Just a Mormon

After doing a little bit of reading on Card I realized that the most of Card’s writings are based upon Mormon ideas. But I think that Card is NOT a Mormon writer. Just a Mormon who writes. He does a really good job using life experiences and being subjective within in his writing. By not subjecting his audience to only those who can relate with his up bringing (Mormonism). However, in Card’s writing I can see many different examples when he uses Mormonism and different parts of the religion within his writing.   One aspect I want to discuss is the character Alvin and how he closely compares with Joseph Smith. The whole story of the Unmaker against the Maker is basically the prophet’s life story. The Unmaker wants to destroy everything beautiful and lovely just like the persecution again Joseph Smith during the restoration. Not only does Card follow along with church history but American history as well.

Over all I thought that Card’s book had simple themes but was a good story. I found some interesting things in an essay written by Eugene England, who submitted his paper to a BYU Symposium, “Orson Scott Card is a radical Mormon.” England goes on to say that one’s beliefs shouldn’t affect an author’s writing because it screws with the story too much. I DISAGREE I think it is impossible for us as writers NOT to put our own beliefs subconsciously into our work. He goes on to talk about how He is a radical because he is “deeply committed” to everything in his life.  When writers write what they are passionate about it is only then an author’s writing is well written and easy to relate. Otherwise a writer can’t convince the reader enough that his writing is good, let alone enjoyable. Back to what I said in the beginning. Card was a Mormon writing. We should except these themes to leak through.

England, Eugene. "The Redemption Od Orson Scott Card." BYU Life, the Universe, & Everything XV: An Annual Symposium (1997). Print.

Amateurs + Scripture + Social Media

Scripture has new life today because of popular social media and because amateurs are unabashedly putting their experiences with God's word "out there" in myriad different ways. How is this happening with the Book of Mormon? How might our own experiences with the Book of Mormon be creatively shared through the new media?

But first, let's think a moment about how scripture has always had a "multimedia" life. It begins as the spoken word, largely, as prophets and holy men speak to the people of their day. It has then been transformed into text, extending the reach of these messages well beyond their first audiences. But it lives in more than the written word. A grand tradition of adapting scripture to the various arts manifests the vitality of scripture. Indeed, one measure of the success of scripture is the degree to which new generations not only read it and discuss it, but use it to express their own faith, their own experience -- in written expression, and in other ways.

The written word continues strong, but complemented powerfully today by technology and media allowing for (and even encouraging) new forms for scripture and new modes of appreciating and sharing experiences with God's word. In a most surprising way, we find it possible to make something amateur that can have mass distribution.

Interactive Narrating

We don’t see a lot of spoken word in its truest sense. Only in a few instances do we have literal communicated dialogue. 

Pg 554 We have Ammaron’s commission to Mormon as a young boy.

“I percieve that thou art a sober child, and art quick to observe, therefore, when ye are about twenty and four years old I would that ye should remember the things that ye have observed concerning this people and when ye are of that age go to the land Antum, unto a hill which shall be called Shim; and there have I deposited unto he Lord a ll the sacred engravings concerning this people. And behold, ye shall take the Plates of nephi unto yourself, and the remainder shall ye leave in the place where they are and ye shall engrave on the Plates of Nephi all the things that ye have observed concerning this people.”

Detailed Dialogue from Ammaron provides us with specific knowledge of what Mormons quest and purpose is to be. From here on though we don’t get great interaction from the characters to their peers. 

Other Dialogue mainly consists of words from God himself. As the people have become wicked God gives this instruction “Cry unto this people. Repent ye, and come unto me, and be ye baptized, and build up again my church, and ye shall be spared.”

Aside from these examples it is hard to draw a true sermon from Mormon. He spends much of his time as a very involved and detailed narrator as to the things that have happened. In a sense he is speaking to the future generations about avoiding the same downfall as his people. But again it isn’t true spoken word. Even his lamentation at the end gives the perception of being towards specific people but its recorded in more of a historical account rather then an actual speech. 

Mormon's Marathon

Choosing to focus on the timeline and setting  compromising pages 554-568 in The Book of Mormon: A Readers Edition its easy to feel like details are missing. Because Mormon keeps the detail of his historical history at a distance I will keep this analysis from a distance as well. In a matter of 14 pages we cover 64 years of history. It's impressive that by only giving a surface level of detail and insight to the 64 years of trial, wars and heartache as a reader I still feel so involved. 

The timeframe covered from one page carried but, let me provide you with the length of time between each page. Begging at page 554 we have 5 years, 1 year, 4 years, 2, year,  4 years,10 years, 2, years, 1 year, 8 years, 4 years, and then 4 years from page 563-564. And often times these years take place from one sentence to another. 

It is not until the last 4-5 pages that you are brought into detail of Mormon and his account of the last battles that are being prepared for between the Nephites and the Lamanites. Over the course of the rest of the reading however you are just given a sample of information as to why there is conflict between the two parties. Without the clear mention of the time laps it would be very easy to combine all the events into a much shorter period such as a few months or even just a year or two. You could easily miss the fact this was a slow process of war and contention taking 64 years of time. 

Impressive amongst the time laps that quickly occurs is the flow and continuity with which the author has complied the information.