A Children's Bible

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-5

Chapters 6-7

Chapters 8-10

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 6-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 6 Summary

Sleeping in the hayloft, Evie wakes to see Sukey, who explains that the bridge back to the great house collapsed, and she was forced to bring her mother back to the farm. Sukey’s mother refuses to leave the barn, but the kids manage to carry her to a stall and try to make her comfortable. Burl enters the barn with four “bedraggled” friends. They are “trail angels” who carry out altruistic tasks such as leaving supplies along the Appalachian Trail for hikers in need. One of the men, Luca, has some EMT training, and does what he can for Sukey’s mother. Meanwhile, Burl gives a 911 operator directions to the remote farm, stating that it lies between Alpha and the city of Bethlehem. The ambulance never arrives, and although the baby girl is safely delivered, Sukey’s mother dies from blood loss.

Everyone grieves Sukey’s mother. The next morning, Burl sets off for the nearest convenience store to buy formula for the baby, while the “trail angels” whisper about what to do with the mother’s body. One woman named Darla persuades Sukey to give her permission for a cremation and conduct a funeral ceremony. The next day, Burl reports that violence and looting has reached the area. He locks the front gate as a precaution. He and Darla debate the meaning of the Northern Lights; she thinks it is a “very meaningful” sign, but he dismisses it as mere “science.” Evie begins to worry about provisions, but Burl tells her not to worry, since he knows of other resources. He tells the group that the situation outside is becoming increasingly lawless, with many “frightened,” heavily armed people roaming the countryside. Inside the farm’s silo, there are weapons and shelves of provisions.

One of the trail angels, Mattie, is a biologist, and he convinces Jack and Shel to release their animals into the wild. Finally, Evie’s father texts and explains that the adults have come down with dengue fever, a dangerous, mosquito-borne disease. Luca notes that the silo contains medical equipment, including transfusion tubes, and suggests that the kids donate blood for their parents. This idea meets with immediate opposition, but some kids finally agree to donate blood. Burl takes Low, Dee, and David back to the great house. During their absence, Evie and the others watch for armed gangs and other signs of trouble. Days pass, and the weather is good. The kids learn to grow vegetables, make dinner, wash clothes, and tend to the donkeys. Eventually, Evie gets word that the blood transfusions are working. The trail angels now have the idea of forming a “prairie school” to teach the kids various subjects. As the weeks pass, Evie and the other kids gain a new appreciation of the richness of the real world. One night, Burl returns in the van with Low and David; Dee has chosen to remain with her parents. David’s sister Amy has finally been found in the great house’s basement. The ailing parents are out of danger, but the kids have not forgiven them for their behavior.

Chapter 7 Summary

Darla asks Jack about A Child’s Bible, which he describes as a “mystery” that he and Shel have “solved.” He says that God “stands for” nature; and that Jesus represents science, which is a “branch” of nature. He views the Holy Trinity as Nature (God), Science (Jesus, or “knowing stuff”), and “making stuff” (the Holy Ghost). He states that “for science to save us we have to believe in it. And same with Jesus. If you believe in Jesus he can save you” (143). He interprets salvation as a form of heaven on earth, a “good place” for humans and animals to live.

The storms return, and the kids stop keeping watch since visibility is poor. One day, an armed man swaggers into the cottage and herds the kids outside at gunpoint. His companions are waiting in trucks and jeeps outside the gate. When the man pushes Luca toward the gate to unlock it, Evie runs to the barn and tells Jack and Shel to grab some camping gear and hide in the woods. A “motorcade” teeming with what Rafe calls “redneck soldiers” pours through the gate. They invade the farm and order Mattie and Darla to open the silo, but Darla tells them that the biometric lock can only be opened by Burl. The men force Burl to go with them to the silo, leaving a redhaired teen to guard the kids. Rafe overpowers and disarms the teen. Meanwhile, the gang loots the supplies in the silo and shoots a goat. Evie runs to Jack and tells him to stay hidden with Shel in the undergrowth.

