In my articles, I have pointed out this irony:
* Swayze became world-famous from a movie, Dirty Dancing, that approved of abortion.As far as the public knows, Swayze never knew that he was the biological father of a child. Swayze died before the mother's secret was revealed outside her immediate family.
* Whittle came into life because his mother, Bonnie Kay Whittle, refused to abort him.
I assume that if Swayze would have been very happy to learn about and become acquainted with his biological son Whittle and to include Whittle belatedly in his own life. Swayze would have been happy that Whittle had not been aborted.
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Now in this article here, I am pointing out another irony.
* In Dirty Dancing, the pregnant woman, Penny, identifies the father, Robbie.Penny is somewhat discrete about accusing Robbie of impregnating her, but the circumstances were that she was trying to conceal her pregnancy itself. Those people who learned that she was pregnant learned soon that she accused Robbie.
* In the Swayze-Whittle situation, the mother never publicly identified Swayze as the father.
Jake Houseman does not learn the impregnator's identity until the movie's end, but that was because Jake apparently never asked Penny directly. Jake simply made a mistaken assumption.
In general, Penny wanted to keep her pregnancy and abortion secret, but she was willing to accuse Robbie to anyone who knew about her pregnancy.
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It happens all the time that a woman refuses to name the man who made her pregnant. Among such countless women was Bonnie Kay Whittle. I sure would like to learn her story.
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One of the best novels ever published is The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorn and published in 1850. This novel's main character is a young woman, Hester Prynne, who becomes pregnant in about 1640, while living in a Massachusetts town governed by Puritans.
The novel's reader figures out rather soon that Hester became pregnant from the town church's pastor, Arthur Dimmesdale. However, the town's population does not learn this secret until the child, a girl named Pearl, is seven years old, and then the revelation is a shocking surprise for the town.
During all those years, the population has compelled Hester to wear a scarlet letter A -- standing for the word Adultery -- on the front of her blouse.
The novel does not state explicitly why Hester keeps the father's identity secret. The reader himself must develop his own explanation.
My own explanation essentially is that she had two main reasons:
1) Hester loved Arthur and did not want to cause trouble for him.Her second, religious reason was crucial. She herself apparently was not a Puritan. (She found herself living in this Puritan town because of circumstances that I will not recount here.) However, she was a Christian, and she had absorbed much Puritan thinking. She felt that if she had sinned, then she should confess her own sin and ask for forgiveness for her own sin. She should not blame her own sin on another person who might have collaborated with her.
2) Her religious thinking was that she as a sinner should not blame her own sin on another person.
The other person -- in this case, Arthur -- should confess his own sin and ask forgiveness for his own sin.
At the novel's end, Arthur indeed does confess and ask forgiveness. His own inner moral conflict, lasting many years, is a fascinating part of this brilliant novel.
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The novel The Scarlet Letter was assigned commonly to high-school literature classes in our past. For various reasons, it is rarely assigned now.
One reason why it is not assigned is that Hawthorne's 1850 writing is too difficult for today's high-school students to read. For example, here is the beginning of Chapter One:
A Throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments, and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes.Today's high-school students -- or even university students -- cannot and will not read an entire novel composed of such old-fashioned, elaborate writing.
The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison. In accordance with this rule, it may safely be assumed that the forefathers of Boston had built the first prison-house somewhere in the vicinity of Cornhill, almost as seasonably as they marked out the first burial-ground, on Isaac Johnson's lot, and round about his grave, which subsequently became the nucleus of all the congregated sepulchres in the old churchyard of King's Chapel. Certain it is, that, some fifteen or twenty years after the settlement of the town, the wooden jail was already marked with weather-stains and other indications of age, which gave a yet darker aspect to its beetle-browed and gloomy front. The rust on the ponderous iron-work of its oaken door looked more antique than anything else in the New World. Like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have known a youthful era. Before this ugly edifice, and between it and the wheel-track of the street, was a grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pigweed, apple-peru, and such unsightly vegetation, which evidently found something congenial in the soil that had so early borne the black flower of civilized society, a prison. But on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him.
