The Unworthy

The Unworthy is a critique of organized religion and an examination of patriarchal social structures that oppress and marginalize women. The narrator and the other “unworthy” women live in an isolated convent where they repeatedly atone and self-flagellate in the hope of shedding their inherent impurities to ascend to the rank of Chosen or Enlightened. However, at the end of the novel, the narrator discovers that “He,” the mysterious leader of the cult, is raping and abusing the women who have become Enlightened, suggesting that organized religion is merely a ruse to give men power and access to women’s bodies. The use of religious language and ceremony to mask systemic violence underscores how spiritual hierarchies can be weaponized to justify the dehumanization of women. The novel offers a bleak portrait of faith devoid of love or grace—an authoritarian system where purity is synonymous with silence, mutilation, and submission.

The House of the Sacred Sisterhood draws on Christian theology that depicts women as inherently devious and untrustworthy, beginning with Eve tempting Adam and initiating the fall of man. These and other interpretations of religious texts have long been used to prop up patriarchal societies and argue for female inferiority.