Jessamyn West

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Jessamyn West’s short stories fall into two categories: those which treat various episodes in the lives of a single family and are gathered in a single volume, and those which more conventionally are quite separate in plot and character, gathered in the customary collections. The books The Friendly Persuasion, Except for Me and Thee: A Companion to the Friendly Persuasion, and Cress Delahanty fall into the first category. Although some critics have called them novels, the sketches of which each volume is composed are obviously separate. The fact that an acknowledgment preceding The Friendly Persuasion refers to “stories in this book” which had been published in various magazines makes West’s own assumptions clear. In the introduction to Collected Stories of Jessamyn West, Julian Muller calls those earlier volumes “novels,” while admitting that the chapters could stand alone, and thus he omits those sketches from his collection. A complete analysis of West’s short fiction, however, must include the consideration of those works on an individual basis, even though a study of her long fiction might also include them.

The Collected Stories of Jessamyn West included all the stories from two previous volumes, Love, Death, and the Ladies’ Drill Team and Crimson Ramblers of the World, Farewell, along with eight additional stories which Jessamyn West wished to have included. According to the editor, those stories which were omitted, West believed, needed revision.

“99.6”

The focus in all West’s work is a basic tension in human life. On the one hand, humans yearn to be free of restraints; on the other hand, they desire to love and to please the beloved, thus voluntarily to accept limitations on their individuality. The beloved is not just their human partner: The term also suggests divinity, speaking to the spirit directly, in the Quaker tradition. Although social or religious groups may presume to judge the conduct of West’s characters, the final judgment must be their own, guided by their separate and sacred consciences. According to the editor of the Collected Stories of Jessamyn West, West’s first published story was “99.6.” Set in a tuberculosis sanatorium, the story reflects West’s own experience. The protagonist, Marianne Kent, desperately watches her temperature, hoping for the change which would signal some improvement in her health. Aware of her own feverish condition, the consumption which is truly consuming her, she wishes that the nurse would help her with an illusion, with the suggestion that perhaps the heat she feels comes from warmer weather outside, not from her own fever. Although the obvious antagonists are Marianne Kent and her disease, at the conclusion of the brief story the protagonist turns to God, pleading with Him for some sign of hope, for some reduction from 99.6. Thus, the real struggle is a spiritual one. Mrs. Kent must accept what divinity permits.

The Friendly Persuasion

In The Friendly Persuasion stories, set in the nineteenth century among the Indiana Quakers of the Ohio River Valley, conscience is always a consideration. The Irish Quaker Jess Birdwell, a devout man but one who has a mind of his own, is married to Eliza Cope Birdwell, a stricter Quaker—in fact, a Quaker minister, who must consider the community’s judgment of her as well as God’s. “Music on the Muscatatuck” illustrates the stresses on the relationship between Jess and Eliza, which result from their differences in temperament and convictions. After describing the natural beauty of the Birdwell farm, the comfort and plenty of their pretty home, the goodness of Eliza as a wife, and Jess’s own prosperity, West sets the problem: Jess likes music; as...

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a Quaker, he is supposed to have nothing to do with it.

Jess’s temptation comes when, like Eve in the Garden, he is separated from his mate. On a business trip to Philadelphia, he meets an organ salesman; already seduced by his own love of music, he stops by the store. The result is inevitable: He orders an organ.

When Jess returns home, he cannot find the words to tell Eliza, who follows the Quaker teachings about music, what he has done. Unfortunately, when the organ arrives, Eliza makes a miscalculation about Jess’s male pride: She commands him to choose between the organ and her. Jess moves the organ in the house, and Eliza is left in the snow, pondering her next course of action. Fortunately, Eliza knows the difference between her domain and that of the Lord. She compromises, and the organ goes in the attic. All goes well until a church committee comes to call just when the Birdwell’s daughter Mattie has slipped up to the attic to play on the organ. Surely God inspires Jess Birdwell in this crucial situation, for he prays and continues praying until the music stops. The committee concludes that angels have provided the accompaniment; Jess suspects that the Lord, who has kept him praying for so long, has made His statement. Just as Eliza is about to announce her triumph, however, the music once again comes from the attic, and Jess again responds.

The story is typical of West. The human beings involved live close to their natural setting; they are ordinary people, neither rich nor poor. Although they may disagree with one another and although they often have much to learn, they are usually basically good, and at the end of the story, some resolution of their conflict with one another and with their spiritual scruples is suggested. The tone is also typical. Perhaps one reason for West’s popularity is that, in an age when many writers do not seem to like their own characters, and for good reason, she is honestly fond of hers. As a result, she laughs at their foibles and follies, their deficiencies in wisdom, and their mistakes in judgment without negating the fact of their basic goodness.

One of the endearing qualities of the Birdwell family is that, despite their strict religious convictions, they accept differences within the family; each member is expected, above all, to follow his or her own conscience. In the Civil War story “The Battle of Finney’s Ford,” what was supposed to be a fight against Morgan’s raiders proves to be no fight at all, because Morgan’s raiders change their route. In the meantime, however, the Birdwell boys must decide whether to fight. One of them, Joshua, says that he is willing to kill, if necessary; the other, Labe, will not join the town’s defenders. Ironically, at the end of the story, Josh says that the reason he must fight is that he so dislikes fighting, while Labe admits that he must not fight because he truly enjoys fighting. Thus the real “The Battle of Finney’s Ford” has been a battle of conscience for the boys and, for the parents, a struggle to let them make their own decisions. The slightness of the external plot, typical of many of West’s stories, does not reduce the magnitude of the internal action. For Jess, Eliza, Josh, and Labe, there is a major spiritual battle; as usual, the element of love is present in the resolution of the conflict.

