Confession Time

(Insert rueful grimace.) So I was specifically told long before I started Orson Scott Card's "Seventh Son" that it was at least loosely based on the life and family of Joseph Smith. I guess it was long enough before I read that I completely spaced it. So I wasn't looking for the connections, and I didn't notice them until about three-fourths of the way through the book, when the book's main character gets a piece of his shin bone taken out.Once I saw the first connection, a dozen more suddenly became visible too: a devout mother and less-than-religious father; a son named after his father; the name Alvin and a dead eldest brother; the gathering of good and evil around a simple boy. And more. I couldnt believe I'd been too clueless to notice them sooner.

But maybe that's not such a bad thing. Scholar Tim Blackmore notes that Card "is interested in the believing (or innocent) reader" (Blackmore). Obviously, Card meant this story to mirror Joseph's. But did he mean for it to obviously mirror Joseph's? I enjoyed "Seventh Son" for artistry with words and images long before I found the mirrors--the morality and religion long before I found the Mormonism. And I think that's what Card would've wanted.


Tim Blackmore, "The Image of God"
 http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=e2879af3-4272-4554-a0e3-d6058b515503@sessionmgr4002&vid=4&resultId=1&theDisplayFormat=CitationAndFullText&ReturnUrl=%252fehost%252fresults%252fresultlist%253fsid%253de2879af3-4272-4554-a0e3-d6058b515503%2540sessionmgr4002%2526vid%253d4%2526resultId%253d_resultId_

Ecology of Magic in Seventh Son

Orson Scott Card's Seventh Son is set in a world akin to our own 19th-century America, but he has twisted and changed certain elements and ideas to make the world his own. Many of these changes are simple and still strongly link to the truth, like calling the the Ohio the Hio, but some are bigger, such as George Washington fighting for the crown, and then being beheaded for treason. Of course, Latter-Day Saints also notice the similarities between Alvin Maker and our own Prophet Joseph Smith.

Unlike many fantasy writers who enjoy building an entirely new world, it's interesting Card stuck so closely in some respects to reality, and where he deviated seems completely random at times. Laura Gibbs discusses what she calls the "ecology of magic." She explains that magical powers "have to be limited. There wouldn’t be much of a story if the hero could achieve his goal simply by saying the magic word...because magic exceeds the normal limits of human ability, there must be limits on magic itself, if you want to have a good story to tell."
Perhaps Card uses his setting to for magical ecology purposes; it's a way make fantasy "realistic"—meaning fantasy keeps in the limits of good story telling. Things in Alvin Maker's world are skewed enough that we realize we're in a new realm where new things are possible, but there are enough echoes of truth and fact to give it a sense of reality, even as an altered reality.

However, seeing how the intended audience is young adults, I wonder if some of those mixings of reality and fantasy are too subtle. For instance, the character Taleswapper composes proverbs and poetry, and I noticed right away that they came from William Blake. Ok, I thought. Real poetry from the literary canon mixed with a fictional character. But, how many 15, 16, 17 year-olds would actually pick up on that? Laura Gibbs pointed out that Taleswapper is actually suppose to be William Blake. I slapped my forehead when I read that. Duh!

Taleswapper composes Proverbs of Hell just like William Blake
He wants to be a prophet, but his religious views are unorthodox just like William Blake.
And Old Ben always called him Bill short for William.

BUT, these connections only seemed obvious because I'm an English major and I took Romanticism last semester. I wouldn't have picked up on all that in high school. I barely would have recognized "The Sick Rose" poem.

I caught another allusion when Reverend Thrower is despairing over his own nothingness, and he thinks that he is like a spider that God is dangling over a fire, but he's too worthless to even be cast in the fire. Somewhere in my brain, I've stored the "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God" speech that I read in AP History in high school. AgainIf the readers are currently studying Calvinism in colonial America, great! They'd probably get this reference,but the chances might be slim.

I guess we leave the book wondering why he handled his ecology of magic they way he did. Why does he point out the differences in founding fathers when they don't really play a role in the plot? And what is Card's purpose for more subtle mixes of reality?  Does he really expect his audience to understand his allusions to Blake and the Calvinist Edwards? Did he put those in there for his own satisfaction?

