Analysis_Paper_on_Kingdom_of_Mathias

Johnson, Paul E. and Wilentz, Sean. The Kingdom of Matthias. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1994. The Kingdom of Mathias is a novel that discusses both the creation and the downfall of a religious cult that emerged in the 19th century, also known as the era of the Second Great Awakening. This marked a time of reoccurring change and uncertainty, which greatly affected the lives of the two protagonists, Elijah Pierson and Robert Matthews. The organization of the book allows the reader to achieve a deeper understanding of the events leading up to both the formation of the Kingdom of Matthias, as well as its downfall. In the prologue, the readers are first introduced to Matthias after his release from jail, and when he is heading towards a Morman settlement at Kirkland. This marks the point where the interest of the readers begins to pick up here, as they deliberate why Matthias was sentenced to jail. The first two chapters serve as introductions to the lives of Pierson and Matthews. Chapter one discusses the life of Elijah Pierson, who was brought up according to the beliefs of American Puritanism. Pierson was successful in joining both the Market and Finneyite revolutions that were occurring, and therefore lived both an economically and religiously prosperous life. After marrying Sarah Stanford, Pierson learned to adapt to live an even more spiritual existence. “Their marriage was a spiritualized union between partners: it began in a shared vocation in Christian missions, and it thrived on prayer and feminine influence” (27) Sarah, along with other very influential radicals such as Frances Folger became guides to Pierson in terms of his spiritually. These evangelical ideas were significantly different than those that Pierson grew up with in his patriarchal society. However, following the death of Sarah, Pierson enveloped himself in a cycle of religious insanity, which leads to ideas such as the resurrection of Sarah from her death. The first chapter ends here and in a similar matter, the life of Robert Matthews, or Mathias himself, serves as the basis of the second chapter. Unlike Pierson, Matthews had a lot to deal with even from the time of his childhood, where his parents passed away around 1795, and in turn left him and his eight siblings in the hands of their relatives. Similar to Pierson, Matthews ended up in Manhattan as a successful carpenter; however he eventually went bankrupt, and consequently damaged his reputation. “Having done all-too-well early on, he badly stretched his resources in trying to enlarge his store” (62) Two of Matthews’ children ended up dying, his family ended up in a state of poverty, and all respect that he had previously earned from society had been lost. In an attempt to seek religion, Matthews tried to convert to everything from Scots Calvinism to Judaism. This chapter ends when Matthews finds himself at Pierson’s home, and in turn we are taken to the third and fourth chapter, which are titled “The Kingdom” and “The Downfall.” The third chapter or “The Kingdom” takes the audience into the inner workings of a religious cult, and the formation of the cult of Matthias. The final chapter or “The Downfall” is simply what it states, which is the falling of the Kingdom of Matthias. This chapter also discusses the events that led up to the trial, and to Matthews’ incarceration. There are about thirty pages of notes at the end of the book, and this shows that the numerous detailed and varied sources in turn lead to the successful writing of the novel. The majority of the sources came from different newspaper articles, similar books that were also published based on this event, and official documents that discussed the trial of Matthias. The multiple sources and their accuracy added more solidity to the book, and to the author’s overall point of view towards the entire situation. The organization not only contributed to a greater understanding of the events, but also continuously kept the reader’s interest a priority. The most significant theme in the novel is how religious change affected the American society during this time period. Specifically, the book revolves around the serious religious changes that occurred, and the effect of the Second Great Awakening on the people of New York. Even more specifically, the effects of this religious revolution were seen on Elijah Pierson and Robert Matthews. Prior to Sarah’s death, the revolution had a positive impact on Pierson; he was economically stable, had a loving wife who also became his spiritual mentor, was actively involved in the Church, and was also an important part of the reform that was an effect of the Second Great Awakening. Unlike Pierson however, Matthews never had a positive impact from the revolution; he had both economic and religious troubles, and was constantly turned down by employers and by churches. All this caused Matthews to become a serious anti-Finneyite, and when he began receiving messages from God, he headed to New York City in order to start his own Kingdom, in which the principles are the complete opposite of the present Christianity beliefs. Throughout the entire novel it is seen how religion had such a great impact not only on the lives of people, but on entire society as well. There are also minor themes in the novel which include misinterpretation and excessiveness. For example, there was one situation where a farmer forgot about an unannounced day of fasting, and he then tried lighting a fire in his hearth; he made his family spend the rest of the day singing palms, praying, and reading the bible. Another excessive situation was how Matthias picked out his wardrobe according to his beliefs, and he would choose clothes that reinforced his beliefs. For example, the green of his coat told the world that “the Holy Spirit had at last found a resting place.” (108) Misinterpretation and excessiveness were also seen when Matthias decided that anything that would cause grief should be banned, including markets, money, or economic oppression of any kind; there was even a ban on pudding, pies, and the roasting of meat. “The ban on puddings and pies and the insistence that meat be boiled and never roasted stemmed not from Matthias’s kinship with the ancient Hebrews but from his hatred of new-fangled, middle-class ways introduced by the market revolution.” (109) In class, it was possible to touch upon the basics of certain events; however we were limited in understanding the actual people, and followers behind it all. The Second Great Awakening was discussed, however this novel further introduced the Market Revolution and the effect that it had upon different social classes of the time. When doing further research into events of this time, more information was revealed about the people in the novel. For example, Joseph Smith was also the one who founded the Church of Jesus Christ for Latter-day Saints. A theme that was also unaware to me before was that of the role of sexes, which was presented throughout the entire book. It was made aware how many women actively participated in the movement, and how big of an impact that they had; even prostitutes, who were looked down upon the most, were able to rid themselves of their sinful habits and begin a new life full of spirituality. For example, even though Elijah Pierson was raised in a patriarchal society, we see him assist his wife Sarah to fight for women’s rights in the Church. I believe the author was very successful in conveying his main ideas because not only did he present information that I was previously familiar with, he was able to introduce me to a different perspective on the Second Great Awakening, and the Market Revolution. As mentioned in the prologue of the book, ““each of the Kingdom’s major characters appeared to be emblematic of a more general social type; and almost every twist in the plot seemed indicative of some larger cultural trend,” (11) which was something the author was very successful in conveying. Overall, the author was successful in fully address all aspects of this revolution that were significant in its shaping. Not only was the audience introduced to two prime characters of the era, they were also introduced to different perspectives from different hierarchical ranks of the society. The author also managed to make the novel an interesting read, and not simply a book filled with factual information that lost the reader’s attention.