Caleb's Crossing

The novel is deeply concerned with the ways people learn, understand, and form opinions about the world around them. Knowledge can come from formal education that values the transmission of written texts, from communally arrived-at ideas and biases that help unify a group of people, and from religious belief that prescribes certain ideals and standards of thought.

We see three institutions of more or less formal learning: the tutorial system of Bethia’s father, the school of Master Corlett, and Harvard College. Each of these stresses learning the cultural production of ancient Europe, prizing a knowledge of Latin and ancient Greek and a deep familiarity with classical authors like Homer. The ideal of this kind of education is seclusion for study—a walled off place where students and their teachers do not interact with the outside world, which is viewed as beneath them.

Another source of knowledge is religious faith, which dictates what followers should think about a variety of issues. Puritans adhere to a very strict version of Christianity which emphasizes the sinful nature of human beings, the necessity for women’s subservience to men, and the idea that God’s chosen people are owed land. These beliefs drive the Puritan community’s misogyny, Bethia’s internalized feelings that her sins are literally responsible for her mother’s death, and the glee with which settlers greet the outbreaks of smallpox in the Native population. The Wampanoag rely on mysticism and secrecy in their religious rituals, which stress the importance of endurance, resistance, and magic. Their faith drives the showdown between the pawaaws and Bethia’s father and the rebellion that chief Metacom begins.

The novel shows both of these ways of obtaining knowledge as flawed, and presents an alternative: lively debate between open-minded people whose arguments could possibly sway the other side. Several times, we see the way influential people change their minds about a topic when presented with evidence or when hearing the opinion of a person from a marginalized or otherwise affected community. For instance, Harvard President Chauncy reevaluates his initial prejudice about Caleb and Joel’s suitability for higher learning when he see evidence of their intellectual gifts and achievements—so much so that he decides to personally tutor them. Similarly, the initially casually sexist Samuel Corlett is dismissive of Bethia’s passionately held opinions about the mistreatment of Native people and attempts to help Anne—but her steadfastness and eloquent arguments about women’s rights convince him to open his world view.