Author’s inspirations are often expounded upon through the symbolism and literary techniques they use during the developing process of their novels. In Harvest, Crace exhibits ambiguous connotations of religious ideals towards the reader, juxtaposing the novel’s characters’ distant religious relationship in effort to alluding the demise of a society with a lack of religion. As each religious aspect is insinuated upon, its then that the reader can distinguish the realization that the characters endorse the opposite action of said religious reference. Before beginning the novel, there are references to the foreshadowing of contents within the novel on the front and back of the novel that are often ignored. On the first page of the novel, the
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Within each of these relationships, they are all centered around the overall hope of bettering the society holistically rather than personal intent. As a result, we are unable to have a direct understanding of a set of concrete rules that they inevitably live by. This idea functions in respect to the Ten Commandments that are broken as the novel progresses. The reader can understand the breaking of the first commandment, ‘Thou shall have no other gods before me”, from the society’s devotion to the land they live on and their sense of communitas among each other since all their needs are provided for from these two sources. Moreover, the initial mentioning of the pillory provides a description resembling a cross stationed beside an unfinished church. This information manifests itself as the society’s definite deviation from a foundation of religion. Nearing the end of the novel as society begins to completely break apart, the reader can understand the aftermath of the absence of religion. From the imprisonment of the three women, considered to be witches, it can be seen as the downfall of the holy trinity marking the end of the village. However, once the seventh day begins, it marks the conclusive resolution of the conflict created from Jordan as a symbol of the seventh day that God rested and admired his work. Walt does a similar act of describing an optimistic future with the beldams as he prepares himself for leaving the village and everything else
Within each of these relationships, they are all centered around the overall hope of bettering the society holistically rather than personal intent. As a result, we are unable to have a direct understanding of a set of concrete rules that they inevitably live by. This idea functions in respect to the Ten Commandments that are broken as the novel progresses. The reader can understand the breaking of the first commandment, ‘Thou shall have no other gods before me”, from the society’s devotion to the land they live on and their sense of communitas among each other since all their needs are provided for from these two sources. Moreover, the initial mentioning of the pillory provides a description resembling a cross stationed beside an unfinished church. This information manifests itself as the society’s definite deviation from a foundation of religion. Nearing the end of the novel as society begins to completely break apart, the reader can understand the aftermath of the absence of religion. From the imprisonment of the three women, considered to be witches, it can be seen as the downfall of the holy trinity marking the end of the village. However, once the seventh day begins, it marks the conclusive resolution of the conflict created from Jordan as a symbol of the seventh day that God rested and admired his work. Walt does a similar act of describing an optimistic future with the beldams as he prepares himself for leaving the village and everything else