I suspect an author is often like a magician. They rarely tell their secrets.


Source: Gibbs, Laura. "Magic in the World of Alvin Maker: Seventh Son." Journey to the Sea. 1 July 2008. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.

Difficult Themes: The Power of Words

According to Bradley Will, Orson Scott Card is known for his ability to use young adult literature to address "difficult and ambiguous moral quandaries without reducing their complexities" (163). Card does this through an uncomplicated, direct writing style that can be accessed by younger readers while not resorting to inappropriate content that would alienate his young audience. This can be seen in his novel, The Seventh Son, where Card tells the story of Alvin Miller, a young boy with amazing abilities, known as knacks, and that enable him to do great things.Throughout the novel Card explores many difficult issues as Alvin and the other characters in the story use their knacks for better and for worse as they search for truth. However, Card's characters and writing style make it possible for his audience to understand these issues, regardless of their complexity.
One of these issues is the power and influence of words. At one point in the story Alvin expresses his frustration with words and how they can be distorted, their meanings changed. In response to Alvin's frustration Taleswapper, a traveling story teller that makes friends with Alvin and his family, states that, "Everybody ends up dead . . . But some who are dead live on in their words" (123), expressing the power of words when used correctly. He then goes on to explain that objects and things can only do so much, but that words can grow and magnify until they influence many individuals even thousands of miles away.
With this simple scene, Card teaches the importance of what one says and he does it in a way that is non-didactic and easy to connect to. It is this simplistic, but honest method that makes the lessons found in Card's novel easy to understand and accept. He not only teaches lessons, but he allows his audience to choose how to respond to these lessons. When it comes to The Seventh Son the audience chooses what they learn.

Bradley, Will. "Reviewed Work: Orson Scott Care: Writer of the Terrible Choice, Scarecrow Studies in Young Adult Literature 10 by Edith S. Tyson." Utopian Studies 15.1 (2004): 163-164. JSTOR. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.

Picture curtsy of Antonio Litterio found through Creative Commons

archetypes of Card

Despite his seeming lowering popularity due to his positions on same-sex marriage, Card’s reviews on his particular book The Seventh Son was fairly positive. This book navigates the life of Alvin Miller, a gifted and blessed seventh son of a seventh son, starting from before his life began up until his eleventh year. Thomas Wagner says “while the story avoids stereotypes, though, it positively basks in archetypes,” implying that the story is simply based on other characters, people, and stories to create an entirely new one. Wagner continues to say this book is a “humanistic story, revealing a deep love for humanity and its indomitable drive to overcome even the hardest struggles and persevere.”

Card is able to do this, to create this relate-able and enjoyable story and build up these beloved ideals, because of his use of these archetypes. In essence, none of his story is novel. None of what happens is new. How it is said, the context, the individual characters and names, places and history, those are slightly new. Many reviews critique his use of the modern-day Latter-day Saint prophet Joseph Smith and his life as an outline for the young Alvin Miller, but at the same time isn’t Card simply using the hero’s journey as an outline? Everyone who is anyone in the world of literature has used this outline in at least one of their works, if not all of them. Aren’t all stories and books, pieces of literature, archetypes of something or another? It is because of these archetypes that we, as readers, are able to enjoy and relate to these stories. They resonate with us, they’re familiar to us, and that causes us to like them and feel for them. There is a connection made in what we already know to what we are reading.

Overall, Card uses these archetypes effectively in creating an entertaining and emotionally charged book that allows the reader to join the journey of the Miller family and the town of Vigor.
 
Wagner, Thomas. "SF REVIEWS.NET: Seventh Son / Orson Scott Card ☆☆☆☆½." SF REVIEWS.NET: Seventh Son / Orson Scott Card ☆☆☆☆½. SF Reviews, 12 Oct. 2007. Web. 17 Jan. 2015. <http://www.sfreviews.net/alvin_maker_1_seventh_son.html>.

American Mormonism in Card's Seventh Son

Orson Scott Card’s Seventh Son feels very little like a fantasy novel, primarily because it does not take place in Medieval Northern Europe. The opening map, now something of a ritual in fantasy literature, is in fact just a map of the United States as it is now, with all its rivers and mountains right where they should be. The technology and customs of the novel are not of swords and chain mail, but of waterwheels and wagons. And the heroes and sages worshipped by the common man are not Arthur or Odin, but John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson.

