Module 3: Inspirational Fiction: I Heard the Owl Call My Name

Photo taken by me.

Craven, M. (1967, 1980). I heard the owl call my name. New York City, NY: Laurel. 0-440-34369-0. 

Summary

Anglican (Episcopalian in United States) Vicar Mark Brian is sent to the Kwakiutl First Nations tribe of Kingcome in British Columbia, Canada. His bishop purposely sends him to the remote and “hardest” (Craven, 1980, p. 9) parish because Mark is dying-- although Mark is unaware of how soon his short life will end. After a harder-than-should-be-in-the-1960’s journey up the fjord to Kingcome, Mark arrives. Mark’s first view of his new environment includes the rock slide that happened many, many years ago on the side of the mountain Whoop-Szo. This barrenness wells within Mark as he thinks to himself: “‘If man were to vanish from this planet tomorrow, here he would leave no trace that he ever was’” (Craven, 1980, p.17). At the village, Mark is welcomed by a dilapidated vicarage, an uninsulated church building, no electricity, an outhouse, and a professional wailer mourning the accidental death of a young boy. He doesn’t verbally question anything, but pulls on his cassock, helps with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police paperwork, and performs the burial rite. Thus begins Mark’s two-year tenure and the tone he sets for his time as pastoral carer for his parish. Not a lot of happiness occurs throughout I Heard the Owl Call My Name; indeed, much of it is death-oriented, but since Mark is dying, it is relevant to the lessons that the bishop knew Mark needed to learn as a young man living his last years.

Yet this story is not post-colonial, despite the archetypal white-man-goes-among-Natives-for-Christianity plot. Indeed, it’s almost the opposite: Mark takes his time and doesn’t force anything on the villagers; he listens to their stories, their mythologies, their customs, and learns their culture until they come to him; he learns how not only do people die, but so do cultures, and the Kwakiutl culture is dying because that way of life isn’t really possible as the white man’s culture creeps closer with formal and structured education, alcohol, and bureaucracy. And they accept him, they love him, they recognize that he is dying --that the owl is calling his name-- just as their way of life is being called by the owl. In the end, it is not Mark’s illness that kills him, but a rock slide accident, which is a poignant end for Mark based on his first thought upon seeing Whoop-Szo. Indeed, Mark leaves no trace that he was ever in Kingcome, except on the hearts of the villagers who loved him like one of their own.

As a Genre Example:

Within the subgenres Mort identifies, I Heard the Owl Call My Name falls within the Literary Christian Fiction one because it is more thought-provoking than Evangelical Christian Fic is described to be. Through Mark’s journey, the reader learns how to build a relationship with a community that is different from you: by listening, by not questioning differences, by accepting them unabashedly, and joining them when available. That type of Christianity is very different from the fire and brimstone of the Left Behind series.

Evaluation:

I enjoyed I Heard the Owl Call My Name. My mom recommended I read it several years ago when I was still living in Washington, and I’m glad I remembered her recommendation when I was looking for books this week. Because it is more literary than typical Christian Fiction, it is not for everyone, but as an English major, I enjoyed the opportunity to identify symbolism and thought-provoking themes that are spiritual and secular. As such, I would recommend it to readers who prefer Anne Lamott over the Evangelical Christian Fiction by Karen Kingsbury and Tracie Peterson. None of the characters annoyed me; Margaret Craven is very succinct in her characterizations and narration, but that verbosity isn’t required since the content, symbolism, and themes are so deep.

Reader's Advisory:

I Heard the Owl Call My Name, like I mentioned above, is more literary fiction than Evangelical Fiction, so fans of realistic and/or multicultural literature would enjoy it. The story takes place in the past (1960’s isn’t so far in the past), so some fans of Historical Fiction would like it, especially if they like the Native American setting/characters.