- What was the origin of the scapegoat?
- What was the Athenian version?
- What is the Yoruba version?
- What is the difference between the psychological and the anthropological versions?
- Give an example of each.
Sam and Irma are from Vermont, a state in New England.
As you are reading this story, consider what kind of scapegoat Irma might be. Here are some fun facts that might make the story more interesting for you:
Irma: [Old German] female name--meaning, complete, universal.
Samuel: [Hebrew] male name--meaning "God Heard" or "God's Heart." In the Old Testament, Samuel was a prophet and judge who appointed Saul and David as kings of Israel. "Samuel" was a popular Puritan name.
From Wikipedia:
Puritans: believed in "God's supreme authority over human affairs, particularly in the church, and especially as expressed in the Bible. It "led them to seek both individual and corporate conformance to the teaching of the Bible. It led them to pursue both moral purity down to the smallest detail as well as ecclesiastical purity to the highest level."
The Puritans took the Bible seriously, especially when it came to their views of women. "While both sexes carried the stain of original sin, for a girl, original sin suggested more than the roster of Puritan character flaws. Eve's corruption, in Puritan eyes, extended to all women, and justified marginalizing them within the churches' hierarchical structures." Men and women had different conversion experiences. Women could not speak in the church (until 1636).
"....Calvinists emphasized that each person should be continually reformed by the grace of God to fight against indwelling sin and do what is right before God. A humble and obedient life would arise for every Christian. Puritan culture emphasized the need for self-examination and the strict accounting for one's feelings as well as one's deeds. This was the center of evangelical experience, which women in turn placed at the heart of their work to sustain family life..."
Puritans didn't like gambling, or even games. They also viewed man other Christian practice as "idolatry."
"According to Puritan belief, if God had created the world with some beings subordinate to others, he would apply the principles to his construction of human society. Thus the Puritans honored hierarchy among men as diivine order; this order presupposed God's 'appointment of mankind to live in Societies, first, of Family, Secondly Church, Thirdly, Common-wealth....'"
"Order in the family then, fundamentally structured Puritan belief. Puritans usually migrated to New England as a family unit, a pattern different from other colonies where young, single men often came on their own....The essence of social order lay in the authority of husband over wife, parents over children, and masters over servants in the family. Puritan marriage choices were influenced by young people's inclination, by parents, and by the social rank of the persons involved.
"Authority and obedience characterized the relationship between Puritan parents and their children. Proper love meant proper discipline; in a society essentially without police, the family was the basic unit of supervision. Disciplining disobedient children mostly derived from a spiritual concern: a breakdown in the family rule indicated a disregard of God's order. 'Fathers and mothers have "disordered and disobedient children,: said the Puritan Richard Grenham, 'because they have been disobedient cildren to the Lord and disordered to their parents when they were young." Thus disobedient parents meant disobedient children. Because the duty of early childcare fell almost exclusively on women, a woman's salvation necessasrily depended upon the observable goodness of her child."
"Puritans connected the discipline of a child to later readiness for conversion. Accordingly, parents attempted to check their affetionalte feelings toward a disobedient child, at least after the child was about two years old, in order to break his or her will. This suspicious regard of 'fondness' and heavy emphasis on obedience placed complex pressures on the Puritan mother."
Hopefully, some of this information helps to explain Irma Barnfield.
"October Island"
- Be able to physically describe Irma Barnfield. How is she dressed? Is she fat or thin?
- How does Irma first perceive the island?
- How does Sam first perceive the island?
- Why is Irma's reaction to the nude inhabitants of October Island a little strange? What do you think is going on in Irma's mind?
- Consider another literary motif. Sam and Irma have had no children. At least one of them, then, is barren. Physical barrenness can be equated with spiritual barrenness. Think of Lady Macbeth. Irma considers herself a good Christian. Why is she not a good Christian?
- Note the contrast between the women of October Island and Irma. Their large breasts are not so much about sexuality as they are about their fruitfulness. They have many children.
- If you consider Irma's desire to clothe the women as "their first duty," you might also consider what it means on a symbolic level. At what point in the story of the Fall (Old Testament) did Adam and Eve clothe themselves? Why is this important? What does it say about the women of October Island? Even more importantly, what does it say about Irma?
- Pay attention to the many repeated motifs in this story!
- How does Irma feel when she first arrives on the island? Tell me the feelings and then show me.
- Note how Sam reacts when she reaches out for him. Note too his sense of boundaries with the natives.
- What are the relationships between men and women like on this island?
- Who is Hansen? How do the Barnfields view him?
- Some white visitors preceded the Barnfields. Who were they? What was their purpose? What did they leave behind?
- What can the Barnfields see from their house?
- Note how Irma plays up her humble role. Do you think she might be a little jealous of Sam? Think about it.
- When Irma gets bored, she decides to do some gardening. Why might this be wrong--environmentally speaking?
- What does Irma find?
- Behind what flower?
- How does Irma react to the artifact?
- What does Irma learn about the island's name?
- What does she learn about its history?
- What is the meaning of hte name?
- What is Shurabast?
- What is Raybaat?
- How long has this culture and religion existed?
- What do we know about its written records?
- Irma finishes reading and prepares to go to bed. She cannot sleep. Why?
- What is Sam doing?
- What do you think that their relationship is like? Explain.
- How does Irma diminish the significance of the culture (Santa Claus)?
- What does Irma find the next day? What does she do with these items?
- Irma finds her last specimen after how many years on the island?
- Why does Sam want to go home? What is strange about his desire?
- What do we learn about Irma's childhood on page 113?
- Why does Irma mend Mate Hansen's clothes?
- Why does Irma cover her hair?
- How does Hansen regard Irma?
- What has happened to Hansen over the years?
- What does Hansen know about the island's languages?
- How did the women of October Island get to be so beautiful and so fruitful?
- What is wrong with Sam?
- What is "condensed milk salvation"? How did it come to be? What is ironic about the "holy vessel"?
- What really caused the natives to miss Irma?
- What did they start doing?
- What did they end up doing to appease the god?
- What do we learn about Hansen's encounter with his father?
- Why does Irma return to the island?
- What does she give to Hansen?
- How does she explain the gift?
- How did Irma come into money?
- Why doesn't Hansen tell Irma the truth?
- How do the natives treat Irma upon her return?
- How does she react?
- What does Hansen know that Irma does not?
- Is this a happy ending for Irma or not? Explain.
