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The Return of the Prodigal Son: The Redemptive Quality of Empathy Versus Forgiveness
Through her depiction of Jack Boughton’s return home, Marilynne Robinson reimagines the parable of the prodigal son, a significant story in the New Testament about redemption and the power of forgiveness. Jack seeks this forgiveness after 20 years away as he attempts to reconcile with his father and start a new life in Gilead. Robinson transforms the biblical parable of forgiveness into a nuanced exploration of the novel’s central question of whether forgiveness is enough.
While Reverend Boughton initially welcomes his son with open arms, Glory struggles to overcome the resentment she has built over 20 years. Robinson positions Glory as the older brother figure of the original parable who begrudges his prodigal brother who profits from their father’s generosity. In the original parable, the father teaches the older son a lesson about forgiveness and celebrates the return of the son. In Robinson’s version, this parallel storyline is short-lived. At first, Glory relies on her father’s lessons on forgiveness and attempts to follow her father’s advice to “forgive in order to understand” (45). However, Reverend Boughton’s forgiveness of Jack’s past indiscretions is not strong enough to change Jack’s ways. He struggles not to drink throughout his time in Gilead and relies on his sister Glory and their newfound connection to navigate his battle for sobriety. By the novel’s end, Reverend Boughton realizes that his forgiveness and patience with Jack “didn’t make a bit of difference” (274). Ultimately, it is Glory’s understanding of Jack’s loneliness and not her father’s forgiveness that forges a bond between the two of them and saves Jack from total isolation.
Although Jack does not find redemption in the novel, Robinson places this hope on Jack’s son Robert. After meeting Della and Robert, Glory imagines a bright future with Robert’s return to Gilead. As she envisions this moment, Glory proclaims that Robert’s return will have “answered his father’s prayers” (324). Glory hints that Robert’s return will bridge understanding between Robert and his absent father and will prove Gilead a more empathetic and equitable place for all people, including Black and interracial families. Robinson suggests this is when Jack’s redemption will be complete, and she hints that Gilead will be redeemed as well.
Predestination Versus Free Will
Jack returns to Gilead in search of reconciliation with his father. However, as he attempts to comfort his father in his few remaining days, Jack questions his belief system, refuses to misrepresent his personal beliefs, and ponders the influence of predestination over his life. Through Jack’s journey, Robinson contemplates whether the more powerful influence over one’s life is predestination or free will.
Jack repeatedly wonders about perdition, or the state of eternal punishment that a sinner transitions into after death. He confesses to Glory that “perdition is the one thing that always made sense to me” (119). Although he struggles with the concept of God’s will and grace, Jack understands the concept of eternal suffering as he experiences constant turmoil since childhood. Eternal suffering is familiar to him.
The source of Jack’s sin is what interests him. He questions whether he has been predestined for sin. During his intense discussion with the clergymen, Jack struggles to understand the definition of predestination. He attempts to differentiate grace from predestination and wonders why “there are those to whom grace is not extended, even when their place in life might seem suited to—making Christians of them” (220). He does not find the answers in his intense religious debate with his father and Reverend Ames. For Jack, the question of predestination remains unanswered.
Robinson offers multiple answers to this question. At the conclusion of Jack’s religious discussion with his father and Reverend Ames, Lila, the young wife of Ames, shares her belief that, “A person can change. Everything can change” (227). Jack takes comfort in Lila’s assured response. However, Robinson also provides evidence of Jack’s belief that his sin is beyond the control of his own free will. He relies on Glory to stop him from drinking and asks her to remove bottles of alcohol from his sight to avoid temptation. He explains to his father that he left home because, “It was hard for me to be here. I could never—trust myself. Anywhere. But that made it harder to be here” (273). Robinson calls into question whether Jack’s lack of self-trust is a lack of free will or an act of God. Glory describes Jack as he leaves home for the last time. She notes how “his clothes were weary, weary. There was nothing of youth about him, only the transient vigor of a man acting on a decision he refused to reconsider or regret” (318). In these final moments, Glory seems to understand that the greater question is not regarding predestination versus free will but of rest and where Jack can find it in the harsh world he resides in that threatens to harm his son and reject any of his attempts to start anew.
The Call for Racial Equality
Robinson sets her novel in the tumultuous year of 1956, the height of the Civil Rights Movement as Black Americans and allies worked tirelessly for equal rights in boycotts, protests, and marches throughout the United States. While Gilead remains seemingly untouched by these struggles, the growing popularity of television grants Jack access to the world outside of Iowa. He encourages Glory to bring the television, a symbol of modernity, into their childhood home. This choice opens discussion between the two generations of Boughtons. Robinson highlights the changing discourse regarding race in 1956 America and the disparate experiences of white and Black Americans.
Robinson does not reveal the full inspiration for Jack’s activism until the last pages of the novel when Glory realizes that Della, Jack’s wife is Black. From the beginning of the novel, Jack obsessively watches the news for updates on the bus boycotts in Montgomery, Alabama. He argues with his father about the death of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy who was lynched. After his father confuses the details of the case, Jack clarifies that, “He was murdered. He was a child, and they murdered him” (156). His father blames Emmett’s parents for placing their son in danger without acknowledging the tragic details of the case. Later, Jack asks his father if he believes that “the long term consequences of the violence in Montgomery would be important” (183). His father disregards the importance of the events in Montgomery and states, “These things come and go” (183). For Reverend Boughton, the precedent for such unrest was a return to the status quo, or the continued privilege and power of the majority of white America. Jack, the embodiment of the new generation, refuses to accept this and calls for a change in the distribution of power. The arguments between Jack and his father remain unresolved by the novel’s end. He does not disclose to his father the race of his wife and son. Jack chooses not to disrupt his father’s world view in his remaining days.
However, Jack’s influence reaches Glory. In the final moments of the novel, Glory meets Della and recognizes her as Jack’s wife. She acknowledges her own privilege in her comfortable surroundings of white Gilead as she notices how Della carries “herself with the tense poise of a woman who felt she was being watched, wondered about” (324). Glory empathizes with Della. Glory, like Jack, represents a new generation in Gilead that calls for change.
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