Christy

Mrs. Marshall’s book, Christy, unfortunately, in light of the reputation that it enjoys as a Christian work, is a disappointment. Though billed as being on the "high road" of Christian reading, it has some dangerous potholes, especially for young readers.

Some parents, who were unfamiliar with the book, told us that they were informed by their own children that the book was not fit Christian reading. They were understandably grieved at their error when their daughters brought the book back to them and said, "Dad, Mom, I don’t think you want me to be reading this book," and, then, proceeded to show them the contents of several of its pages. It is understandable how good, conscientious parents get into this situation, because this book is highly advertised and well recommended by its advertisers as sound Christian reading. Many well-meaning parents have either not read the book themselves, or read it so long ago (often at a very young age) that they are not aware of the dangers it contains. Those parents who found the truth about Christy through their children were upset with themselves over letting it slip past them, but certainly they could be encouraged by evidence of the fact that their discernment and purity were being adopted by their children.

Mrs. Marshall is a very skillful and talented writer. The story is not only captivating, but also rich in history. The characterizations are excellent. However, though talent and technique may captivate a reader, and that reader may spend many an hour happily engrossed in the book, is any of that really important? What is important about a book, especially to a child of God? The most important thing in evaluating a book is its cumulative effect on the reader. What has the reader learned, either consciously or subconsciously, since many concepts are adopted from our reading long before we are ever aware of them consciously. For the Christian, is the reader drawn to a greater awareness of God or a greater awareness of the things of the world, the flesh and his or her physical environment? How does Christy stack up here? Let’s take a look.

We shall begin with a disturbing, subtly proposed philosophy. In the book, Christy, as a very young, inexperienced adult, overrules the advice and wishes of her wise and experienced parents, and makes the decision to go to a certain little mountain town to practice her occupation. The author’s treatment of this situation strongly impresses in the reader’s mind that this was a wise and mature decision, whereas, in the reality of life, it is simply another instance of an immature young person throwing away the wisdom of the people that God has given her to love and guide her. This is a very common, though false, implication in many books, especially those written for young people. It is not only found in contemporary books. It was used with great success by authors of the last century also, as most young people cannot help that their prideful spirits instinctively swell as they read about someone their age being smarter than adults. This is one of the techniques that writers use to get young readers "eating out of their hands" so to speak. However, the sad part is that it does not take long for young people to begin to believe this image. Then, when in real life they think they are smarter than their parents, they are almost always wrong, and often wind up paying serious consequences for the error. Even if it does not always cost them dearly in this physical life, it does always cost them dearly, and sometimes eternally, in their personal spiritual life.

This book also quietly reinforces another mental pattern which runs contrary to God’s Word and reality. It continually portrays the women in the story as much stronger, emotionally and spiritually, than the men. In almost every instance, the woman is the strength of the family, the community, or the church. The women know more about God than even the preacher. The preacher, who was a seminary graduate, did not even know for sure if a Christian went to heaven after death. Although this is a situation we cannot deny exists, it exists equally so for men and women. The way it is developed in the story, it serves to enhance the underlying implication that women are far more spiritually discerning than men, which is not only unfounded, but contrary to the Word of God.

After the story makes the point about the preacher’s ignorance of the gospel, one might think that the book would certainly, then, develop the idea of the necessity of the gospel. On the contrary, the author then devotes the emphasis of the story on a humanist social gospel instead of the redeeming gospel of Jesus Christ. The spiritual leader in the story, Miss Alice, is a Quaker. Her faith is not based in the authority of the Word of God, but in some unspecified inner light, and on human feelings and thought. New Age believers insist that they have the same God that we Christians do, yet they prefer to listen to their thoughts, emotions and an unspecified inner voice, because they believe that each of us has a spark of deity within us, rather than being worthless sinners wholly needing a Redeemer. What is Catherine Marshall telling us here?

And, lastly, there is the factor of purity. Christy is not a book for Christians on that basis alone. If you want your daughters to remain pure in mind and in thought, then there are details in this book that you do not want them to read. In the story, Miss Alice was seduced as a young girl, and the process of that seduction by an older man is presented in unnecessary detail. Though the detail is not blatantly graphic, it is, nonetheless, effectual. Is such detail necessary for the development of a story for Christian reading? Is this how we uplift the Christian spirit? Do our daughters need a detailed description of how sin is enacted? And do not think that this is a lone occurrence. Throughout the book, there are subtle, unnecessary, sensual quotes, like, "I felt like he was seeing me without my clothes." Even a mature adult cannot escape feeling a certain uncleanliness after reading this novel. We simply would not recommend it for anyone, especially Christian young people.