Cress Delahanty

Although Cress Delahanty is set in twentieth century California rather than nineteenth century Indiana, and although it lacks the specific Quaker religious background, the importance of the natural setting, the basic goodness of the characters, and the emphasis on spiritual problems are similar to the stories in The Friendly Persuasion. For example, “Fifteen: Spring” deals with Cress’s selfish encounter with death, just as in the previous volume “The Meeting House” had followed Jess Birdwell through a similar crisis. In “Fifteen: Spring,” Cress has developed a schoolgirl crush on a dying man, the father of sons her age. In her egotism, she wishes to be important to him, even to die in his place, if necessary, but after a visit to his home, after realizing that God is in charge, not Cress, she learns that she is not of major importance to her beloved, nor is her love of any help to him. Ironically, the final consolation comes from his wife, who recalls her own lost youth and, from her own tragic situation, finds pity for foolish Cress.

“A Time of Learning”

Many of West’s stories deal with young people who are being initiated into life. In Love, Death, and the Ladies’ Drill Team, “A Time of Learning” describes the encounter of nineteen-year-old Emmett Maguire, a talented sign-and housepainter, with his first love, Ivy Lish. Emmett loves the seemingly perfect girl with all of his heart. When he paints her picture, it is an act of total commitment. Unfortunately, Emmett must learn that the beloved is not always worthy of the emotion she inspires. As other men know, Ivy is consistently unfaithful. When Emmett learns that she has given his painting to another lover, his immediate impulse is toward revenge: He will paint her on the barn, as ugly as she has proved herself to be, for all to see. Then comes his spiritual crisis. Somehow, he finds, he cannot paint ugliness, or perhaps he cannot hate. When he paints a larger-than-life picture of her on the barn, he finally forgets about her in the joy of realizing that he is indeed a good painter. Thus, finally, his love of art is more important than her betrayal of him, and his wish to love defeats his temptation to hate.

“Neighbors”

West clearly believes, however, that it is not just the young who must learn about life. One of the optimistic elements in her stories is the suggestion that life is learning itself. Because most of her major characters are willing to expand their consciousnesses, anxious to revise their judgments, they are appealing. Thus, in Except for Me and Thee: A Companion to the Friendly Persuasion, the Quaker preacher Eliza Birdwell, a stubborn woman with a strict conscience, must deal with the issue of fugitive slaves. In the long story “Neighbors,” Eliza not only must decide whether to obey the law, as her religion dictates, by turning over the fugitive slaves who seek refuge with her or to hide them and defy the law of her country but also must come to terms with Jess’s involvement in running slaves to freedom, at the risk of his life and his liberty. The decision is not easy, but in changing her mind about the law and in acquiescing to the demands of Jess’s conscience, Eliza herself grows spiritually.

Crimson Ramblers of the World, Farewell

Not all of West’s stories have so hopeful a conclusion. In “The Condemned Librarian,” from Crimson Ramblers of the World, Farewell, an embittered teacher, who believes that she has not been able to realize her dreams, consults a woman doctor who, against all odds, has risen from being a high school librarian to her present profession. Perversely, the teacher refuses to reveal her symptoms to the doctor, and, despite all of her efforts, the doctor fails to diagnose tuberculosis. As a result, the teacher nearly dies, but to her delight, the doctor must abandon her practice and go back to being a high school librarian. The title “The Condemned Librarian” makes it clear that hatred has, in this situation, had a great triumph, but ironically, the person most trapped is the bitter teacher, who must live with the knowledge that she herself is condemned. Although she feels happy thinking of the doctor’s misery, she admits that the old magic is gone from her teaching. Clearly, by her spite she has corroded her own soul.

Other stories of that collection, however, end with understanding and reconciliation. For example, “Live Life Deeply” begins with the disappearance of fourteen-year-old Elspeth Courtney, who has turned up at the maternity ward of the local hospital. Her distraught father, pursuing her, discovers that she had been on Reservoir Hill early that morning, contemplating suicide because, as she confided to the troubled man she met there, a teacher she admired had made fun of her for a composition entitled “Live Life Deeply.” The stranger had been worrying about his wife’s cesarean section, while Ellie had been worrying about her humiliation. When the baby is born, the stranger’s problem is solved. Then, the new father solves Ellie’s problem by pointing out that she wants to live life fully and that her pain is as much a part of a full life as the excitement and joy of the birth. Convinced, Ellie begins to plan her next composition, which will deal with her experiences in the maternity ward. Now that she understands that pain and joy are both a part of life and that both are necessary to make life interesting, she can move ahead, accepting even her setbacks.

In all of Jessamyn West’s stories, whether the setting is the past or the present, Indiana or California, an individual, young or old, has the opportunity to grow spiritually. If, like the teacher in “The Condemned Librarian,” one chooses to hate instead of to love or if one refuses to permit freedom of conscience to others, one’s life will be miserable. Many ordinary people, however, live lives as meaningful and as exciting as those of Jess Birdwell, Cress Delahanty, and Elspeth Courtney. In her carefully crafted accounts of everyday life, Jessamyn West has revealed the drama of spiritual conflict in these later centuries as compellingly as did the productions of Everyman in medieval times.