37 pages • 1 hour read
Francine RiversRedeeming Love
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1991A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Direct Communication with God
Author Francine Rivers is a born-again Evangelical Christian, and this particular branch of Christianity clearly informs much of the text. It is filled with biblical allusions, from character names to several plot arcs, and the most direct link to Rivers’s faith is the way characters communicate directly with God. Unlike other branches of Christianity, in which God is a distant figure or communicates through the priesthood, Evangelical Christianity preaches a personal relationship with the divine.
To solidify the importance of this direct connection, the book’s typeface is enhanced so that God’s words stand out from the rest. While characters’ internal thoughts are depicted by italicized text, communication from God is both bolded and italicized. This suggest that not only are the words manifesting inside the characters’ minds, but they are louder, clearer, and more substantial than the characters’ own thoughts. As such, they are imbued with a clear, evident sense of power which portends to their importance.
Though almost every character believes in God, very few are aware of the way they can communicate with the deity. Michael is the most practiced and refined exhibitor of this skill. He tells Sarah as much, saying that “[God] talks to everyone personally. Most people just don’t bother to listen” (111). Very gradually, Sarah begins to hear God’s voice. As she becomes better acquainted with this connection, she learns to listen to what God is saying and follow His orders. When she acts on God’s command—singing a hymn on stage at Duke’s gambling house—God instantly rewards her by having Jonathan Axle rescue her. By opening up the line of communication with God, Sarah is born again.
However, God’s words are not the only ones Sarah hears. Just as there is an open line of communication with God, there is an open line of communication with temptation and impurity. Sarah’s thoughts of temptation and self-doubt are represented by bolded type. Throughout the novel, these words inspire Sarah to run away, abandon Michael, and remain a cynic and a pessimist. An important part of Sarah’s growth is learning how to distinguish the tempting, dangerous words she hears in her head from the true word of God.
The Strength of Family Bonds
Family, in all its various shapes and forms, is a persistent theme in the novel. There is the broken family into which Sarah is born, the camaraderie among prostitutes in the brothel (a makeshift family), the unwanted marriage to Michael, the love of the Altman family, and the eventual miracle that provides Michael and Sarah with their own family. Each one differs, but they all represent how the strength of family bonds is typically enough to triumph over anything.
Sarah’s first experience of family is traumatizing. She is the product of her mother Mae’s affair with a married man who wanted Sarah to be aborted. Sarah’s father abandons both Mae and Sarah, causing Mae to resent Sarah for driving away the man she loves. This is not a functional, loving family. At no point in her early life is Sarah truly supported by her family, which culminates in her uncle selling her into sexual slavery. The last time she sees anyone in her biological family is when she is forced to have sex with her father.
Sarah’s next family is formed by the women she works with at a small-town brothel, who often bicker and tease like sisters. Though they are thrown together, victims of their material circumstances, these women form a real bond. It is not ideal, but Sarah finally has something resembling a family’s support network—especially with Lucky, her closest confidante. However, this does not last.
When Sarah is taken from the brothel to Michael’s home, she is introduced to a conventional family: the Altman family. When they first meet, Sarah is wary of the Altmans because of their closeness and evident love for one another. They represent the kind of open love that Sarah taught herself to avoid. But as much as she comes to love both the Altman family and Michael, their presence is also a curse. Sarah worries that she is too broken to function in a traditional family unit—in part because her forced sterilization means she cannot give Michael the children he wants.
Before Sarah can fully accept her place in Michael’s family, she gains valuable insight from two other families. First, Jonathan Axle saves her from Duke and makes her a part of his household. With the Axles, she learns about love, acceptance, and how to function in a family unit. Then, Sarah opens the House of Magdalena to offer prostitutes a chance at a new life, which helps her recapture the family feeling she enjoyed in the Pair-a-Dice brothel.
Family is Sarah’s reward for accepting God into her heart. After a lifetime of turmoil, listening to God’s words provides her with everything she has ever wanted or needed. This is especially evident in the epilogue, where it is revealed that, despite her sterilization, Sarah eventually bore four children.
Morality and Redemption
Because of religion’s heavy influence on Rivers, morality is a key theme of the novel. She weaves her moral code into the narrative through characters’ actions and beliefs, most clearly evidenced by Sarah’s character development.
Sarah’s personal interpretation of morality dictates her actions right up until the end of the novel. She believes the sins of her past are the totality of her character. From a young age, she blames herself for her father’s abandonment and her mother’s impoverished life and tragic death. When she is sold to Duke and repeatedly raped, Sarah feels shame and grows to believe she is irreparably broken. Because of her past, Sarah does not believe she is worthy of love.
Michael’s purpose in the novel is to convince Sarah that she can be redeemed, which is a struggle for them both. Sarah refuses to believe that Michael has good intentions. When he is kind or gentle with her, she assumes that he wants sex; whenever he forgives her for running away or fighting him, she thinks he is a fool. Sarah believes the only thing she deserves is punishment, which is why she tries to scrub the sins from her flesh using stones at one point.
When Sarah finally accepts the word of God, her sense of morality fundamentally changes. Redemption allows Sarah to extricate her sense of self from her past sins, and she understands that she can be forgiven. Through the teachings of Michael and God, Sarah can let go of her shame for good.
Related Titles
By Francine Rivers
