Week 5: Blankets

As a white woman from the South I related to the culture represented in this story, as well as questioning the legitimacy of Christianity. I didn't necessarily grow up in the rural south, or even in poverty, but I often visited relatives and friends who lived in those environments. My boyfriend is from Georgia and grew up chopping wood to heat his mother's home, and they would receive food from the church and food banks. I'm aware of the culture of hunting, mudding, fishing, and anything you'd find country kids doing outside.

I grew up with Christianity. I would go to church most Sundays, went to vacation bible school in the summer, and my mom would sing in the choir, but I really didn't believe in it much like the protagonist. I remember at a very early age I asked my mother, "If God created everything, who created God?" and she responded, "Well, he's just always been there" and I just didn't find that answer satisfactory. So I decided it wasn't for me.

As I grew up and started feeling victimized by men and the boys around me, the feminist in me blossomed, and I started to notice a pattern in not only religion, but our culture, of blaming women for the sins of man. I identified with Raina's notion that original sin was bullshit and woman hating. The same goes for women being born of man (Adam's rib), and that women were created for men. There are almost countless examples of misogyny and women hating in the Bible, and how can I agree with that?

As the protagonist grows and meets Raina, he starts becoming obsessed with her, more so than the Bible. Throughout reading this story I was trying to pinpoint Raina's role. What did this woman symbolize for Craig? Heaven? God? The author draws a parallel between God and Raina, and accurately describes what it's like to fall in love for the first time. Thus when Craig renounces Raina, he is also renouncing a Christian God.

Craig and I have come to the same conclusion- God is love, and the rest is just details.