Linda Hogan is undoubtedly one of the most provocative American authors whose gift for truth and enchantment is outstanding and worth admiring. People of the Whale is one of her extraordinary and captivating works full of what can be seen as astuteness of intimates and the hubris of man. The expedition to selfhood that is utterly contradictory and painful with spirituality in the novel sets it apart from other works of literature and gives it a replenishing touch. Hogan introduces a unique dimension and perspective in the novel by focusing on the bloody struggle of a male character to find meaning from a war experience in Vietnam that shaped his life, ideas, and beliefs significantly.[1] Thomas Witka is brought back to his country with the tag of a war hero whose role in the Vietnamese war was indispensable. Nonetheless, the move to have him back to America is against his will and he is forced to separate from his Vietnamese daughter called Lin, to face his family that he left behind, and to strike a balance between his two lives by reconciling and making sense out of his agonizing war reminiscences.[2] It is an interesting story of reclaiming a repeatedly disjointed and crumbled self. The author presents a variety of themes and employs an array of stylistic devices through her well created characters to keep her audience interested and curious. The best examples of religion in Hogan’s People of the whale are made apparent by the interaction between Thomas, his family, and his community. Through an analysis of the community’s beliefs, traditions, actions, and culture, this paper goes ahead to explore the various reasons why the chosen examples from the novel portray religion.
Hogan is quick to present the reader with one of the best examples of religion of the A’atsika people during the birth of Thomas. The title of the novel itself hardly raises any expectations and anticipation of war in the novel, but rather points to communal and collective mythical distinctiveness and belonging of the Thomas’ community. The novel starts and Hogan immerses the reader into the events and extraordinary events that characterize the sacred birth of Thomas. His birth is characterized by the emergence of an octopus from the sea; an occurrence that had never been witnessed by the entire community since the time of their forefathers. The octopus leaves the sea and literally starts walking on land to everybody’s astonishment and disbelief, “the eye of it looking at them, as if each one were known in all their past, all their future.”[3] As if leaving the sea and walking on land was not enough, the octopus goes ahead to collect all the gifts that the people had given baby Thomas as a way of celebrating his birth that included pearls, gems, and a ring made of gold. The octopus reminds A’atsika people of their holy and sacred songs and rituals. It reminds them of the spiritual, physical and biological connection to the life of the sea. The entire ceremony is becomes an opportunity for the people to reconnect and strengthen their commitment to their religion.
The emergence of the octopus from the sea during the birth of Thomas is religious because it serves to inform the reader about the beliefs and faith of the people of A’atsika. The octopus reminds the people of their close connection to the creatures of the sea in order to strengthen their allegiance to the sea. Moreover, the emergence of the octopus during Thomas’ birth shows that he would grow up to become the future of his community just like just like Witka; his larger-than-life grandfather and hero. Hogan described Witka as a man who “lived between the elements … was a medical oddity, a human curiosity, a visionary, a hunter and carver, and a medicine man who could cure rheumatism and dizzy spells. His knowledge of the ocean was so great that scientists came to question him.”[4] The event was purely meant to reinforce the people’s faith in the sea and the might of its creatures.
Thomas’ commitment to the religion of the sea and the ancestors after his own men go ahead to disrespect the whale after a hunt that saw a wrong whale get killed is another best example of religion in the People of the Whale.[5] “They didn’t apologize to the spirit of the whale, nor did they sing to it or pray as they said they were going to do. He alone prayed and he did it silently because he thought, really believed, the men would laugh if they heard him. He realized they didn’t even believe in the lives of their ancestors, that it was as if those old ones, the ones whose presence he often felt, were only stories to them.”[6] His men out of carelessness and negligence leave the whale after the hunt ignoring the traditions and culture of the community which called for respect of all sea creatures. Thomas realizes that his tribe had completely abandoned the values that his grandfather Witka wanted them to embrace and uphold.[7] His conviction that the spirit of the whale shared a strong common origin and destiny with the ancestors of his community compelled Thomas to pray silently and mediate for his community.
His move to pray to the spirit of the whale on behalf of the community shows his desire to ensure that the teachings of his ancestors and beliefs are carried forward by his community. it is an example of religion in the novel not only because it shows what the people of A’atsika ought to do, but also shows that the community’s cultural beliefs and religious practices were slowly being eroded away by Christianity and civilization. He goes ahead to build a fence between him and his community both physically and literally in order to discover and purify himself against his sins and the sins of his community. “His love for them had led him to crimes, including this one.”[8] Hogan stresses the fact that Thomas was being hit with the reality that God could not dictate his choices and actions and he had to shoulder the consequences.
Hogan describes the miraculous washing out of Thomas onto the shores of the sea near the people’s dwellings using the biblical image of Jonah to create one of the best examples of religion in the novel. Thomas is seen fasting and praying for his people as he preaches hope of a brighter future, “We are going to be better people. That is our job now. The ocean says we are not going to kill the whales until some year when it will be right.”[9] However, as Thomas is paddling and singing, Dwight who had killed his son shoots him and he falls backwards into the water. However, Thomas is miraculously washed onto the shores after he fell into the sea, “Like Jonah, he washed up out of the belly of the Great Mysterious that held him … the place where the whale gave birth to the human and it was written into stone, like a commandment.”[10] Hogan uses this image to give his work a spiritual touch and reiterate the rebirth of Thomas to carry forward the ideals of his ancestors’ religion and culture, “Thomas is like a new born, for “he is emptied of all his stories, even his deeds.”[11]
In spite of the many tensions and antagonistic nature of Christianity and native concepts and religious practices, the biblical imagery by Hogan to describe the rebirth of Thomas is characteristically makes the reader appreciate the need for diversity. Thomas literally experiences the Christian ritual death that involves being dipped in water in order to wash away one’s sins otherwise known as baptism.[12] The religious aspect of Thomas’ miraculous emergence from the sea becomes even stronger considering that the people of A’atsika pledged their allegiance to the sea and its creatures and the fact that Thomas did not die as many expected. Thomas had been reinitiated into the sacred world and had been given the full mandate to lead the people back to the sacred ways of life that had been abandoned. Thomas and Ruth are reunited once more purely for a religious reason and goal; to show the people the ways of the sea and their ancestors who lived and died by its ways.[13]
As the protagonist in Hogan’s novel People of the Whale, Thomas is crucial in the development and sustenance of the plot alongside the various themes that the author presents in her work. Religion is undoubtedly a central theme in the novel that makes it dramatic and interesting. Through the life of Thomas in America as a strong member of his community, to Vietnam and back to his homeland, Hogan succeeds in telling the story of a man whose experiences as a soldier almost takes away his greatest role of reconciling the people and the sea as religious twists take center stage. Ultimately, instances that portray religion in the entire novel are numerous, right from the start of the novel to its tail end, before the Vietnamese war and after the war making its role in the making the novel a homecoming and literature novel absolutely irreplaceable.
Bibliography
Hogan, Linda. People of the Whale: A Novel. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008.
[1] Linda Hogan. People of the Whale: A Novel. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2008), 23.
[2] Hogan, 152.
[3] Linda Hogan. People of the Whale: A Novel. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2008), 15
[4] Linda Hogan. People of the Whale: A Novel. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2008), 19.
[5] Hogan, 152.
[6] Hogan, 153.
[7] Hogan, 152
[8] Linda Hogan. People of the Whale: A Novel. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2008), 91.
[9] Hogan, 283.
[10] Hogan, 180.
[11] Hogan, 290.
[12] Hogan, 291.
[13] Linda Hogan. People of the Whale: A Novel. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2008), 290.
