Religion in Story of an African Farm

It has been interesting to see how various characters’ relationships with religion unfold in Story of an African Farm. On the one hand, Otto (as we talked about in class) seems to be the consummate Christian – he believes so wholly and completely in everything that he has been taught by his religion, and this unyielding belief doesn’t serve him well. He puts his trust in people he shouldn’t, and his naïveté results in his being taken advantage of by Bonaparte. We see a little bit of Tant Sannie’s religious views as well, in her fear that Em’s father’s ghost is watching her. The thought of his ghost lingering is the only thing that keeps her from beating Em and Lyndall, because she fears the wrath of the ghost. Like Otto, her religious beliefs seem to be somewhat black and white – she accepts without question the idea that there are otherwordly or ethereal forces watching her movements, and she acts as she expects those forces want her to act. Waldo’s religious views, on the other hand, are much more difficult to tease apart and pin down than either Tant Sannie’s or Otto’s (at least, in my mind). At one point, we have Otto saying that he loves Jesus but hates God, but later he reverses on this view. His religious ideas seem to swing from one extreme to another, and there is little consistency about his views throughout the portion of the novel that we have read so far. While there is certainly a level of instability in his religious beliefs, it seems as if he really does want to believe something – which could be why his ideas seem to gravitate toward one extreme or another. Unlike the rest of the characters, whose ideologies seem somewhat static, Waldo’s seem to be constantly in flux, because unlike the others, I think he is truly thinking about religion and trying to work through some pretty complex concepts in his head, instead of simply taking religious teachings at their word. The effort to piece through everything and make it fit into a ideological framework proves to be difficult for Waldo, and I think that’s why we see such a change in his views. I think it seems like he’s simply trying out a lot of different ideas and theories and seeing what works, what offers the best explanation. Since Schreiner spends so much time depicting her characters’ religious views and Waldo’s struggle with his own, it makes me wonder if she does think (as Waldo seems to), that if you try hard enough, you can find a theory that’s the “best” one. If I had to guess, I would say that Schreiner probably thinks that finding the “best” ideology is of secondary importance to the actual process of sifting through different ideologies and critically thinking about them (as opposed to simply accepting what you have been taught without question).