Among the numerous facets at work in Hobomok (historically, theologically, nationally, domestically,
politically…hell, even agriculturally), I was most struck by the intentionality
that becomes evident in reading Child’s reckoning of the differences between
the Puritan and American Indian cultural rites, particularly the weddings. In her introduction to the novel, Carolyn
Karcher underscores Child’s interest in anthropological cultural comparison
having written History of the Condition
of Women, in Various Ages and Nations, and while that much larger work was
published ten years after Hobomok,
these interests are quite evident in Child’s first published work.
Three weddings occur in the text: Sally Oldham to John
Collier (C. 9), Mary Conant to Hobomok (C. 12), and finally Mary Conant to
Charles Brown (C. 20). It seems unnecessary
to point out the obvious differences among these three ceremonies, but the
attention to detail Child offers with each scene seemingly points to a commitment
to the benefits of depicting cultural difference. While Charles and Mary’s marriage in the end
resolves culturally complicated marriage plot, I find the first two weddings a
bit more interesting in their comparison.
Continuing her critique of Puritan patriarchy (and Puritan everything
else for that matter), Child has Reverend Higginson preach the opposite of a
celebratory marital homily and, instead, foment quasi-exegetically on the
discernment and obedience one must keep in beginning life together, lest you be
coupled with the devil like the papists and old may-pole Morton. It is the type of passage seemingly meant to
underscore the obsession over theological resoluteness at the expense of
acknowledging something like the happy occasion of two young people falling in
love and beginning their shared life together.
“The oldest Indian then uttered some short harangues, in which he dwelt upon the duty of a husband to hunt plenty of deer for his wife, to love her, and to try to make her happy; and that the wife should cook his vension [sic] well, that he might come home to his wigwam with a light heart” (125).
We can of course detect strict gender roles in this ceremony, but the speech does appear to at least focus on the couple being wed, rather than other items such as, for example, the abhorrence of liturgical prayer. Moreover, while the likes of William Bradford and Governor Endicott are invited to the Oldham/Collier wedding, Hobomok and Mary’s wedding is not a political, community event. Indeed, nobody in Salem even knows it has happened for 3 days, and while this can somewhat be attributed to the scandal of interracial marriage, this was such a closed circuit of communication that the community assumed Mary dead before considering such a thing had happened. I DO wonder how to read the verbal exchanges between Mary and Hobomok leading up to the ceremony, where Mary seems fairly comatose and carrying “much the frightened expression of one walking in his sleep” (125). While the ceremony seems somewhat more intimate in its procedure, Mary’s state rejects an easy reading of the ceremony as clearly preferable the Puritan wedding, just as the easy community acceptance of Hobomok’s divorce certificate and subsequent disappearance from the text raises questions regarding how respected our title character really is by the narrative. Why are the “savage” culture’s laws of divorce held-up by the legal mechanism of a culture (the Puritans) where divorce would mean lifelong shame for an individual?
Matt,
ReplyDeleteThis was great! I liked seeing Sally's and Mary's weddings side by side in this way. Though I totally get your uncertainty about Mary's wedding to Hobomok because of her state of mind and the ease with which the marriage is dissolved, after thinking about it again in light of your blog and our class discussion, I do think Mary's wedding with Hobomok is shown as more favorable than Sally's. Obviously, Mary and Charles are the real romantic heroes of the text and its their wedding that we're meant to celebrate, but I think, in the same way that we came to understand Hobomok's contribution of his son and his sacrifice of "vanishing" as contributing to Mary and Charles' acceptance into the community, I think Mary/Hobomok's wedding is the necessary bridge between the Puritan wedding and the Episcopal one. Somehow Mary is able to come back from her marriage with Hobomok, bringing her Indian son with her, and the community is changed by it, making space for Little Hobomok and Charles Brown. I think that shift in the community would not have been possible if not for the legal recognition of her marriage to Hobomok, because it gives him (and therefore his offspring) a legitimacy that was necessary to "honor" him and make his vanishing to the West an acceptable end.
The illustration is a nice touch! You make an excellent point, in your comparative analysis of the wedding rites, about how the marriage between Mary and Hobomok is not a community event. It takes place in that almost dream world occupied by Mary once she begins drifting across the racial/cultural/religious border between Native and white worlds. I'm not sure why the laws of divorce are upheld, although it does suggest that Mary's people perhaps had an idealized, and ultimately delusional and misplaced, sense of respect for the Native community (and for our title character, as you suggest). After reading your post, I will certainly pay more attention to how the weddings relate to each other, which critics have largely overlooked.
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