          This refreshing change of scenery is, in addition to being an evocative deconstruction of the fantasy genre, crucial to the Mormonism of the story, for Mormonism is a profoundly American religion. Mormons exist because men like James Madison fought to establish religious freedom. Three of the four parts to the Mormon scriptural canon were either translated or recorded first in American English. Our flight westward helped explore the continent and expand the nation.[1] And in more than just the political or geographical sense of America, much of cultural and doctrinal Mormonism directly mirrors spiritual America: individualism, humanism, solitude, and progressive destiny.

          Card sets up his main character, Alvin, as a representation of Joseph Smith. As Harold Bloom has written, Joseph Smith is America’s religion. He taught men that they could become like gods, an idea which amplifies both Emerson’s writing about self-reliance as well as Whitman’s poetic celebration of the self.[2] Like Mark Twain, he created a purely American text in Doctrine and Covenants.[3] Whitman is America’s poet, Bloom writes, and Emerson its sage, but Joseph Smith is its prophet.[4] Thus Seventh Son must take place in America almost by force, as its main character, and its allegorized religion, are such inherently American entities.

---

[1] The irony here is that this inherently American people, rejected by its homeland, was aiming to stay in Mexico. Were they bummed out when Utah did become part of the States?

[2] Harold Bloom, The Western Canon, New York: Riverhead Books (1994), 253.

[3] In an attempt to paraphrase Bloom, the radicalism of Doctrine and Covenants comes from Joseph’s declaration that it is new scripture, not anything else handed down by older cultures.

[4] Bloom 6, 267.

Unraveling the Unmaker

Understanding the prevailing prejudice against Joseph Smith during the course of his life is a study of context, and a dangerous one at that. Growing up in the church, I found that an impartial depiction of the life of the prophet was hard to come by, either aided by fervent adoration or equally intense resentment. (Ironically, the most impartial account I found as a child toward the remarkable story was Smith's own, recorded in the Canon.) But reading Seventh Son challenged me in a new way.

I should preface that I have a particular distaste for fantasy as a genre. My mind struggles to appreciate fictitious worlds that seemingly operate however the author sees best fit to aid the protagonist. But this perspective was enlightening in relation to Joseph Smith. The elements of magic and supernatural occurrences that drive the plot of the novel made the skepticism of characters like Reverand Thrower, thought to be driven by the forces of good instead of the "Unmaker," seem believable and reasonable. Reviewing the novel thematically, BYU scholar W. Bryan Stout stated, "One of the benefits of a fantasy world is that magic can give a tangible, objective reality to the psychological and spiritual side of life" (117). The same is true of a restored religious world, where miracles were once again believed in and revelation from God himself governed the actions of men. The novel complicates the distinction of heavenly and evil influences, contorting their interpretation, but like all moral tales, truth is not painted in black and white. In this fictitious rendition of Joseph Smith's plight amidst a war of words and conflicting beliefs, Taleswapper speaks a great truth, claiming, "Everything possible to be believed is an image of truth." The implications of that statement are hard for resolute Christians and others to accept, but the principle is infallible.

Card maintains that in his analogous tale, one must be wary not to read into "the images and not the substance of Mormonism" (120). The "Mormon borrowings" that help create Alvin's reality borrow Mormon themes that run deep into the questions of all major religions and ideologies. Stout states, "One of the themes borrowed from the temple that he develops is the way satan operates" (120). Taleswapper elaborates on the character and methodology of the "Unmaker," stating that when one is surrounded by light, it is hard to tell whether that light is from the beams of heaven or the fires of hell. The complexity of Satan is that his true nature distorts the lines that separate righteousness and evil. This novel masterfully brings to life the working of heaven and hell in a way that shines light on the trials of a gifted fourteen year old boy, called to do more than he ever desired upon himself.

Stout, W. (1989). Seventh Son. BYU Studies, 29(3), 113-120.

