The Children Act

In The Children Act, Adam Henry is a member of the Jehovah’s Witness community. His faith plays a major role in how both the narrator and Fiona Maye initially regard his character. It is also integral to his decision to refuse a blood transfusion despite a life-threatening diagnosis and relates to his internal conflict after he recovers.

Jehovah’s Witnesses is the name of a Christian denomination originally founded by Charles Taze Russell in 1881. The denomination is run by the Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society, which came under the control of Joseph Franklin Rutherford after Russell’s death. Unlike other Christian denominations, Jehovah’s Witnesses regard the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (an alternate Biblical translation) as their holy text. 

According to the translation, human society is controlled by Satan (a fallen angel) and is thus morally corrupt. Because non-Witnesses are under Satan’s control, Witnesses limit socializing with those outside the faith. At the same time, Jehovah’s Witnesses prioritize evangelism—the spreading of their faith—particularly via the distribution of their literature, namely Awake! and The Watchtower. Jehovah’s Witnesses are also known for not celebrating birthdays or traditional Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter. Furthermore, the denomination refuses military service and blood transfusions. This latter issue features heavily in The Children Act.

Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe in blood transfusions because of how they interpret certain biblical passages, including Genesis 9: 4, Leviticus 17: 10, Deuteronomy 12: 23, and Acts 15: 28 (these passages are immediately referenced by Adam’s father Kevin in Chapter 2). According to these teachings, God “clearly command[s] us to abstain from blood” (“Why Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses Accept Blood Transfusions?” Jehovah’s Witnesses). Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God “views blood as representing life” and that avoiding taking “foreign” blood into the body is “in obedience to God” and “respect for him as the Giver of life” (Jehovah’s Witnesses).

The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ website explores the myths surrounding their refusal of blood transfusions, primarily the myth that refusing blood transfusions has resulted in countless deaths of Jehovah’s Witnesses in need of medical attention. The website holds that this is not factually true, as the denomination does believe in Western medicine and also allows “so-called bloodless medicine” (Jehovah’s Witnesses). The website reports that, although the medical community regarded such procedures “as extreme, even suicidal,” beginning in 2004, such practices have become more widely accepted by both those inside and outside the Jehovah’s Witness community (Jehovah’s Witnesses). In The Children Act, Adam and his family refuse Adam’s blood transfusion because they fear defying their elders and their God. Even though Adam and his parents know Adam might die as a result of this refusal, they hold that this is God’s will.

Another key facet of the Jehovah’s Witness belief system is family life and church community. Within the tradition, Witnesses who fail to abide by God’s commandments or the elders’ directives are in danger of being disassociated (also known as disfellowshipping) and shunned: “Disfellowshipping, one of the controversial disciplinary methods that Jehovah’s Witnesses use, is cutting off or expelling the individual from the community” (Harvey, Sarah. “Factsheet: Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Religion Media Centre, 15 Dec. 2020). Adam’s character, therefore, knows that accepting the transfusion will potentially result in his expulsion from his church and his alienation from his family and community. He does ultimately leave the church after the transfusion and is, in turn, cut off from the society he once knew. These faith-based conflicts lead to existential conflicts for Adam; in turn, he’s compelled back to his family and faith when Fiona refuses him help.