In My Father's Den Critical Analysis

Improved Essays
The Negative Aspects of Religion

Maurice Gee’s novel In My Father’s Den is concerned with the pressure of a religious society on individuals. Religion can have a major impact on the way a person lives and experiences his/her life. Gee’s novel raises questions about how religion influences people’s daily lives; it also explores themes of anti-intellectualism and religious intolerance. Two main characters in the novel- Paul and Andrew Prior- are strongly shaped by Puritan beliefs and they form different values and attitudes towards them.

Wadesville society in the novel is influenced by a Puritan belief which plays a vital role among the people in the community. Paul and Andrew’s mother, Edith Prior, spends her whole life struggling to have a clean soul to God; she raises her children to fit in with the strict Puritan religion she believes in. Her husband Henry chooses to be a Puritan for the sake of his
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Firstly, there is a prevailing mood of anti-intellectualism in the Wadesville society. For instance, when Paul first goes to his father’s den, he thinks he has never seen that many books, not even in the Wadesville library (47), which proves that the people in the society do not have a high regard for intellectual activities. In point of fact, it presents the anti-intellectualism of religion; the more religious someone is, the less value they tend to place on science and education. With faith, education is not necessary (Rosch). Education often seems to be an obstacle to faith- Edith burns her husband’s books and thinks that books poison people’s minds, giving them impractical information and the wrong belief. That is why Henry puts all the books in the den, calling the den a poison shed and hiding them from people, which reflects how much Henry feels guilty about reading books. Therefore, it indicates that people in the society are antagonistic towards intellectual

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