not to. In the few years since the school had required dressing out for gym class, the handful of Fire and Brimstone children had kept the secret. It was our only chance to prove that we had legs. -The Rapture of Canaan


 * Theme 1: Hidden underneath what seems to be just a sad story, irony shines through. Although the adults in the Church of Fire and Brimstone want the school to accept their religion and way of life, they can't seem to do the same for other people and religions. They punish those who talk to those of different religions, lifestyles, and even races. The hypocracy of the Church of Fire and Brimstone contradicts everything that they say they believe.

Theme 2: The children have been taught to fear the punishment of Grandpa. They see him as the higher being they answer to, not God. By not allowing them to dress the way they want, they're instilling fear in them, never feeling guilty for "sinning", only for getting caught.

Theme 3: Despite growing up in a very strict enviornment, the children just to be just that: children. When the story follows the children to school, the children almost feel relief to get away from the sharp cookie cutter rules and finally just be a kid. Despite being taught that they're above others, like every other child, they want to be accepted by their peers. The fact that the Church they believe in doesn't understand their natural need to be accepted just goes to prove all of the rules only serve to punish the followers of the church for giving into natural feelings, desires, and sometimes temptations.**

4. I don't know what they took me in the church for. I guess they thought I wouldn't lie if I was in the church. But they had it all wrong. I didn't set out to lie or anything, but by that time, it didn't matter where I was. Church or no chuch, truth and lies all looked the same to me by then. It didn't matter where they took me. There was no telling what would come out of my mouth. -Rapture of Canaan


 * Theme: Ninah has been taught to feel that all of her actions outside of the church rules would damn her to hell, so she feels that because she's already made such poor decisions in the eyes of the church that she is too far gone and cannot be saved. Because of being taught this extreme, nothing matters in Ninah's eyes any longer. The church has ruined her sense of self worth. She can't even trust herself anymore, where previously the only people she could trust were herself and Nanna. Reynolds is condemning the use of extreme religion because of its impact on the human psyche.**

5. I figured Grandpa Herman was planning on starving me to death. That'd be the one way of getting rid of a baby. If I died from not eating before the baby was born, then the baby'd die too and everything would be settled. And if that didn't work, maybe he was counting on me catching pneumonia from being dunked and dying that way. Either way, he was planning on killing me. But I knew I wouldn't die. -Rapture of Canaan


 * Theme: In an extremely calm way, Ninah talks about her beliefs that Grandpa is trying to kill her. Because of his past use of extreme punishment, his actions are no longer shocking to Ninah, even when they apply to herself. Grandpa is so caught up in his religion that he can't see how wrong it is to dunk a pregnant woman and risking harming the innocent baby within her - even believing that the baby isn't pure because of the actions of its parents. His blind religion and extreme control over the group is dangerous.**

6. I did not sleep on a single nettle. I thought about it. But then I decided that I wasn't even comfortable when I was awake, so why should I be miserable when I was asleep? I was going to Hell anyway, no matter how many thorns I covered up with, so I didn't even bother. -Rapture of Canaan


 * Theme 1: Ninah is "giving herself a break" from punishing herself, because she feels that all of the misery she has put herself through in the past in the name of God hasn't changed anything. She feels that she's still going to hell no matter what she does. She's beginning to see the insanity in the religion. Why punish ones self for feelings and situtions that one has no control over?

Theme 2: In such an extreme cult environment, it is almost impossible to be happy. Ninah is depressed all of the time. It is impossible for someone to be happy when they are always afraid of something, whether it be Grandpa's punishments or the Rapture. Living day to day with Ninah's personal struggles is like a metaphorical nettle in her bed. During her pregnancy, Ninah's baby is like thorns wrapped around her stomach. Ironcally, when she has the baby, everyone praises it as the Messiah.**

7. The community decided that it would be best if David and Laura took him to raise. They'd been wanting a baby so bad, you know. And you need to get back to school and do things with the other children. So we decided that if David and Laura raised him, you'd be his aunt. And you'd get to see him as much as you wanted and tend him every day. But he'd have two parents, like every child should have. -Rapture of Canaan


 * Theme 1: Even after Ninah gives birth to the "Son of Man," they still follow through with the decisions that were previously made for her. She had no say in whether or not she wanted to keep her child. The church feels as though it has the right to make decisons for everyone, including the "Mother of God." Throughout the book they speak about the second coming of the Messiah as though it would change everything. The Rapture is what their entire religion is based on. However, when it happens, nothing seems to change at all because of their belief in a religion that only lets them behave one way. They grew up only seeing in tunnel vision, not even the Rapture can open their eyes.

Theme 2: Throughout the book, the reader sees Ninah develop into something different than the average follwer at Fire and Brimstone. Her doubts about the the church are natural, yet rare around the community. Alough the primary belief at the church is that every child should have two parents, Ninah's extraordinariness should prove to everyone that she's completely capable of raising Canaan by herself.

