Like other girls in her church community, Lacey wears a purity ring, symbolizing her decision to remain chaste until marriage. Lacey's life is characterized by always following the rules, something she's not happy about because she feels that she is missing out on life and excitement. She also feels this makes her boring and unattractive. She longs to step out of her comfort zone and try new things instead of always following the rules.
The novel opens with Lacey taking her drivers test and noticing a cute blond boy at the DMV office. A few days later, that same boy initiates their first meeting when he stops the car in the street to introduce himself. Lacey eventually recognizes him as Tyson (Ty) Davis, a kid she remembers from her first grade class and who left town ten years ago. Now sixteen-years-old, he's back living with his aunt, Vivian Moss who is the church librarian. Lacey and Ty begin a friendship that sees them meet up at Ulster Hill and sit and talk about life, about their faith and what it means to them. Lacey's parents do not know that she is meeting Ty on a regular basis.
Meanwhile at the church, efforts are on to prepare for their annual Hell House, which happens just before Halloween. The Youth Leaders meet to plan the Hell House which Lacey describes as follows: "They're kind of like haunted houses, which is why we do ours over Halloween weekend. Tour guides dressed as demons take the audience through the church, room by room, to view scenes of sin: a drunk driving crash, a suicide, domestic abuse, and an abortion." The purpose behind Hell House is to show young people the reality of sin and to draw them into committing to Christ. Lacey is fully committed to participating in Hell House and desperately wants to be Abortion Girl, a role usually only given to a senior student. This year's Hell House will include scenes on gay marriage, drunk driving, abortion, and spousal abuse. Lacey decides to audition for the part of Abortion Girl despite her parents reservations. "In the past, I haven't gone for what I want. I've been safe and good and all those things that were expected of me...."
Against the backdrop of her faith community's preparations for Hell House, Lacey begins to question her beliefs, especially when she learns that her best friend Starla Joy's sister, Tessa is pregnant. what she believes in, and how her community treats those who have made choices similar to the ones portrayed in Hell House. In an effort to resolve her conflicts, Lacey talks to both Ty who urges one approach - a nonjudgmental and more liberal view, and her father who urges another - faithfulness to Biblical teachings.
Discussion
In her novel, Small Town Sinners, Walker explores the use of the haunted houses, known as Hell Houses to evangelize Christian teens about their faith and social issues. This is done through the character of Christian teen, Lacey Anne Byer, whose father is one of the pastors of their evangelical church. Lacey along with her friends, Starla Joy and Tessa Minter, Dean, and classmate, Geoff participate in their church's Hell House. Newcomer, Tyson Davis however, is the older teen questioning their beliefs and motives.
In her novel, Small Town Sinners, Walker explores the use of the haunted houses, known as Hell Houses to evangelize Christian teens about their faith and social issues. This is done through the character of Christian teen, Lacey Anne Byer, whose father is one of the pastors of their evangelical church. Lacey along with her friends, Starla Joy and Tessa Minter, Dean, and classmate, Geoff participate in their church's Hell House. Newcomer, Tyson Davis however, is the older teen questioning their beliefs and motives.
An alternative to haunted houses, Hell Houses use tableaus or scenes depicting a specific serious sin such as a teen drunk driving or a girl undergoing an abortion. The scenes are often gory and vivid but the purpose is not to scare but to evangelize. There are over three thousand churches in the United States that participate in the Hell House movement which was started by Jerry Falwell. However, most mainstream Christian churches do not subscribe to this type of fire and brimstone Christianity. Walker does address this in the novel, through the character of Starla Joy who tells a questioning Ty, "But Hell House is our chance to show people our own age what the consequences are if you don't accept Jesus into your heart. And it's shocking -- it has to be so they'll pay attention." However, Ty believes there are better ways to get teens to turn to Jesus and live good lives.
As the daughter of one of the pastors of their church, Lacey Anne begins struggling with what she believes and why she believes what she does. When initially discussing the concept of Hell House, Ty asks asks Lacey, "Do you think murder and using drugs are the same level of offense in God's eyes?" to which Lacey responds that they are both sins. Later on Lacey explains that having a pregnancy tableau in Hell House show "...girls that the wrong choices can lead to really painful consequences." Ty tells Lacey that it's not that he doesn't believe in God, it's that doesn't agree with what he's been taught. He asks Lacey if she believes "all the people who commit sins are bad?" Unfortunately Lacey doesn't provide that answer, that it's the sin that is bad, and not the person.
When Starla Joy's sister, Tessa becomes pregnant by her boyfriend Jeremy Jackson, the town and the faith community is thrown into a crisis. Tessa is taken that night to Saint Angeles Home to stay until she gives birth. Meanwhile the next day Jeremy is seen having fun with friends. This leads Starla Joy to note: "The guys get to go on with their lives, doing whatever they want, taking no responsibility because they're not physically tied to the sin they've committed."
