To me, the best novels are spiritual journeys. They’re like biographies or autobiographies about character progress and spiritual formation.

Most of these novels were written before the era of modernism and post-modernism. Novels then became more cynical with a darker and more fragmented worldview. Authors such as Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Pynchon seemed to distrust the possibility of life offering peace and spiritual answers.  So the golden era of the best novels is the 19th century and some of the early 20th century.

I read many of these classic novels years ago. But most of them have been sitting on my bookshelves unopened for a long time. For many years, I’ve mostly read non-fiction books. But like friends I hadn’t heard from in years, I wanted to visit them again. So I’ve made a commitment to re-read many of the classics.

Little Women

Author: Louisa May Alcott

Publication Date: 1868

Storyline: The coming of age stories of four sisters in a Massachusetts town during the Civil War era. At the center of the story is the spirited tomboyish Jo (based on Alcott herself), who wants to be a writer. Her younger sister Amy, is an aspiring artist, Meg has her eyes on a conventional life of marriage, and Beth is a homebody who plays the piano and has a deep spiritual side. With their father away at the war for a time, their mother gently steers them on their path to adulthood.

Spiritual Take: Rather than the coming of age of one person, here we have four coming of age stories. And because John Bunyan‘s Pilgrim’s Progress is mentioned often (it’s the March family’s favorite book), like the character Christian in the book, the four March sisters are on a spiritual journey with temptations, trials and triumphs.

Like many novels of this period, the idea of overcoming character flaws is a central theme. Each sister (as well as their male neighbor Laurie, a surrogate brother), is working on overcoming their flaws. I just finished the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain and she mentions in the book how over time the culture of character has changed to a culture of personality. When I read these classic novels, I see how important character building is. Especially in coming of age stories like this one.

And building character and overcoming flaws is important to all the March sisters. Because they live in a modest household (I wouldn’t say poor), Amy and Meg wonder what it’s like to have more means. Jo worries about her temper and her independence. Beth is painfully shy and can be very withdrawn. Her illness almost seems to be an outgrowth of her delicate nature in a world that can be harsh.

As they grow, they confront their flaws and figure out how to integrate into the world. Many of their resolutions are based on the realization of the value of living a humble life and avoiding vanity, the desire for wealth, and pursuits that keep one away from community.

The idea of community is strong in this book. Alcott lived at Ground Zero of the transcendentalist movement in Concord, Massachusetts and the March home is in its own way a transcendentalist community. They gain transcendentalist insights through moral realizations. The book is structured so that nearly every chapter is a moral lesson. Alcott’s father Bronson Alcott, was an educator who started his own alternative school. Louisa also taught. And the idea of literature as education and a form of moral instruction comes through in this book.

Little Women is somewhat of an idealized version of Alcott’s real life, particularly about the time in her life when her family was most intact and happy. The true story of Alcott and her family is much more full of poverty, strife, and wandering than what is portrayed in the novel. (A good biography to read of her is Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women by Harriet Reisen.)

In Little Women, the Alcott house is a place of stability. In real life, the Alcott family moved often, struggled with poverty, and at times the sisters split up and lived apart when their financial situation was at its worst. Perhaps Little Women is a combination of some of her best memories, wishful thinking of how things might have been, and the lessons she and her family learned.

Jane Eyre

Author: Charlotte Bronte

Publication Date: 1847

Storyline: Jane Eyre is an orphan who is taken in by her aunt and treated poorly by everyone in the household except (sometimes) by a servant. When she’s given the chance to go to school, she leaves. She succeeds academically in school and becomes a school teacher. But she grows restless and longs to see more of the world. So she takes a job as a governess for the wealthy but not handsome Mr. Rochester.

Spiritual Take: To me, this is one of the best novels in all of literature. Written in first person, there are very few books where you feel as close to the narrator as you do in this book. It’s basically a spiritual autobiography.

The convention of an orphan in 19th century literature is an outcast who is out of the safety and protection of the conventional family home. So the orphan novels (there were many in the 19th century) is a look at how society treats “the least of these.” With the Old Testament proclamation to assist widows and orphans, it’s an examination of how orphans are treated in the modern era. Orphans are spiritually vulnerable without the protection and moral guidance of a traditional family.