As Evie and Jen sneak vegetables from the garden, they see looters tying Mattie to a tree, while others butcher the dead goat. The redhaired teen orders Evie to show him what she was hiding in the woods. While she leads him aimlessly through the woods, he accidentally falls into a “trapping pit,” breaking his leg. Ignoring his cries for help, Evie runs away. Later that night, the men erect razor wire around the trail angels and threaten to torture them with a cattle prod every five minutes until the kids produce the runaway goats. Evie and the others learn that Jack and Shel have herded the goats into a neighboring farm. To save the angels, Jack joins the others in leading the goats back to the farm, where the looters have been torturing the angels. When the looters lead the goats away, the kids carry the angels into the barn. Heeding Burl’s advice, they leave Mattie tied to the tree, so as not to provoke the looters. From the hayloft, the leader, who is called “the governor,” watches them closely.

In the barn, Luca and Burl doctor Darla’s wounds while the looters begin to shoot the goats. Burl tells them that the governor and his mob have taken over a nearby McDonald’s and plan to store the goats’ carcasses in its freezer. Most of the looters leave, but the governor stays behind, along with six men. He says that if they don’t reveal their hidden food supplies by sundown, he will shoot Mattie in the stomach. That night, the kids hear their cell phones ringing all at once.

Chapters 6-7 Analysis

The theme of Satirizing Society Through Biblical Allegory remains prominent in this section as Millet transforms the traditional Three Wise Men into a group of “trail angels” whom the children perceive to have distinct “hippie” vibes. As the altruistic newcomers aid the nativity-like delivery of Sukey’s baby sister in the barn, their extensive practical knowledge illustrates a positive version of the Variable Reactions to Disaster. Additionally, because the three men of the group bear the names of Luca, Mattie, John, Millet deliberately invokes the New Testament apostles and Gospel writers Luke, Matthew, and John. Once again, Millet displays her versatile approach to allegory by assigning several symbolic meanings to a single group of characters, for the helpful group plays multiple biblical roles; they are angels, apostles, and the Magi, and when Mattie later hangs from the tree, he bears a distinct resemblance to Jesus. Although Sukey’s mother dies in childbirth, the “trail angels” manage to heal the parents who have dengue by administering donated blood in an implicit parody of the life-giving Eucharist.

As the story’s biblical subtext fully enters New Testament territory, the visionary Jack adds Jesus to his decryption of the Bible, recasting God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost as nature, science, and human creativity, respectively. Within Jack’s logic, science represents humanity’s understanding of nature, so only the belief in science can “save” humanity, and only the wise application of science can reverse the effects of climate change. Thus, Jack’s heaven, like the Bible’s, signifies a return to an Edenic paradise that was carelessly thrown away. New Testament references continue as Luca heals the sick back at the great house and Mattie, John, and Darla “spread the word” of science by teaching the kids biology, history, and poetry. Before long, all the kids have become “disciples” of Mattie’s incomparable biology classes, and this dynamic hints that Mattie has taken on the symbolic role of Jesus within the context of Jack’s philosophy.

Despite these thematic breakthroughs, Millet soon subjects the characters to an even more intense version of Generational Conflict and Social Responsibility as the group’s idyll is destroyed by an incursion of the desperate chaos of the outside world: an armed gang of looters who take advantage of the post-storm power vacuum to raid and pillage the countryside. Their leader, “the governor,” postures like Napoleon and may also be connected to Pontius Pilate, the biblical Roman governor of Judaea. Like the ancient Romans, these “redneck soldiers” pillage the land of milk and honey; and like Pilate, the governor tortures Mattie with a form of crucifixion, physically wounding him and then tying him to a tree. The ensuing violence of a long night of terror mirrors the widespread chaos of its biblical counterpart as the other angels are brutalized and Darla’s forehead is gashed by razor wire as Jesus’s was gashed by the crown of thorns. As in the Bible, greed and the arrogance of power identify the enemies of God—or in this case, nature. The governor, who reeks of “motor oil and raw meat,” exudes the ruthless appetites of those who have hastened the planet’s doom. Likewise, his ragtag followers embody the feckless desperation of those on the margins, who are most vulnerable to ecological instability.