Lacey becomes disappointed with how her parents and her church community are responding to the situation of Starla Minter's pregnancy. She tells Ty, "...there's something about the way people are acting in his name that isn't sitting right with me."
Once Tessa's pregnancy becomes known, Lacey's parents suggest that she distance herself from Starla Joy, in effect, encouraging her to abandon her friend in her hour of need. "Lacey Ann... when girls like that get themselves into trouble, they can affect other girls in the community too." This leads Lacey to remember how unaffected Jeremy seemed at school, while Tessa has been sent away. And she wonders why her parents don't refer to Jeremy Jackson as "boys like that". Instead Lacey tells her parents she is not abandoning Starla Joy, "...I'm also not going to stop spending time with my best friend when she needs me the most. That's not what I was taught." and refuses to obey their request to find new friends.
Later on, Lacey and her father talk about how the consequences of sin seem uneven. When she mentions that Jeremy seems unaffected by what's happening her father tells her that she doesn't know what Jeremy is experiencing because there is no obvious physical manifestation. Lacey questions Jeremy's participation in Hell House to which her father counters that Jeremy should be "taking his mind off things" and that "He's got a bright future, that boy. With basketball and --" Lacey is stunned by her father's inability to understand how unfair this seems. She asks her father, "What about Tessa and her bright future?" Lacey wonders, "How does he not see that Jeremy gets to do everything the he wants to do while Tessa is locked away like she's contagious until after she's had the baby?" She is further upset when her father seems to blame Tessa for the situation she's in because she's expected to be the gatekeeper of self-control.
In Small Town Sinners readers are presented with a group of Christian teens who are struggling to understand their faith. Lacey believes certain behaviours are sinful but is often unable to provide answers for why she holds the beliefs she does. For example, when Lacey and Ty are discussing the abortion scene and its very gory depiction of a late term abortion, Ty states that he's "pretty sure it's quick and clean and safe ninety-nine percent of the time.....And I'm positive that it doesn't involve major blood or anything really violent. Most women walk out the same day." Lacey really has no response to Ty, instead acknowledging to herself that "I guess I hadn't ever really thought about what an actual abortion might be like." It would seem that Lacey is against abortion simply because she's been told its wrong. It doesn't appear that she's thought much about the issue, done some research to explore what's involved or determined why she thinks it is wrong.
Later on after the friends visit Tessa at Saint Angeles, Starla Joy reveals that her sister is "pro-choice and anti-abortion" because while she wouldn't would choose abortion, "...she thinks it should be everyone's individual choice." However, Dean correctly points out that the girl who was abused and became pregnant is an extreme situation and that it is a life. Everyone rightly seems confused by what Tessa believes, including Lacey. Ty accuses Lacey of not listening and states that "Tessa's not in favor of abortion. But she does believe in choice." Which is what most supporters of abortion believe: killing an unborn child is a "choice", a euphemism to cover up what is truly being done.
Nevertheless, Tessa's "choice" to follow through with the pregnancy and place her baby for adoption has a positive ending, demonstrating that choosing life can result in many blessings: Tessa doesn't have to deal with the spiritual, emotional and physical effects of an abortion, she has brought a new life into the world, and a couple gets a baby they deeply want. Walker in her Nine Months Later chapter demonstrates the positives of choosing life: Tessa is able to attend prom, graduate and go to university.
Walker's dialogue and the information she incorporates into her novel comes from an article she did for ElleGirl in 2006 on Hell Houses. For a different perspective on Hell Houses please read Rethinking Youth Ministry from the website Patheos: https://www.patheos.com/resources/additional-resources/2011/10/christian-haunted-houses-brian-kirk-10-20-2011.
There's no doubt this is a provocative look at the extreme religious right that in no way represents the majority of those Christians who hold that abortion and premarital sex are wrong. The cover, showing an apple with a bite taken out is a reference to the fall of Adam and Eve, after Eve takes a bite out of the apple from the Tree of Life. However, the bite is in the shape of a heart, suggesting that people who sin should be treated with love and compassion.
Book Details:
Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker
New York: Bloomsbury 2011
273 pp.
There's no doubt this is a provocative look at the extreme religious right that in no way represents the majority of those Christians who hold that abortion and premarital sex are wrong. The cover, showing an apple with a bite taken out is a reference to the fall of Adam and Eve, after Eve takes a bite out of the apple from the Tree of Life. However, the bite is in the shape of a heart, suggesting that people who sin should be treated with love and compassion.
Book Details:
Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker
New York: Bloomsbury 2011
273 pp.
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