Communion concepts : confession, conversion, and redemption in The sun also rises, The grapes of wrath, and The poisonwood Bible.

Abstract

The elements and themes of Protestant communion are evident in The Sun Also Rises (1926), The Grapes of Wrath (1939), and The Poisonwood Bible (1998). The elements of wine and bread are ubiquitous in these novels and illuminate the spiritual hunger and renewal the characters experience. Along with the physical aspects of communion, the characters of Jake Barnes, Tom Joad, and Orleanna Price participate in and personify the process of communion through confession, conversion, and redemption. The rhetorical and stylistic structures of the novels allude to the rhetoric and style of the Bible. In doing so, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Barbara Kingsolver shape Biblical themes, in the form of communion, to treat the wounds of personal and social turmoil.