Julie Orringer is an accomplished literary genius whose themes are substantially different from those of other writers. In her short stories book, How to Breath Underwater, she explores a part of life that is ignored by many writers- childhood. She shows how young girls struggle in their childhoods trying to cope with their parents, win appreciation from boys, learn to deal with jealousy among them, learn religious matters etcetera. Religion is the thematic focal point in almost all of Orringer’s stories. In this essay, we look at the role of religion in the stories, Station of the cross and The Smoothest Way Is Full of Stones.
In Stations of the Cross, Orringer portrays religious awareness in her characters. Even the young girls had a ‘religious consciousness’ that led them in their day-to-day activities. In her childhood, Lila meets her best friend, Carney whose world was filled with religious artifacts and evidence. For instance, she gave Lila a picture of Jesus carrying the cross; she even took Veronica as her middle name after Saint Veronica. She says that Carney “seemed a little awed by the fact that I had come from New Orleans, a city she’d heard to be full of sinners …” (Orringer, 2005, p. 202). Lila’s mother forbade Lila from talking ill of her Aunt Marian with the fear that they would judge her. In this non-Jewish community, everybody was Catholic. Lila felt displaced and was not supportive of the actions of her friend Carney. This was primarily because her actions were mostly wrong, like her derogative talk about her black cousin, and also because her friend was a Catholic. This story also explores the stage of adolescence and relates this stage with the effects of mixing adolescence with religious activities. In this book, Orringer portrays a deep understanding of the intricacies of childhood social life and psychology. She narrates the childhood period of Lila in a way that portrays the social and religious richness of childhood (Orringer, 2005, pp. 196-209).
In The Smoothest Way Is Full of Stones, Rebecca spends her summer with her cousin Esty and her family as her mother recovers from an infection, depression, and the death of her infant son. During the period, she finds herself appreciating the religious diversity of Jews and developing sexual awareness. The latter was motivated by a sexually explicit book that comes their way, Rebecca and Esty. She finds that the family is deeply established in Jewish Hasidism. Being an ordinary Jew, Rebecca faces a lot of challenges in trying to observe religious rituals with her Uncle’s family. There is also evidence of religious beliefs like the part when Dovid touches Rebecca. The writer says that Rebecca knew that “… as an orthodox Jew, he was not supposed to touch any other woman who is not his mother or sister …” (Orringer, 2005, p. 98). The story is filled with religious rituals characteristic of Hasidism. For instance, shortly before Rebecca leaves her aunt’s residence, she is told of the milkveh, a monthly cleansing of women after menstruation. There is also the Havdalah which is a recital of blessings etcetera. The story ends with Esty responding to the sexual feelings aroused by the explicit book (Orringer, 2005, pp. 91-103).
Evidently, Julie Orringer’s How to Breath Underwater is full of religious beliefs, rituals, and customs in its short stories. Stations of the Cross and The Smoothest Way is Full of Stones show the deep passion Orringer has in integrating religion in her work. In the communities described by these two stories, religion touches every realm of living; social, cultural, sexual, ethics etcetera. Thus Orringer appreciates religion as an integral part of life.
Reference
Orringer, J. (2005). How to Breath Underwater. U.K. Berkshire. AwesomeBooks.
Orringer, J. (2005). Stations of the Cross. In J. Orringer, How to Breath Underwater. Berkshire, U. K.: AwesomeBooks.
Orringer, J. (2005). The Smoothest Way is Full of Stones. In J. Orringer, How to Breath Underwater. Berkshire, UK: AwesomeBooks.