“Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead,” The Misfit continued, “and He shouldn’t have done it. He thrown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn’t, then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can-by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness,” he said and his voice had become almost a snarl. –FLannery O’Connor, A Good Man Is Hard To Find

One thing I’ve noticed this semester is how religious our Intro to Lit book is. When I went through college, the profs were biased against even mentioning that aspect. And dealing with my students, I understand why. They don’t get religion. It doesn’t make any sense. They miss all the references. But I mean, here’s a sampling of what we’ve read this semester:

“A Good Man Is Hard To Find”: It’s kind of hard to miss references like the one posted above. The story is one of grace and kindness. It preaches the gospel clearly.

“Good Country People” (Flannery O’Connor): The hypocritcal Bible salesman “Manley Pointer.” Mrs Hopewell, who names her daughter Joy. But Joy, who changes her name to Hulga, is an atheist with a “bad heart.”

“Revelation” (Flannery O’Connor): Mary Grace hits Mrs. Turpin in the head with a book called Human Development. This leads to her “Revelation” of those marching to heaven.

“The Gospel According to St. Mark” (Borges): I hate to give anything away on this one because the ending is a bit of a shocker for the uninitiated. I’ll just say Mary Magdelene, crucifixion, gift of elocution, a beard, kindness, “magical” healing, and of course, the title and all the references to the gospel story.

“Young Goodman Brown” (Hawthorne): It’s all over this one. His wife Faith, of course. “My Faith is gone”…”I’ll cling to her skirts” leaving Faith for only a night. pink ribbons, etc. References to Moses’s staff.

“The Lottery” (Jackson): Mr. Adams, who always stands by Mr. Graves. Delacroix (of the Cross). Human sacrifice. Stoning.

I mean, it seems nearly every story we read is just filled with religious reference, and I sometimes feel preachy for pointing out these things…as if my students will one day say, “Are we ever going to read something that’s not religious?” Of course, everything is religious, but I don’t know how I went through these stories without my profs pointing these things out. Even to argue against the positive references. They just weren’t mentioned. I don’t understand it.