59 pages • 1-hour read
The History of Sound: Stories
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Story 10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of physical abuse and emotional abuse.
Story 10 Summary: “The Children of New Eden”
A third-person narrator traces Caroline Thatcher’s story. In 1696, Caroline Thatcher and her husband Philip join the Children of New Eden congregation and set out from their home in Dedham, Massachusetts. They walk with 11 other couples, following their leader Karl Dietzen. Caroline’s sister Emma is there, too.
On their third night of walking, the group stops, builds a fire, and worships. Caroline is thrilled to be rid of her family and home. She’s glad to be married to Philip now, too. Most of all, she’s excited for January 1, 1700, the day the Children of New Eden will ascend to heaven.
Months before, Caroline met Karl and attended one of his services. Taken by his message and preaching, she introduced Philip to the group. Philip was immediately enamored with Karl, too. This pleased Caroline, as she loved Philip and had no interest in accepting her parents’ arranged marriage to Edward Owens. Then one day, Caroline told Emma about the Children of New Eden. Emma was initially skeptical but eventually came around to Karl’s teachings. Finally, the sisters decided to leave home with the congregation. They disappeared in the night, leaving only a note for their parents.
Over the following months, the group travels until they find a settlement. Karl says he purchased the land with the money the congregants gave him before they left.
By winter, Emma and Karl are engaged. Caroline is thrilled but feels sad when Emma moves into Karl’s house. She’s glad that she and Philip have more personal space but misses her sister’s company. She and Emma only see each other at prayer meetings, and it’s hard to talk. Then one day, Caroline notices Emma missing from the meetings. Karl says that she’s sick, and Caroline can’t visit her.
Not long after, Caroline and Emma’s father appears at the settlement. He demands that Karl let him see his daughters, but Karl won’t tell him where Emma is. Caroline is shocked to see her father but refuses to come home with him. He tells her that their mother has been sick since she and Emma left. He reminds her that her and Emma’s marriages are illegitimate and says that they can start over again in Dedham. Caroline refuses to change her mind. Before leaving, Caroline’s father says that Karl is a fraud. He doesn’t own the land they’re on and stole all their money. Caroline and Philip are shaken but tell each other this can’t be true.
Emma returns to services, but Karl refuses to let her and Caroline speak, deeming their relationship unhealthy. Soon after, Caroline discovers Emma sleeping in her pantry. She’s tired, dirty, and sick, and she confesses that Karl has been abusing her. He locks her in the shed at night, making her sleep in the cold. When Philip returns, Caroline demands that he tell Karl that Emma will be staying with them indefinitely.
Philip reluctantly heads to Karl’s house. He finds Karl splitting wood out back. Philip is horrified when he notices the padlock on the shed, with a tattered blanket inside. He confronts Karl, who insists that Emma is a difficult child and that Philip can’t trust her lies. Then they pray together. Philip knows Emma isn’t lying but hearing Karl’s prayer reminds him that they’ll all ascend soon anyway. None of their petty concerns will matter anymore.
Story 10 Analysis
In “The Children of New Eden,” Shattuck furthers his explorations of The Ethics of Storytelling within the context of Karl Dietzen’s teachings. In contemporary culture, Karl’s Children of New Eden congregation would be deemed a cult. The congregants are drawn into Karl’s fold by his alluring demeanor and his promises of “unimaginable beauty and light, illumination and joy” (227). The story he tells congregants offers them deliverance from their otherwise entrapping circumstances in Dedham, despite how it simultaneously requires them to cut off contact with their loved ones. What Caroline and Emma’s father later reveals is that Karl has invented this promise of divine ascendence, swindling his followers and leading them into danger. Storytelling in the context of “The Children of New Eden” becomes a form of manipulation, abuse, and exploitation.
The short story employs the third-person limited, free indirect point of view to reveal how each of the primary characters relates to Karl and his promise of salvation. In the early pages of the story, the third-person narrator is situated closest to Caroline’s psyche. This means that the narrator inhabits Caroline’s consciousness and tells the story of the Children of New Eden from her perspective. According to Caroline, she and her sister feel like they are “being heard for the first time” when they’re in Karl’s presence (228). His story appeals to the sisters because it offers them a sense of acceptance and belonging. This offering feels more valuable to Caroline and Emma than their bleak lives in Dedham, which is why they agree to abandon their home and parents.
In the latter pages of the short story, however, the narrator shifts her attention away from Caroline and onto Philip. The narrator is inhabiting his psyche when he visits Karl about Emma’s living situation. Philip’s point of view reveals that while Philip is troubled by Karl’s overt mistreatment of Emma, the promise “of eternal love” Karl offers him trumps his concern for his sister-in-law. These shifts in perspective convey how an entire group of people can be taken in and deceived by one simple story. Caroline’s, Philip’s, and the congregants’ reasons for joining the Children of New Eden are relative to their own individual experiences. However, Karl’s story is effective because it appeals to an array of people who all want to be heard and understood.
Storytelling, the short story’s subtext implies, is a powerful tool. It can be used to imbue hope or possibility—as in the story of the great auk in the preceding two stories—or it can be used for selfish gain and wicked manipulation. Shattuck doesn’t depict Caroline, Philip, or Emma as foolish characters for believing Karl but rather paints them as vulnerable humans in desperate need of deliverance from life’s woes. Because Karl’s story offers this, they accept his teachings.
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