Forgiveness

The theme of forgiveness runs throughout the novel, Home, by Marilynn Robinson. Of the three main characters, Glory, Jack, and the Reverend, each has something that they need, or feel they need, forgiveness for.

The Reverend, shortly after Jack arrives, pulls his son aside and apologizes, to Jack's horror and shock, for not being a better father. Jack tries to protest at his father's apology, but his father silences him, saying that he needs to say what he has to say. He tells Jack that in hindsight he shouldn't have justified all of the things that Jack was doing, and that he shouldn't have tried to force Jack into being someone and something he was not. He said that he should have allowed you to experience the consequences of his actions earlier on, and then perhaps he wouldn't have felt it necessary to run away and...