But Jane Eyre also has an element of the Gothic to it, with the fear of ghosts, the infamous mad woman in the attic, chestnut trees being struck by lightning after an encounter between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. Gothic novels were popular at the time and she uses some of those conventions.

Of the three Bronte sisters, I would place this book halfway between the realism of Anne Bronte‘s Agnes Grey and the Gothic romance of Emily Bronte‘s Wuthering Heights. Jane Eyre also has the Victorian-era convention of amazing coincidences – apparently not viewed in that era as coincidences, but as God’s providence at work.

There’s also a distinction made in religious figures. Sometimes those who aren’t in religious positions show more of Christian kindness and authenticity. Mr. Brockworth, the religious figure who runs the school Jane attends, is condescending, rule-driven and treats the girls poorly, even not feeding them properly to save money. St. John is too pious and too lost in the seriousness or religion to see the spirituality of what’s in front of him. He too is too duty and rule-driven and can’t see what’s right in front of him. Helen Burns, the martyr-like figure at the school, has a forbearance and sense of true religion that is more authentic than the religious figures.

Jane seems suspicious of religion at the beginning of the novel, but grows to believe in it more as she gets out into the world more and learns to lean on her spirituality when making decisions. She resists temptation while at the same time recognizing that it exists. And she learns that what looks on the surface which appears to be good is sometimes not good. The outcast and the abandoned can often be more spiritual.

Like Little Women, it’s a Pilgrim’s Progress variation where someone is making their way through the world encountering characters who aid them and others who don’t. This is a brilliant book about a progress toward spiritual maturity.

Agnes Grey

Author: Anne Bronte

Publication Date: 1847

Storyline: Agnes Grey is a minister’s daughter who must go to work after the family faces a financial crisis. Her first position is as a governess at the Bloomfield home where she is treated poorly and faces daily humiliation from bratty and spoiled children. At her second governess position, there are more bratty and spoiled children. But she makes some friends and finds an ally in a parson at the local church.

Spiritual Take: Another governess novel in the Top 100?

Anne Bronte‘s older sister Charlotte wrote two: Jane Eyre and Villette. So there are three novels with governesses as the main characters that the Bronte sisters wrote.

But yes, these so-called governesses novels are all spiritually meaningful and important to read. The Brontes wrote what they knew about. And women didn’t have many options in the mid 19th century. So like the characters in Agnes Grey and Jane Eyre, they were forced to go out into the world and work. For women who were educated, being a teacher and governess were the only options until marriage. How different a world this is than the insulated world of Jane Austen‘s novels where the unmarried women are cloistered in their homes waiting for marriage, obsessing over manners and signals from their possible husbands-to-be.

Like Jane Eyre and Villette, Agnes Grey is a semi-autobiographical story of a real person going out into the world in what turns out to be a spiritual journey that tests her character. Unlike Charlotte’s two novels where the protagonist has no immediate family, Agnes has a loving family. So there’s much contrast between how she is treated at home compared to the harshness and indifference she receives from affluent people.

To a sensitive soul like Agnes Grey, the financial necessity of working and the way she is treated makes her discouraged and alienated. But she’s determined to continue so she can support her family.

This reflects much of what happened in real life to Anne. Of the three Bronte sisters who wrote (Charlotte, Anne and Emily — there were two older daughters who died at a young age), Anne was the most gentle and spiritual, according to Elizabeth Gaskell‘s engrossing biography The Life of Charlotte Bronte. And Agnes Grey, like Jane Eyre and Villette is written in first person, which makes the story harrowing and compelling.

Agnes finds the world outside her home is not as hostile when she meets Edward Weston, a parson who cares for the poor. He contrasts sharply with Mr. Hatfield, the curate who is arrogant and still tied to earthly desires and tendencies — including being prideful and attracted to Rosalie Murray because of her appearance, not her character. As in “Jane Eyre,” there’s a distinct difference between rule-driven hypocritical ministers and those that are sincere in character and help the poor and oppressed.

Anne Bronte published this novel under the pseudonym Acton Bell at the age of 27. Two years later she died, not long after he sister Emily did, leaving Charlotte the only surviving child.

