#849 A Voice in the Night- Steven Millhauser
This is an allegorical story about faith. Maybe not so allegorical as it references the book of Samuel from the bible. There are three arcs that are being told in this tale. The first is a re-telling of the boy Samuel who was called in the night by Gog in the house of Eli. The second is about a boy in modern time that was scared by the Samuel story and was kept awake waiting in vain for his name to be called. The third is that same boy, now 68 near death looking back questioning his life and wondering why faith never came.
The boy’s story is interesting. Some biblical stories are outright frightening when heard as a child; booming voices, burning bushes, angry vengeance, it will keep you up at night.
“But the voice in the night is as scary as witches. The voice in the night knows you’re their, even though you’re hidden in the dark. If the voice calls your name, you have to answer. The boy imagines the voice calling his name. It comes from the ceiling. It comes from the walls. It’s like a terrible touch all over his body. He doesn’t want to hear the voice, but if he hears it, he’ll have to answer.”
That’s the point I guess, to scare you into faith. But what if you do take it all literally and wait for the voice to call you in the dark. When it doesn’t come, you think you weren’t chosen. Then what? How long do you wait for the voice? Is faith something you wait for, or is it something you search for? And the most intriguing question to me is, if you had a choice, would you want to hear that voice calling you? There are no half-measures for those who have been chosen.
“If the voice calls your name, your other life is over. There’s no going back.”
No comments:
Post a Comment