Theme 3: The handing over of Canaan to Laura and David shows Fire and Brimstones complete lack of regard to the law. Their group is so secluded that they have no regard for what is acceptable out in the "real world." This is also made obvious when Grandpa fights giving the children shots when they enter school. Because Fire and Brimstone's only concern is their misguided ideas of what God wants, they completely disregard what is right.**

8. Justice comes to everyone, I guess. I don't know how it can be that you can wish somebody evil and then feel so bad when it knocks them behind the knees and flattens them on the floor. -Rapture of Canaan


 * Theme 1: Because of the cult mindset the members of F&B have grown up with, they don't question Grandpa's insane rulings on punishment. When they actually see the punishments in action however, they feel uncomfortable and disgusted. Even though they have been taught to feel a certain way their entire lives, their instincts show them what is right and what is wrong. Unfortunately, even though they know what Grandpa is doing is wrong, they don't have the tools or willpower available within themselves to make it stop.

Theme 2: Grandpa says that he is serving justice to sinners, but his idea of justice is cruel and unusal. Unfortunately, because of his control over the group, his punishments are allowed and sometimes even encouraged. By giving so much power to one person, the cult has lost control of their own lives, putting themselves into the hands of a man who believes that his own cruel mistreatments of human life are what God wants.**

9. James didn't take his own life. He drowned on a hot night, caught on a root in the bottom of the pond. Nobody ever mentioned that he was tethered to that sunken tree with thick, deliberate knots. -Rapture of Canaan


 * Theme 1: Strangely, the police never make an appearence to look into James's death. This is another example of the cults disregard for the law outside of their community, which leaves them completely isolated from the outside world. Grandpa's strict rules to not allow outsiders into the community keeps his control over the members of Fire and Brimstone. Also, without interference from the police, James's family cannot get the help and life benefits the law provides them.

Theme 2: Ironically, a sin that usually has a weighty punishment, lying, goes without consiquence when James dies. Everyone knows that James killed himself, but even Grandpa says it is an accident. Here we can see Grandpa 'playing God' as clearly as ever, deciding when it's 'okay' to lie. His intentions are good in that he wants to comfort the members of his community, but to allow their strict rules to only apply when he wants them to is another example of his extreme control over the community.**

10. It made me crazy how James went back and forth between believing what he'd been taught and believing his own instincts. I knew I did the same thing, but James did it worse. He was like oil and vinegar poured into the same bottle, one minute shaken together and the next minute seperated. Couldy, then clear, then cloudy again. -Rapture of Canaan


 * Theme: Because they children in F&B have grown up being told how to feel and think, it is confusing and frightening for them when their own insticts and ideas begin to develop. As James matures, he becomes afraid of his own thoughts because they differ from what he's been taught his entire life. He feels like a sinner and a heathen that is doomed to hell. This fear proves to be fatal and is the cause for his suicide. When Ninah talks about James as 'oil and vinegar poured into the same bottle,' she is saying that James is 'clear' when he is thinking for himself and knows what he wants and believes, but becomes 'cloudy' when people tell him how to feel.**

I'd grown up in a church that operated through fear-rhetoric, and I suspected that many people who underwent conversion experiences did so because they were afraid they'd burn in Hell otherwise. - Sheri Reynolds

The most autobiographical part of the book is the place where Ninah stands before the faucet in the middle of the night, unable to turn it on because she's scared the Rapture has happened and all the water's been turned to blood. This book was fueled by memories like that one, memories of nights when I was too terrified to turn on the water. -Sheri Reynolds

All of my novels are autobiographical, not literally, but emotionally. -Sheri Reynolds

I was always belligerent, and it was not an acceptable thing to be if you were a girl. And I couldn't disobey because it was one of the Ten Commandments. So I think I used the stories I wrote to do things I couldn't actually do. -Sheri Reynolds

I'm not picking up the biggest issues and proclaming them from the mountaintops- just picking one and turning it up a little bit. - Sheri Reynolds

(Talking about her experience in a tight extended family and agricultural community) "I used a lot of that in The Rapture of Canaan, in terms of being a part of a clan, a tribe."

It seemed to me that a lot of the Christians around me relished the idea of sinners going to Hell, and it bothered me a lot that the passion in the church centered on Hell rather than Heaven, on fear of God rather than love of God. -Sheri Reynolds

I knew that if I wrote it as a nonfiction piece, it would be too accusing, too moralistic, and I knew that if I wrote about a religious community that looked identical to the one I grew up in, I'd alienate the readers I wanted most (my momma, grandma, aunts and cousins). -Sheri Reynolds

So when I wrote the book, I kept the doctrines and the feeling of church-meetings. I hope I also kept the warmth of the community in its better moments. But I added in many things that were unrecognizable, like Grandpa Herman's rule book. I borrowed from medieval law-codes and penitentials and interspersed them with the beliefs my family still holds today. -Sheri Reynolds

People ask me a lot whether I'm Ninah, and the answer is no. I've never written a character to represent me, though parts of me are inside every character I write. In //The Rapture of Canaan//, Ninah holds many of my fears. Like Ninah, I often felt misunderstood, like an outcast even in my own family. But I am also very much like other characters. -Sheri Reynolds

Sometimes I use my fiction to explore the parts of myself that I like or understand the least. I've got a good helping of Grandpa Herman in me. I hope he's not only a tyrant, but also lovable and sympathetic in his desire to keep his family close. I'm sometimes as rigid as Ninah's mother, and as fond of rules (like all rule-lovers, I want to be pleasing). I've got a lot of Corinthian Lovell in me, too, though. Maybe I'm most like Corinthian Lovell - the holy-roller outlaw -Sheri Reynolds