I Believe In Magic

When first hearing the premise of this book, I expected more fantasy if that even makes sense.  Stereotypically, I expected magical battles and wands and mystical creatures.  Orson Scott Card, I concluded by the end, uses just the right amount of magic and mystics to make them seem believable.  I quickly found myself reading this story not as fantasy but as realistic fiction.  Card uses magic not as a replacement for religion but rather a complimentary belief system and a compliment to the lives of this community.  Card emphasizes truth in all forms.  Reverend Thrower, though a proclaimed holy man, refuses to accept their to be a devil in his own chapel yet insists on the devil inside a ten year old boy.  Whether LDS or not, the pure and humble intentions of a ten year old boy are recognizably more true and holy than the preachings of Reverend Thrower.

Michael R. Collings states that "In much science fiction, for example, references to gods, angels, or other supernatural beings are intended to be metaphorical...since to do otherwise would violate a basic convention of science fiction itself" (67).  However, Collins explains that "Card inverts the process, using incidents, characters, and other elements of history to symbolize the divine...his story touches on the essence of America, not as it was historically, but as it means emotionally and psychologically" (67).  By doing so, Scott increases this magical believability.  Though the reader may understand that many events were not historical or plausible, Card plays into the emotional aspects of events and settings making the events seem realistic even if the reader, like myself, cannot explain how.  Historical facts are not the only way to portray an event and when an author is able to portray a setting emotionally whilst including mystics and making it believable.  proves a difficult task yet Card is able to do so

Card extends his believability beyond magical aspects.  As a final note, another aspect of Card's believability is his discretion in regards to the LDS elements.  As a Latter-Day Saint, I definitely saw correspondences between certain characters and certain events.  By using these shadowing, Card provides a new perspective for Latter-Day saints and perhaps a new forms and perspectives on truth for non Latter-Day saints.  By using a medium (magic and mystics) that is foreign to most, Card can place elements of truth that will appeal and touch a wide range of people and belief systems.

Collings, Michael R. In the Image of God: Theme, Characterization, and Landscape in the Fiction of Orson Scott Card. New York: Greenwood, 1990. Print.

The Analogous World of Unmakers and Magic

Photo by James Walsh

Upon finishing The Seventh Son, I laughed at finding a disclaimer in the back that claimed that all similarities to historical figures was purely coincidental. Uh-huh . . . But perhaps what is most interesting, is not just the one-to-one representation we could grant to the characters, but is instead the ways the world of The Seventh Son is different.

In addressing these differences, MR Collings says, "First, the Ohio territory represented is not the Ohio we know from history but an alternative-Earth Ohio;" (10). This automatically places the novel into a new genre. It is no longer historical fiction, and the characters are no longer bound to be anything other than vague shadows of their real counterparts. Collings continues, "The story may be less fantasy than science fiction, extrapolating to an Earth-analogue in which magic is a viable mode of knowing and acting. To understand this point alters the nature of the story" (10). By placing The Seventh Son in a new sphere of reality, this story opens itself up to a much larger audience. Though a Mormon audience can interpret the novel as an LDS allegory,  it can also double as simply good literature because "Card's meticulously re-created folk rhythms in speech, his carefully researched magical practices, and his curiously, off-beat references to historical characters . . . immediately set the story beyond the history we [LDS or not] know" (10).

This creates an interesting response in readers that highlights why differences in world and the characters of The Seventh Son are so important. When reading a fantasy/sci-fi novel, it is easy to swallow systems of magic as long as they are defined. We expect things to be fantastic, impossible, or simply beyond our understanding: it is a part of the genre. In The Seventh Son though, we have more experience-based orientation than many fantasy/sci-fi novels have in that we are reading of an Earth-analogue, so we do recognize historical tropes and trends, figures, and events such as the trek west, the French and Indian War, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. It's true that here Washington is beheaded and knacks and magic exist. But even so, the unexplained can be immediately accepted in this format in a way that the Joseph Smith story struggles to be when functioning as a viable occurrence in people's understanding of reality.

So why not create a version of young Emma as a torch named Peggy, or Measure as the loyal Hyrum? People will read it, enjoy it, and understand it. And regardless of whether magic and Unmakers function in reality, the reality of the struggle still function in The Seventh Son.

Collings, MR. "The Rational and Revelatory in the Science Fiction of Orson Scott Card." Sunstone: (May 1987). 7-11. Web. 19 Jan. 2015.