The Purpose of Faith and Doubt in Rose Macaulay's The Towers of Trebizond

The Purpose of Faith and Doubt in Rose Macaulay's The Towers of Trebizond
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The Purpose of Faith and Doubt in Rose Macaulay's The Towers of Trebizond

Introduction

            Religion is not only a part of human history but also shapes the history of humanity. Combined, religion is a single entity with the most significant following on the planet, with over half of the global population reporting to belong to one religion or another. Thus, the presence of religion in literature or work of fiction is an everyday phenomenon, and the theme of religion is prevalent among many authors and their publications. However, given the socioeconomic and political changes across the history of religions' existence, questions against religious views, especially when addressing modern moral and ethical dilemmas, in public and literature domains have been raised. Thus, in literature, it is unclear if some authors are simply satirizing religion for our amusement or whether they are trying to make it more acceptable to the modern, secularized audience. Rose Macaulay's The Towers of Trebizond is among the books that raise these questions. This essay argues that this work is geared toward making religion more acceptable to the modern audience and less about satire, though satire is the basis through which this message is passed.

Book Summary

            In this work, Macaulay (1956) touches on several critical issues, including love, heartbreak, religious differences, travel, and history. The book is also a mixture of things: part autobiographical travelogue and part hilarious novel. However, faith (and its doubt) is the central theme in the novel. The novel follows a group of unusual companions traveling from Istanbul to Trebizond. The travelers consist of Aunt Dot and her camel. She uses the emancipation of women and the spread of Anglicans to justify her love for travel. Further Country-Pigg, on the other hand, is a bigoted Anglican preacher with interests in specific styles of churches. He collects and keeps relics in his pocket. Lauri, who is the narrator, is Dot's niece. Her work is to care for the camel and document Aunt Dot's travel experiences. The foursome is joined from time to time by other characters. Halide, a doctor who recently converted to Anglicanism while studying in England, is a standout among these. Halide is in a dilemma because he is in love with a Turkish man, but this Turkish man wants a Muslim wife.

Faith and Doubt

            In modern societies, science and other worldviews are increasingly helping to answer some of the questions that religion has failed to answer in the past decades. Studies (Smith, 2018) have shown that young adults are drifting away from the church, and just recently, Pope Francis lamented that conservatism and fundamental...