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The novel Each Mans Son by Hugh McLennan is a great demonstration of Calvinism. By definition, Calvinism is the doctrine emphasizing the depravity and helplessness of man. In Each Mans Son, Calvinism, also known as Puritanism is a rejection of beauty and pleasure, a condemnation of mans sexual nature, and a compulsion to work- this is the essence of Puritanism as MacLennan sees it. The Puritan, failing in these self-imposed standards, is plagued with guilt, shame, and fear. This description is best expressed in the novel best in the characters of Dan, Margaret, the Miners, Mrs. MacCuish and Mollie.
Dan Ainslie is the character that most strongly represents Calvinism. There are aspects of his character that depict this. The first of these is the way he deprives himself of his sexual desires for his wife. He is constantly frustrated with how he cannot express himself to her. This causes and emptiness with in the relationship that he feels guilty for. His desires are best described in chapter 7.
He wanted to go off and lose himself. He wanted to find there a woman with Margarets body… who would hold his head and tell him that for all his worthlessness she loved him. (Pg. 65)
The second is that he has a compulsion to work. Almost every where in the novel he is working. Whether it is a surgery, putting in a few more hours or learning Greek hes always working.
Why a brilliant doctor who worked as he did should feel impelled to become a master of Greek she had never been able to understand… (Pg. 5)
Finaly, He feels guilty for almost everything. If he doesnt work hard enough, if he says something to benefit himself, does not help someone, or for no reason at all.
But why must he, Daniel Ainslie, forever feel guilty before he could reason away and reason for guilt?
(Pg. 64)
What was wrong with desire except that within himself it was overpowering and he feared it?
(Pg. 64)
Another strong argument for Dan is how he tries to forget of his Calvinistic background because it has driven him to misery. With all of the emotions bottled up in side of him, it on his father. When Alan asks him about ghosts, he says There are no such things as ghosts… but we all see them sometimes. (Pg.18) The ghost that Dan is speaking of is his Calvinistic habits.
Dans wife Margaret definitely feels the effects of Calvinism in her life. She is usually hurt by it and it makes her question her worth. She mostly feels poorly due to Calvinism because of the treatment she receives from Dan. She does not know if he truly loves her because he never tells her that he does. He doesnt spend time with her, and there is no passion in the relationship.
She hated that volume as a woman hates her husbands mistress. She feared it because it stood for something in his nature she never could touch. (Pg. 5)
This is how MacLennan describes the way Margaret feels about the Greek dictionary that Dan has because it receives more attention than she does.
The Miners are a brutal group of people. They go to work before the sunrises and come home after it sets. When they get home they are all dirty and tired. The young ones go out and drink every night and after that, they pick fights with rival coal miners. The impact of Calvinism on their lives is that come Sunday, they will be in their finest suits at church, hoping to find justification or forgiveness of fighting, getting drunk, impurities at the mouth (foul language) and their other committed sins.
But everyone went to church in Broughton, even those who were brawling the night before. (Pg.80)
The feeling of guilt forces them to shrug their way there, black eyes, hangovers, sailor tongues and all. This also demonstrates that even the lower classes are affected by this religion.
Mrs. MacCuish is the personified symbol for the tradition, loyalty to religion, and discipline. The most visible characteristic she poses is her attitude. She is a miserable old lady who has been aged by the sorrows of her religion. She demonstrates this by the maltreatment she gives Alan when she has to over see him for the morning during chapter 18. She first of all criticizes his mom for being a bad parent and then gets Alan some food to eat and demands him to put some molasses on it.
Alan did as he was told, but when he tasted this brown syrup he could hardly bear to swallow it, for it was not like the creamy molasses his mother gave him. It was full of crusty lump and the moldy bread was dank and sour. (Pg. 15)
As this quote states, the food given was not of specific qualifications. When he demonstrated manner and etiquette by not licking his fingers, she took great offence.
Hass nobody told you it iss a sin to waste fud?
Earlier, they had said grace to bless the food and being the adult, Mrs. MacCuish decided a say-after-me grace was appropriate. The second line into the grace was a demonstration of her hypocrisy. She believes that her state of spiritual purity is much better than of an innocent child.
Most merciful God… I am a miserable sinner and I know that I whill be damned. (Pg.15)
Mollie MacNeil is the wife of the one time boxer Archie MacNeil. After 4 years of not having a husband around, she is quite lonely. Although she is married, Louis Camire is in love with her and she actually has feelings for him. This does not mean that she is guilt free.
She knew he wanted to be her lover and she knew he was even more lonely than she was her self. On an evening like this she tried not to think about the feeling he gave her.
(Pg. 1)
This tells of how she avoided her emotions toward him to keep herself loyal to her husband. She also fully dedicates her self to the raising of her child which makes her feel bad for going out with Camire in the night time.
If God looked down on them that summer, the kind of God their ministers had told them about, He must have been well pleased, for by summers end all of them except Alan were conscious of their sins. Longing to do their best, they had discovered there is no best in this world. Yearning for love, they had found loneliness. Eager to help one another, they had made each other wretched. Dreaming of better lives, they had become totally discontented with the lives they led. (Pg. 00)
Success in a religious following depends on a persons self judgement and content with their actions. But what if to be content, was to not be content at all. Is this what is desirable… is this success? Perceptions opinion is the only way that can be judged, according to the doctrine founded by John Calvin, there is nothing that spells success better than these miseries.
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