47 pages • 1 hour read
Wiley CashA Land More Kind than Home
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Influence of Religious Fervor
The novel’s antagonist, Carson Chambliss, is the leader of a charismatic church and a self-proclaimed healer. His qualifications for either role are unclear; his backstory, when it emerges, suggests that he was not ordained but rather appointed himself a mouthpiece for God following a conversion experience in prison. Whether that conversion was sincere is, in some sense, beside the point, as the novel suggests that unthinking religious fervor provides con artists with all the tools they need to fool others—and even, perhaps, themselves.
A literalist interpretation of the Bible has paved the way for Chambliss’s influence in the community and is at the heart of some of his most dangerous practices—e.g., handling snakes, in violation of both logic and nature. This has predictable consequences, but once again, a strict interpretation of Christian doctrine comes to Chambliss’s aid. When a parishioner, Molly Jameson, was once bitten by a venomous snake, Chambliss insisted that she would either be healed of the poison by God or die because God had destined her to do so. In either case, Chambliss evaded personal culpability.
Chambliss also profits from the desperation and hope that draw many to religion. Barefield notes that religion can serve as a powerful balm, providing its practitioners with a sense of meaning and optimism that they cannot achieve elsewhere in their lives. It instills in them a sense of community and connection to others and provides them with a roadmap to follow that promises to make their lives better. Cunning, manipulative figures like Chambliss are able to exploit this by discerning which people are vulnerable and able to be led. Their devotion is ultimately so great that they do not balk at Chambliss’s more suspect actions, such as covering the windows of the church to prevent outsiders from observing the services and the cult of secrecy that he has developed with his parishioners.
While Chambliss’s covering of the windows implies that he recognizes that his methods are at least untoward, it is less clear whether he truly believes in his own divine mission. If he does, however, it does not detract from Cash’s core point, which is that intense religiosity creates a breeding ground for people who feed off of feelings of power and self-righteousness. His sway extends beyond the church as he corrupts the personal lives of individuals such as Julie Hall—though little is known of the sexual affair they have, its repercussions are far-reaching and long-lasting: Ben Hall seeking revenge against Chambliss leads to Ben’s own death, which further traumatizes both Julie and their son, Jess. This, coupled with the death of Stump, points to the potential dangers of charismatic leaders.
The Danger of Secrets and Silence
Ignorance of the truth can have unintended consequences, the novel suggests, but so, too, can learning the truth in unplanned and even traumatic ways. Ultimately, Cash depicts the keeping of secrets as dangerous to both the person who is doing the concealing and the person who is being kept in the dark—and sometimes to those around them as well.
The first few chapters establish how secrecy can spiral out of control when Jess stresses that his mother has forbidden him from spying on adults. She has impressed upon Jess that learning information not meant for him can be dangerous. In a sense, she is right, as Jess’s discovery of Chambliss’s attempts to heal his brother proves to be a burden that exacerbates the trauma of Stump’s eventual death. Knowing the repercussions he faces for spying, Jess keeps silent about the church’s secret practices, rendering him inadvertently “complicit” in his brother’s eventual death: The longer Jess maintains the silence, the worse the circumstances become. However, Jess’s secrecy is a direct response to his mother’s—an illustration of the way secrets beget more secrets. Not only does Julie keep her extramarital affair a secret from her husband and children, but she also keeps the activities that occur within the church a secret. The fallout of these secrets culminates in Ben’s death during his attack on Chambliss and Julie, which symbolically suggests the way Julie’s secrets have rebounded on her.
The novel also suggests that a communal silence surrounding Chambliss facilitates the narrative’s tragic events. For instance, Adelaide Lyle is aware that Molly Jameson died due to Chambliss’s so-called “healing,” but she keeps this information a secret, allowing Chambliss to continue his practices while removing herself from his vicinity. This prevents her from witnessing future occurrences—a kind of self-imposed ignorance that the novel ultimately implies is little better than active secrecy, as Chambliss’s actions cost Stump his life.
It is ironic, then, that the most innocent character in the novel is also the most silent: Stump. The undiagnosed disability that he has had since birth prevents him from speaking. Through no fault of his own, this situation illustrates the dangers of silence, as it renders him subject to misinterpretation. His inability to speak—his silence—is viewed by the congregation as a sign of evil; to be “saved,” they insist, Stump must orally proclaim his belief in Christ. That Stump cannot defend himself when the church members attempt to heal him suggests that silence and secrets can cost lives.
The Pursuit of Justice and Healing
A Land More Kind Than Home centers on several traumatic events, with more revealed in the novel’s backstory. It is not surprising, then, that questions of justice and healing loom large for the characters. However, the novel does not suggest that these things are entirely synonymous, nor does it cast either as an unambiguous good, cautioning that the pursuit of justice and healing can itself cause harm.
Chambliss, as a self-proclaimed healer, provides the novel’s central argument about the potential dangers of seeking healing. For one, Chambliss’s healing is not only fraudulent but also (at least in some cases) unwarranted; Stump’s disability is not grounds to deem him evil, and since it does not seem to cause Stump himself distress, it is unclear that there is anything to be gained in attempts to “cure” him. Indeed, such efforts only lead to more harm by causing his death. Moreover, the novel suggests that the desperation of Chambliss’s parishioners to receive “healing” in some form predisposes them to believe in Chambliss’s abilities. It would perhaps be better, the novel suggests, for these people to reconcile themselves to some degree to life’s injustices, as hoping for a miraculous solution only renders them vulnerable to exploitation.
Barefield’s backstory conveys a similar message. From the moment his son died in an accident on the job, he has carried with him a disdain for life’s unfairness. At times, he wrestles with a sense of regret, wondering if he should have sought retribution for Jeff’s death by shooting Jimmy Hall, whom Barefield blames for the death. Ultimately, however, he has recognized that taking action against Jimmy would neither heal his grief nor bring his son back. He thus chooses to move through life unhealed rather than perpetuate a cycle of trauma.
Nevertheless, the aftermath of Stump’s death shows that the novel does not dismiss the importance of justice and healing. Barefield is set on obtaining justice when Stump dies, and he is scrupulous in his investigation so as not to give anyone reason to question its findings. Providing an explanation for Stump’s death will, Barefield believes, prove to be healing for his immediate survivors. Moreover, it will reveal how dangerous Chambliss is and thus prevent him from causing future harm. Adelaide, too, wants justice to be carried out. Her revelation to Barefield that Chambliss was also responsible for the death of Molly Jameson—a death deemed accidental and never explored further—shows that she values fairness and believes that those who violate the law should be suitably punished. Ultimately, the death of Chambliss preempts Barefield’s investigation but nevertheless provides a kind of justice, as he pays the ultimate price for what he has done. That the church returns to its previous practices afterward suggests that healing has already begun to take place within the community.
