Redemption
I have been thinking about redemption as a theme lately. As usual, I go to the trusty dictionary:
1. an act of redeeming or the state of being redeemed.
2. deliverance; rescue.
3. Theology . deliverance from sin; salvation.
4. atonement for guilt.
In real life, I have found, for much of my life, that most situations in which people talk about redemption, they think it means an "apology." Generally, both in real life and in fiction, nothing could be further from the truth. I can think of two situations, one which occurred 12 years ago, and one which occurred just a couple of months ago, in which people I knew said such ugly things that they can never be taken back. I suppose that is one of life's lessons--and I often wonder about both celebrities and ordinary people alike who go through nuclear meltdowns as a matter of routine, the people who fight with the meanest things in their arsenal. Don't they realize once it's said, in essence, it's said forever. Like an everlasting echo.
In most religions (all?), there is a model of forgiveness. Christians have a Savior who took on ALL of the worlds sins and redeemed them, for example.
But in fiction, the dramas of redemption are that there is (1) no apology, and (2) no way to "take back" what occurred. So redemption is about #4 much of the time. In real life and in fiction, since you cannot TAKE BACK what happened all you can do is MAKE IT RIGHT. But the tricky fact is some things can never be made "right." So the next best thing becomes atonement, or it becomes about--that "next best thing." It's the hero looking at the landscape of the book, and realizing it can't be fixed--not perfectly. But it still has to be somehow repaired.
In Magickeepers III, the hunt is on for a chalice of immortality. I realized, mid-way through the writing, that it was less about the hunt and more about Nicholai's mother. What happened to her wasn't right . . . and she is long dead (not a spoiler, you find that out in the first chapter in the first book). In my books, unlike a Judeo-Christian world, or a Buddhist rebirth, or a Hindu one . . . there is no way to "undead" someone. No zombies here. No immortality of the religious sort. So the entire book is really about somehow atoning for what happened.
Thoughts? Anyone have books rich with redemption themes? (I'm already thinking of one.)
In real life, I have found, for much of my life, that most situations in which people talk about redemption, they think it means an "apology." Generally, both in real life and in fiction, nothing could be further from the truth. I can think of two situations, one which occurred 12 years ago, and one which occurred just a couple of months ago, in which people I knew said such ugly things that they can never be taken back. I suppose that is one of life's lessons--and I often wonder about both celebrities and ordinary people alike who go through nuclear meltdowns as a matter of routine, the people who fight with the meanest things in their arsenal. Don't they realize once it's said, in essence, it's said forever. Like an everlasting echo.
In most religions (all?), there is a model of forgiveness. Christians have a Savior who took on ALL of the worlds sins and redeemed them, for example.
But in fiction, the dramas of redemption are that there is (1) no apology, and (2) no way to "take back" what occurred. So redemption is about #4 much of the time. In real life and in fiction, since you cannot TAKE BACK what happened all you can do is MAKE IT RIGHT. But the tricky fact is some things can never be made "right." So the next best thing becomes atonement, or it becomes about--that "next best thing." It's the hero looking at the landscape of the book, and realizing it can't be fixed--not perfectly. But it still has to be somehow repaired.
In Magickeepers III, the hunt is on for a chalice of immortality. I realized, mid-way through the writing, that it was less about the hunt and more about Nicholai's mother. What happened to her wasn't right . . . and she is long dead (not a spoiler, you find that out in the first chapter in the first book). In my books, unlike a Judeo-Christian world, or a Buddhist rebirth, or a Hindu one . . . there is no way to "undead" someone. No zombies here. No immortality of the religious sort. So the entire book is really about somehow atoning for what happened.
Thoughts? Anyone have books rich with redemption themes? (I'm already thinking of one.)
17 comments:
I love the redemption theme! It's a recurring one in literary fiction - maybe that's why I'm so hooked on it, even though some feel it's a dying art or just plain boorish or "freaking pretentious." Ah well, to each his own.
Done right, redemption is a character evolution, which I find very endearing. It instills hope for the reader, I believe.
P.S. I concur on people saying "such ugly things" that they can't be taken back. Too bad those who spew them can't see how ridiculously ignorant it makes them appear. Unfortunately, those who spew toxic words are usually ignorant to begin with - the Rush Limbaughs of the world. ;-)
Kath:
I love the theme of redemption because of how REAL it is. We so often, in a fallen world, so to speak, do things that we cannot take back, behave in ways we regret, make mistakes. I make them. We all make them. And since you cannot "undo"--all you can do is make your way toward redemption. So many holy books--the Bible being one--in a LITERARY sense play out that theme with beauty. It's a theme as old as time.
Oh, you. I was just thinking, she's playing my song! And then I wondered who you'd linked to.
You're the one who identified my story as one of redemption. It's also imbued with magical realism because of a suggestion by you. Maybe you should just write the thing for me.
With that cast on your leg, you're going anywhere for a while, ha ha.
Stephen:
The final scene in your book makes me well up every time I read it. It is a beautiful story of redemption.
:-)
And yeah. Not going anywhere for some time.
I am guilty of saying regretful things, but as I age I try very hard to edit before the words tumble from my mouth. Yikes! So hard to do in real time when passion runs wild. :-)
Kath:
We ALL are guilty of it!!!! Which is the BEAUTY of the redemption theme. We CAN make things RIGHT. We can't "un-do" but we can make amends. Truly, I find the theme to be one of the most beautiful of humanity.
