Spirituality is the guiding light in this play. And Bynum Walker appears to be a light bearers. The old man is the most aware of his destiny and uses knowledge of the spirit world and his skills as a conjure man to "bind people" and help them "find their song." The lost soul of Herald Loomis, once held by the tyrannical hand, now wanders lost walking the skeleton's he claims to have seen walking on the water. Loomis wants to find his wife to obtain closure and start his life over again. What makes this difficult is his decision on how to find that inner peace: Should he obtain it through Christianity he embraced in his past, or through the spirituality advocated by Bynum? Mattie Campbell yearns for consistency in her life and for a good, strong, loyal man to make her feel complete. It isn't until Herald Loomis comes into the picture that she starts to feel genuinely hopeful about her ambitions. With these characters and their given circumstances, Wilson successfully conveys the significance of spirituality with regard to the human psyche and soul.
However, he fails to portray the religion of Christianity accurately and depends on the stereotypes associated with Christianity to get his point across. As a Christian, Martha Pentecost is someone who irks me. True, this woman dedicates herself to the service of the Lord and continues to preach the Word in various parts of the country. But to abandon her husband, her spouse; to basically forget the loyalty and honor bindings of marriage that the Bible holds dear...well, I just see it as blatant hypocrisy. Not to mention abandoning her child, probably the most valuable, precious human being in her life. Who is to say that she couldn't stay with her family and still provide optimum service unto the Father? Her motivations may seem selfless at first. But once we examine her actions and the actual teachings of the bible, we see that she was weak and gave into her own selfishness, missionary of the Word or not.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE this play. I think it is one of Wilson's best and I find tremendous value in the story, the characters, and their words. And yet, I find myself dissatisfied with the way Christianity seems to be portrayed in this book. Wilson has the character of Martha Pentecost/Loomis stand as representative for the Christian religion. I find this interpretation to be somewhat flawed, because the story shows her to be a religious hypocrite running off to join the cult of the Holy Ghost and leave the ones she loves behind. This is not at all accurate, because NOT ALL Christians have the same narrow-minded views of Martha and her peers. Many are selfless and stay behind to work for and take care of those before themselves. I agree with Wilson that spirituality is a wonderful thing to have in your life. But I'm afraid he misses the mark when it comes to portraying the values and aims of Christianity accurately. With this narrow-minded view of Christianity, Wilson succeeds only in Martha Pentecost being a stereotype and an invalid representation of the Christian faith.
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So is it certain that Wilson intends to represent all Christians through Martha Pentecost? Or is she one example of a Christian with a complicated history? I think what I'm asking is: do you think all Christians should be portrayed in a positive light? Is there something about the writing of the play that makes Martha Pentecost seem less fully dimensional than the other characters? And how do you think Wilson might have written her to improve on that flaw? If she wasn't a Christian, would that help? Or if she hadn't left? But then who would Loomis be going to find?
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