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This intriguing story by Francine Rivers is based on the customs of an immigrant community begun in the Appalachian Mountains of America, in the early 1800s.  The custom of the Sin Eater was practiced in Lowland Scotland, England and the Welsh border district.  The sin eater was an individual who would contract with others to take their sins as their own, freeing the departed from judgement and the unsettled roaming in this world.

They also believed this practice prevented the spirit of that relative from haunting the remaining family.  This story portrays the situation of the last so-called Sin Eater in the mid 1800s.  Rivers also develops the portrait of the isolated, tribal worldview of the Celtic families settled in the valleys and hollows of the Smoky Mountains.

The world outside ("over the mountain") was seen as alien, dangerous, and destructive to the heritage and unity of the "clan" in the valley.  This tribal character of the mountain culture in the Appalachians still bears this colouring, which most outsiders are unaware of.  The cultural insights that arise here will be frustrating to those unfamiliar with another culture.

This isolation is hard for many more urbanized Americans to imagine.  The gap is indeed wide.  The most common reaction is to condescendingly feel sorry or consider them backward.  But Rives takes the culture seriously and through her story, we begin to feel the emotions and frustrating lack of options these characters live with.

The culture Rivers writes about here has been so isolated that few outside influences consider normal and common to most American are foreign to these mountain dwellers, who have been largely untouched by the changes in American culture that we take as standard.

But the Appalachians are not the only insular cultural group in North America.  This is a highly engaging story, and represents the real and very different dynamic of Appalachian culture.  This powerful story was made into a movie in 2007.

See related reviews and articles on this site:
Cultural Dynamics and Moral Responsibility in Ancient Canaan

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OBJ

First reading notes written 21 March 2006
Expanded and posted on Amazon 12 February 2009
This version posted on Thoughts and Resources 19 February 2009
Last edited 8 June 2010

Orville Boyd Jenkins, EdD, PhD
Copyright © 2009 Orville Boyd Jenkins
Permission granted for free download and transmission for personal or educational use.  Other rights reserved.

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