This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness, so long after the fall of the gigantic pines and oaks that originally overshadowed it, — or whether, as there is fair authority for believing, it had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Ann Hutchinson, as she entered the prison-door, — we shall not take upon us to determine. Finding it so directly on the threshold of our narrative, which is now about to issue from that inauspicious portal, we could hardly do otherwise than pluck one of its flowers, and present it to the reader. It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.
In addition to the difficulty of the novel's writing, the novel revolves around Christian thinking about confession, repentance and forgiveness. Such thinking is disdained by too many people in our schools for such novel to be assigned.
Nevertheless, The Scarlet Letter is one of the best novels ever published. The story is fascinating, complex and thought-provoking.
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Here I will recommend another novel that includes a situation where a young woman refuses for many years to identify a young man who impregnated her.
The novel was written by Sarah Healy, is titled Can I Get an Amen?, and was published in 2012. On the Amazon page about the novel, 56% of readers awarded the novel five stars, and 19% awarded it four stars.
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| The book cover of Sarah Healy's novel Can I Get an Amen? |
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| Sarah Healy |
Also, Healy tells the story in a captivating manner. The reader is surprised by (by my count) three major twists of the plot. These were twists that caused me to stop and put the book down for a while, in order to collect my thoughts.
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The novel is told in the first person by the main character, Ellen Carlisle. She is NOT the character who gets pregnant and refuses to identify the father. Someone else is that character.
Indeed, Ellen has learned that she is infertile. Because fertility treatments have failed for several years, her husband has divorced her so that he still might beget biological children with some other woman. Therefore, at the age of 31, Ellen now has moved back into her parents' home.
Ellen grew up in a devout Christian family, but Ellen and her brother and sister have drifted away from religion. Now that Ellen is living with her still devout parents again, she must attend church with them every Sunday as a condition of living for free in their home. Ellen does not want to attend church, and she does so only grudgingly.
Much of the novel -- and much of the laugh-out-loud humor -- takes place at church. Healy herself grew up in such a religious family, and she tells the religious parts of her novel with familiarity, insight and love.
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I myself grew up in such a family. I have written another blog about my childhood in Seward, Nebraska, where my father taught at a Lutheran college and I attended Lutheran elementary school and Lutheran high school. That blog includes an article about my family's crisis caused by my mother's decision to stop attending church.
Therefore, I myself have much personal experience with a religious family's dynamics when a family member does not want to attend church any more. People with similar experience are likely to enjoy this novel. The novel does not disdain or mock Christianity.
Perhaps people who grew up in families that did not attend church will not appreciate this novel.
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Because the plot twists surprised me so enjoyably, I will not tell any more of the story.
I will say here only that the story includes an illegal abortion and a situation where a woman refuses for many years to identify the man who impregnated her. One element of this situation is that identifying the man would cause trouble for religious reasons.
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Here are a few comments from the novel's Amazon page:
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(Five Stars)
I really, really enjoyed this book and am recommending it to my sisters, cousins, and especially church friends.
Growing up in a super conservative Christian household, and having been on my own journey of faith out of churchianity and back to Christ and the Church, this book perfectly captured good intentions, crazy actions, and why the answers are not simple.
I noticed many reviewers saying they related with Ellen, but I actually related most with Patty, whom I saw much of myself and my mom and others... the book also gave me a taste of what my life may be like and even served as a semi-parenting guide of what I would like to pass on to my children.
I hope this author will write more books that address similar issues - it is truly unique and appreciated.
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(Five Stars)
.... The book was a refreshing take on religion. The characters in the book were believable and most of us can associate ourselves with these characters, whether they were like us or we know someone who is like them.
This book was chosen for my book club and our discussion was based on the questions in the back of the book. However, as one of the book club members said, "one has to be careful discussing religion because it may cause an argument".
I've passed the book on to a co-worker and I can't wait to hear whether she liked the book or not. I say buy it because it is worth the money. The book will cause you to think about how religious you really are or not.
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(Five Stars)
Anyone who's ever dealt with unexpected blows from life, anyone who's ever had to start over again, anyone who's ever had a family that at times seemed like a race of alien life forms will love this book.