E
This post reminds me of When Harry Met Sally. He makes a comment, she gets upset, so he takes it back. And she says "You can't take it back" "Why not?" "It's already out there."
My current WIP has a redemption theme. My MC made a huge mistake (before the book even starts) and while she can't change what she did, she does her best to make up for it and 'fix' things the best she can.
Nadine:
Love that scene too.
A friend posted something on her FB status (she is a Christian) about a children's sermon in which the pastor squeezed out an entire tube of toothpaste on a plate on the altar, and then asked some of the children if they could get all the toothpaste to go back in the tube (which of course they could not). And he said that is what happens when you gossip, when you say mean things to people. You can't put it back in the tube.
Re:demption. (Sorry, couldn't resist)
Trinidad feels forever guilty for a crime his parents committed, but most of all, for surviving it. His entire life is about making up for that act. Blood for blood, as it were.
Even Castile doesn't touch that one, not too much. I think he (and me through him) instinctively knew that Trinidad would go nuclear if it ever happened. It's just too tight to who he is. It's something he must work out for himself, or not.
As far as people who go in swinging...My son is 11 and trying to justify who he is with who and how everyone behaves around him. One of his friends is doing the opposite; he's wound so tight, so withdrawn that it's hurting my son sometimes. (They're old friends.) I told him I feel sorry for people like that because they're so defensive they miss out on a lot. I also feel sorry for people who come in swinging for the same reason.
I love the toothpaste story. Gossip is bad in my neighborhood. I'm working on a non-offensive full-stop line to use whenever people try to get me to do it. (I admit it can be a weakness of mine. It's insidious, can turn from concern to evil on a dime.)
Starbucks:
I will sometimes come out swinging for a CAUSE. Though over time, I have come to realize that grace and silence speak more about character and who I want to be as a person.
As for a way to extricate, I've gotten very good, at parties, with leaving the room . . . but also just saying something like, "I prefer to think kindly." You are right. I wrote the other day about an incident--perfectly lovely party and then this woman started "doing" (as in mocking and acting like) another woman. And I thought, My God . . . how are these other women not speaking up? AND THEN you realize that when YOU leave the room? 'Cause if someone does it to someone else, they are capable to doing it to you.
I think sometimes people like to stir up trouble because it distracts them from their own emptiness.
This is such a great topic for discussion.
The funny thing about spoken words is that they only exist in the moment of speaking. After that they only exist as a memory of the spoken word, and therefor are only in the past... not the present. It's funny how they show up in the future, like thinking about what you would like to say to someone about what they said... or how we would like to modify the past by rebutting what they had said (o something like that. You can't change the past, obviously. You can't change the present, because it only exists in the moment. You can definitely change your future... but if you have that piece of the past (those spoken words in your memory) sitting out there in your future, then you have limited what you are going to do or say in the future simply by the focusing on "those words" (I know, it's weird thinking about it that way, but I have a point).
I would wager that the person who speaks words that "can't be taken back" (you, me, them...) isn't actually talking about, or responding to, you. Most likely they are saying what they are saying (out loud) in response to something that happened to them (in the past) that they are unresolved about, and can't let go of. They most likely are just looking for a place to lash out at in response to that event and you (me, others) are just unlucky enough to get in their line of fire, or we remind them of the person (people) that they are upset about.
There is really nothing to do about the words that have been spoken, since they no longer really exist, except in our memory. If you (we?) can let go of what we make those words mean (get complete with) then they will no longer be sitting out there in our future waiting for us and limiting what we think and see is possible or available. However, if we (you or I) are the perpetrator of those kinds of spoken words, there really is only one thing to do: clean up the mess as best we can - aka redemption. And there may be some people for whom we may never be able to clean up the mess. They will hold onto the meaning they made about us and those words and never let go - but it is their life, their upset and their own limitation on their own future that they are causing by not being able to let go. For that there may never be closure (ion their part). The cleaning up (redemption) always starts and ends with those who (in this case) spoke the words in the first place.
The struggle to overcome the upsets and other people's perceptions to find redemption is a running theme through most of my stories... and I have to say, through my life too :)
P.S. Sorry for the LOOOOONG post ;)
Hi Ewoh:
We store so much in our memories . . . it is both the blessing and curse of being human. And I agree . . . my oldest daughter remarked about a particular person, "She must feel so ugly inside as a human to make her lash at people like that." I think there's often a lot of self-denial. People THINK they are battling, as you said, x or y, but it is the ghosts of their past or their own current guilt or . . . people are just complicated.
For me, I strive to "let go." But I hope I have the grace and wisdom enough to conduct myself, as much as possible, with respect toward others.
It's not a book, but I have a novelette, The Preacher's Wife, at eXtasy books whose plot is based on the redemption of a fallen angel.
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It's not a book, but I have a novelette, The Preacher's Wife, at eXtasy books whose plot is based on the redemption of a fallen angel.
<<>>
Allen:
Freudian Slip was a novel about redemption . . . and it had angels and demons and was a lot of fun to write . . . . the possibilities when you introduce characters like that.
E
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