They Shall Inherit the Earth by Morley Callaghan
"They Shall Inherit the Earth" by Morley Callaghan is a novel that explores themes of ego, sin, repentance, and the transformative power of love. The story centers around Andrew Aikenhead, a successful advertising agent grappling with personal turmoil after the death of his first wife and the challenges of his second marriage to Marthe Choate. Their complicated family dynamics, particularly the strained relationship between Andrew and his son Michael, are further complicated by the reckless behavior of Marthe's son, David.
As tensions escalate during a family vacation, a tragic incident leads to David's drowning, prompting suspicion towards Andrew and forcing Michael to confront his bitterness and unresolved feelings about his father's impact on his life. Amidst this turmoil, Michael finds solace in a burgeoning relationship with Anna, a meek dress designer, who embodies humility and selflessness. Their connection serves as a catalyst for Michael's journey towards understanding love and forgiveness, culminating in a profound realization about selflessness and the essence of inheriting true happiness. Callaghan's novel delves into the complexities of human relationships and the moral imperatives of compassion and redemption.
They Shall Inherit the Earth by Morley Callaghan
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1935
Type of work: Novel
The Work
This novel, whose title derives from the Bible, tells the story of an egocentric, sinful man who learns repentance and gains forgiveness through the love of a meek woman. The plot involves interlocking activities of several characters. Andrew Aikenhead is a successful advertising agent. Andrew’s mentally unbalanced first wife has died, and their son Michael, an infrequently employed engineer, resents his father’s second marriage to Marthe Choate. Marthe’s irresponsible son by her previous marriage, David, has tested the limits of Andrew’s patience.
In a pathetic effort to improve matters, Andrew manages to persuade Michael to vacation with his family and a few friends at his lakeside home. David, who drinks excessively, harasses Sheila, Michael’s sister and the fiancé of Ross, the physician son of Andrew’s partner Jay Hillquist. After arguing noisily with Andrew, David goes boating with Michael in the dark. The two argue. David dives from the boat, swims around foolishly, becomes confused, and calls for help. Michael bruises him with an oar in an angry rescue attempt, then abandons him. The next day David’s drowned body is found. Suspicion falls on Andrew, although the police lack evidence to prosecute. Michael, bitterly blaming his father for much of his life’s trouble, fails to come forward with the truth.
Marthe leaves Andrew, who so declines that Jay dissolves their partnership. Sheila marries Ross but, fearing family madness, tells him she wants no children. Michael, on whom Callaghan concentrates, has four friends: Anna Prychoda, an unemployed dress designer; Huck Farr, a callous sensualist; Nathaniel Benjamin, a would-be teacher and a convert from Judaism to Christianity; and Bill Johnson, a loudmouthed communist. Michael finds no solace with Huck, despite their former camaraderie, especially when he observes Huck’s campaign to seduce Anna. He finds no answers in religion through Nathaniel, none in politics through Bill, nor any in nature when he goes wolf hunting with Ross and observes slaughter.
Meek Anna becomes Michael’s salvation. Falling awkwardly in love, they soon become intimate. When she shyly tells him she is pregnant and appears frightened by his initial silence, he explains: “I was just feeling glad, and I was trying to understand why I felt glad.” Her reply is wondrous: “Then I’m glad too.” At one point, Michael watches Anna peacefully sleeping and begins to understand:
If to be poor in spirit meant to be without false pride, or be humble enough to forget oneself, then she was poor in spirit, for she gave herself to everything that touched her, she let herself be, she lost herself in the fullness of the world, and in losing herself she found the world, and she possessed her whole soul. People like her could have everything. They could inherit the earth.
Michael confesses his sin to Anna. She says that only meaningless justice would be served by his going to the police, that instead he should ask the prodigal son’s forgiveness of the father. What follows this dramatic act, nicely underplayed by Callaghan, contains the seeds of a diminished contentment.
Callaghan handles details with consummate skill, creates many scenes as if for a film treatment, and conveys psychological realities by natural dialogue and by having his characters ponder what they want to say but cannot express. Misery results from misunderstanding, resentment, and misinterpretation but imperfectly articulated love points to a moral: “give all of yourself to help.”
Bibliography
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Kendle, Judith. “Morley Callaghan.” In The Annotated Bibliography of Canada’s Major Authors, edited by Robert Lecker and Jack David. Downsview, Ont.: ECW Press, 1984.
Nischik, Reingard M., ed. The Canadian Short Story: Interpretations. Rochester, N.Y.: Camden House, 2007.
Pell, Barbara Helen. Faith and Fiction: A Theological Critique of the Narrative Strategies of Hugh MacLennan and Morley Callaghan. Waterloo, Ont.: Published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion by Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1998.
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