Compassionate, clear-eyed, and enormously funny, CAN I GET AN AMEN? truly has something for everyone. The characters -- even (especially?) those who at first glance might seem to be "bad guys" -- are brought to vivid, individual life; there's not a stereotype among them.
It's a cliched phrase, but I literally laughed and cried throughout this lovely book; I was sorry when it ended.
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(Five Stars)
Loved this book! Being from the Bible belt south, this is a family I know very well. There are many all around me!
I enjoyed the character development and the irony. I really would like a sequel.
I miss those people. But where i live, I don't have to look far.
Great job bringing it all together.
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(Five Stars)
I read "Can I Get an Amen?" over the course of one weekend. I loved it. It was funny, sun, sweet, charming, and overall smart.
And I loved the perspective on religion - Sarah Healy really captures how one can have a love/hate relationship with faith and religion, in a refreshing and balanced way.
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(Five Stars)
Reminded me of Sunday School! Really enjoyed the book! Easy relaxing read! Could totally relate!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Will look for other books by this author!
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(Four Stars)
This book was so funny, witty and candid - I couldn't put it down! While I was laughing out loud and shaking my head, it was also thought provoking and relatable.
You definitely need to have a good heart full of sense of humor to read this book.
Ellen's life falls apart in a matter of what feels like mere minutes - her husband wants a divorce, she loses her job and has to move back home to live with her overbearing Christian parents. Ellen goes through some entertaining and sometimes scary ups and downs while trying to figure out who she is and what she wants to do. ....
Totally unpredictable, it was such an enjoyable read! ...
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(Four Stars)
.... The book turned out to be an incredibly delightful read. It is an easy read and I truly enjoyed it. Some of the plot points I predicted far before they happened, but the majority of the book was a surprise.
I'd like to note that I am a Christian and that this book I believe is good for Christians and non-Christians, alike. It does have religious mentions, but not in a way to make the reader feel uncomfortable.
The characters in the book face very real issues and the way the book is presented is very unique. I recommend this novel and hope that Sarah Healy continues to write, first with a sequel to "Can I get an Amen?"
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(Five Stars)
I must admit, I was a little worried that I wouldn't like, "Can I Get An Amen?" - that I would find it preachy or worse, saccharine. So how delightfully surprised I was to find it poignant, laugh-out-loud funny, and reaching far beyond a story about a family with devout Christian values.
Ellen is both relatable and likable. She handles her circumstances with the appropriate amount of self-pity without turning into a simpering someone you want to shake. ....
I found myself turning page after page captivated by characters who were, at turns, frustrating, enraging, but mostly endearing and highly realistic. ....
This is not a book about being Christian. It's more a story about trying to navigate life's big disappointments and heartaches while staying true to who you are and who you want to be.
I loved it. Kudos to Sarah Healy - as a debut novel, she knocks it out of the park! I am anxiously awaiting her next work!
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(Five Stars)
AN I GET AN AMEN is funny, frank, fresh, and totally unexpected. The characters will live in your heart long after you turn the last page.
If you were raised in a crazy family, went to Vacation Bible School, or had any kind of religious upbringing that sometimes made you cringe, you will love this book.
But even more importantly, Ellen's growth as a character is nuanced and keenly observed. The romantic elements are great, too.
In short, this is a totally gripping book, that will make you laugh and cry. If you are looking for the ultimate summer read that is both intelligent and entertaining, look no further.
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(Five Stars)
.... at my son's insistence, I read "Can I Get An Amen." I think he wanted me to read it because he thinks I'm a little like the protagonist's nutty born-again mother. (I might be.)
Either way, I'm glad he gave me a copy because this book was outstanding. It's a moving read, filled with compelling characters that were easy to wholeheartedly invest in. It's a great American story told with an entertaining and engaging voice.
And there were enough smart twists and unexpected turns to keep this mystery buff on her toes. To be honest, I couldn't put it down and finished it in record time. I'm really looking forward to reading more from this author.
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(Five Stars)
I laughed out loud then cried until I fogged up my reading glasses.
I live on the outskirts of Christianity so can relate to Ellen but this is not a book about religion.
This book is irreverent and funny, smart and touching. You've met these characters and might have grown up with them. I just sent an email to my friends to encourage them to read this book.
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