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The Contract! is a religious tract published by Chick Publications and its author, Jack Chick.
Plot Line
The Contract! is heavily influenced by the American classic short story The Devil and Daniel Webster and follows a similar plotline. John Freeman, already in dire financial straits, loses his crops to hail and is refused further credit from Mr. Boggs at the local bank. Freeman exclaims he would "sell his soul to the Devil" to get out of his financial straits. Shortly thereafter, a mysterious stranger named B. Fox makes Freeman the exact offer he wishes, which Freeman quickly accepts. Shortly thereafter, Fox takes Freeman to a previously unknown hidden treasure on his land, which he later refuses to deposit in the local bank (in the process, causing Boggs to be fired). He later shares his good news with his cousin, Bob Goode, who tells him that he was totally stupid for making the deal. Ten years later (the same time frame as in Webster), Freeman lays dying in his home, realizing that he is in supposedly hopeless straits. But instead of requiring a passioned legal defense to convinced a stacked judge and jury to void the contract as in The Devil and Daniel Webster, Freeman's doctor simply tells him that he can pray for salvation to void the contract, which Freeman quickly does. Freeman later tells Goode what happened, but Goode considers Freeman to be a "fanatic". Goode believes that his "good works" will be weighed against his bad ones, and that he will enter Heaven as a result. At Freeman's funeral, Goode is still convinced that Freeman could never void his contract. On the way home, Goode is killed in an accident and goes to Hell, and finds out to his horror that Satan didn't need a contract to claim his soul – he already had possession from the beginning, and that Freeman did in fact escape Hell.
Hidden References
- The "B" in B. Fox is later revealed to be Beelzebub, another name for Satan. The surname Fox is a play on the stereotype that the fox is considered to be a wily animal; a reference to the Biblical phrase "wiles of the devil".
- The surname Freeman is a play on "free man", an implication that by praying for salvation, Freeman in fact freed himself from his contract.
- The surname Goode is a play on "good works", which Goode believes will be enough to get into Heaven after death, contrary to Chick's views on the subject.
