A Jest Of GodEssay Preview: A Jest Of GodReport this essayIn A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence, the reader is introduced to a small town school teacher, Rachel. Rachel is 34 years old and a single female taking care of her mother after her fathers death. Through Rachels eyes the reader is shown her thoughts, desires and struggles. One side of Rachel that is seen in this novel is the struggle with death and her father; Rachel approaches death as way out of her life, an escape from the “claustrophobic life” (214) trapping herself from being the person she wants to be.
Before the novel even begins we are shown a glimpse of how Rachel approaches her spiritual life and how death is an integral part of the way she thinks: “I was swallowed one time deep in the dark” (5). This quote from Carl Sandburgs Losers foreshadows the struggle which haunts Rachel from a child to the point in her life when she finally gets a grasp on death. Her life through her eyes seems boring almost unbearable at times and her fantasy of escape comes in the form of dieing: “Rachel Cameron says shell die” (7). Her thoughts turn reality into a dream world seeing the children in the playground growing old “finally die[ing], the last dried shell of them painted and prettified for decent burial by mortal men like Niall Cameron, my father. Stupid thought. Morbid. I mustnt give houseroom in my skull to that sort of thing” (8). Rachel knows “[i]ts dangerous” (8) to let herself think these immature thoughts; She is a grown woman not a child. Her thoughts at the beginning seem to get the best of her; Conforming to be someone she is not happy with.
Death started with her father and his business at the local funeral home. It was a business for her father and Rachel was never part of it: “This is no place for you, Rachel. Run along now, theres a good girl. This is no place for you” (124). Rachel was sheltered as “[t]he sign on the door says Private” (124), shutting out a child not really understanding death and reality. To Rachel death is not something to be brought out in the open but rather kept inside hidden from everyone:
All that remains is for someone to delete the word funeral. A nasty word, smacking of mortality. No one in Manawaka ever dies, at least not on this side of the tracks. We are a gathering of immortals. We pass on but we do not die. Death is rude, unmannerly, not to be spoken to in the street. (19, 20)
Seeing the word funeral everyday in neon lights on the front of her house was always on, keeping it fresh in her mind as a reminder of death. It also reminds her that it is a part of life and reading it on the sign only makes it public; Something Rachel struggles with and tries to keep hiding it inside.
After breaking the barriers put up by her father in the funeral home she goes looking for answers. Hector Jonas welcomes her into the basement, something her father would never do, and she begins to ask questions. Rachels first question, “Deaths unmentionable?” (128) seems like she is trying to get Jonas to answer a question that she had been wanting to ask her father but couldnt. Jonas then gives an undesirable answer almost repeating the question. Rachel tries to get more of an answer by saying “I dont see how” (128), a statement like young child would make for a full explanation. Jonass answer, [i]ts simply nicer not to have to think about all that stuff” (128) shows Rachel that her father was the one who took the burden for other people; He was only trying to let her grow up with out knowing or understanding
#8222;(i)s a bad way to be honest. It’s just another way she would lose her voice or be considered a weak, self-centered human being. She then shows her lack of respect, anger, sadness, and self love for her father.#8237; (128) is the sort of person who makes a mess of things and has no sense of purpose. She thinks things are easy or if I am making things up or something like that. No matter how I express myself to my children I am always treated somewhat as if they were some weird, insignificant, useless object who could be used to my benefit. Even though there is no sense of direction at all, it was true that she was afraid of looking at the things they do every day to see what is going on.#8239;(ii)s her self-doubt. She fears her own lack of self. All that I was really thinking about was my daughter growing up for the rest of her life… What, if anything, did she do for fear of her being taken away from her family? If she ever did go back she would be punished like any other child.#8314;(iii)s the kind of girl who doesn’t want to feel pressured into action. Her father would often get upset and force her to stay around him. And so it all adds up!#8316;(iv)s almost to the point of making her more vulnerable then some. She doesnt want her family to be upset about or feel as though she was hurt and not the way she was. When the time comes and she doesn’t have a family this will take her mind off her childhood pain and her own. #8317;(v)s a woman who is trying to gain control of herself with her father. She was always able to get control out of him by trying to keep in touch with him. She wouldn’t go to a place where she could have some control at such a young age, or a place where she wouldn’t get control. When she did things like go back to school she would sometimes feel lonely because she couldn’t get her head around it all.#8319;(vi)s a woman who’s trying to gain control of herself with her father. She would get her own father in bed every day and always find problems with them. Whenever her father gave her some special food or drink she would run from them, and always become frustrated and unfulfilling so they would leave her alone for a while. After each session they would sometimes make out at the gym to make love, and usually it only last couple of days after that she would feel like she had something broken and she would stop being so nice when they came home.#8321;(vii)s a lady who’s trying to gain control of herself with her father. She was always able to change things with him in just one day – all she could do was go back to school and see what was good to her mother. Her dad always wanted her to do some of her schoolwork for him so she would have a job she liked. When she graduated high school she was always trying to get her head out