The Importance Of Religion In Maurice Gee's In My Fathers Den

The Novel, In my Fathers Den by Maurice Gee begins with the brutal murder of a teenage schoolgirl, Celia Inverarity. Exploring the relationship she shared with the key suspect, her teacher and her mentor Paul Prior. The story more so focuses on Paul’s relationship with his brother, his family and off course Celia Inverarity. Analysing the distinct upbringing and the effect it has on their present characters, along with the influence of religion on them as well and the intellectual acceptance within their society.

Religion is the catalyst of conflict between Paul and his brother Andrew, however anti-intellectual difference between the individuals becomes a key affect of the novel. Paul at a young age decides to abandon his Puritan beliefs, due to the intellectual character of his father Henry as well as the strict Puritan ways of his mother Edith. “Slowly I realised I could

Leading him to believe that Paul was the bad son, the one who was led a stray. “ There is only one way… Paul has a lazy soul. We must help him make it work, God only loves souls that work”(Gee, 15). It was this attitude and assumption of Paul that made Andrew think so low of his older brother. Andrews’s obsession with his mother, the desire to fulfil her memory and to live through her expectations leads him to misinterpret his faith to kill. “The demon of godliness would not let her rest” (Gee, 20). This raises questions about the power of religion and it’s ability to influence individuals’ lives. In the novel Andrew cannot grasp what Paul has ‘become’. He believes Paul needs to be saved and this becomes his soul mission even after the murder of Celia. He could not accept the fact that Paul had chosen to desert his own religion and with the same regard he could not accept the unusual relationship Paul shared with his student, Celia as his religious beliefs would not allow