Charlotte’s Web

Author: E.B. White

Publication Date: 1952

Storyline: Eight-year-old Fern stops her father from slaughtering a runt pig. She takes him in, cares for him, and names him Wilbur. He is sold to Mr. Zuckerman, a farmer who lives down the road from Fern’s family. Fern frequently visits the barn where Wilbur lives and listens to the animals talk. As Fern becomes more interested in boys and starts growing up, she doesn’t visit as often. But Wilbur makes a friend in the spider Charlotte, who promises to save Wilbur from being killed by Mr. Zuckerman.

Spiritual Take: This was the first novel I read. But it’s a book that stays with you your whole life. And I’ve read it a few times as an adult and I still feel it’s a book with important spiritual themes. (Just recently, I listened to an audio book of author E.B. White reading it.)

A few things stand out to me.

One is the power of mercy. Both Fern and Charlotte show mercy to Wilbur in wanting to save his life. It’s a reminder that each act of mercy we initiate can make a difference.

Another is that the commercial world doesn’t often have spiritual values. To the farmers, Wilbur is solely a commodity to be slaughtered. They don’t realize how much he has to offer. Or that all life has meaning and potential. To Fern’s father, Wilbur is a runt who isn’t worth anything because he has no commercial value. And Mr. Zuckerman only sees him as something to eventually be sold. It’s a commentary on how the commercial capitalist world can commodify everything.

Except for the spider Charlotte, the other animals also don’t show much compassion toward Wilbur. They are concerned with themselves or congregate with their own kind. The rat Templeton, can be interpreted as a Satanic figure in some ways. But to me, he’s mostly represents the worst tendencies and sin. He’s selfish, individualistic and concerned with bodily pleasures and comforts. Unlike Fern and Charlotte, if he does anything good it must have something in it for him. To him, there’s no such thing as self-sacrifice.

The third theme that struck me was how important friendship is. Wilbur has no friends living in the barn except for Charlotte. The book vividly depicts Wilbur’s loneliness. It reminds us that we need community and connection. particularly in a world where family isn’t there (Wilbur was taken away from his family, and technically is an orphan.)

And finally, loss is perhaps the most devastating part of life. Some losses are just not replaceable. (Spoiler alert: don’t read any further if you haven’t read the book): After Charlotte dies, she leaves behind many eggs and hundreds and hundreds of her offspring hatch each year. Most of them leave the barn, but a few stay with Wilbur. Still, Wilbur feels that none of them can match the feeling he had for Charlotte. There is no one like her.

And I feel this is the most devastating but important part of this book. Loss is the most painful part of life. When we first read the book as children we may have not experienced it much at the time, but Charlotte’s Web prepares us that it’s coming.

That’s one of the many reasons why adults need to re-read this book if they haven’t read it since they were children.

Anne of Green Gables

Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery

Publication Date: 1908

Storyline: On Prince Edward Island in Canada, the aging brother and sister Marilla and Matthew send word to an orphanage that they want to adopt a boy to help them on their farm. Instead, by mistake they send Anne, a young red-haired girl who is a dramatic daydreamer full of romantic ideals. Marilla intends to send her back. But seeing where she will end up, she decides to take her in as an experiment. Their worldviews clash, but ultimately Marilla and Anne bond as Anne makes friends, studies hard at school and grows up.

Spiritual Take: This is both a coming of age story and a conflict between two worldviews.

Marilla, who adopts Anne, is a pragmatist to the core while Anne is an idealistic romantic. The book brilliantly outlines the strengths and weaknesses of both worldviews — although Anne’s romanticism is ultimately favored. It seems much easier to make a romantic more pragmatic than to make a pragmatist romantic.

What Anne needs to retain and what she needs to shed of her romantic view of the world is the theme behind her coming of age story — which unlike its sequels was written as a novel, not as a children’s book.

It also shows how one act of kindness can have far-reaching effects. At first Marilla says she doesn’t want to keep Anne because she won’t be of use to them. But Matthew says that maybe the point is they can be of some use to her. The ultra-practical but religious-minded Marilla discovers he’s right. She finds a lot more meaning in helping to raise Anne then she would just having someone to help with chores.

Religion plays an important role in Anne’s life. She learns to pray every night, attends church regularly and strikes up a friendship with the minister and his wife. And the book is about her moral development. After a series of mishaps and mistakes, she tells Marilla they were all lessons to teach her how to combat the sins and flaws within her.

If this book has been defined as lightweight, it’s likely due to the sequels. In the books that follow, the tension between her and Marilla is gone, and the books are far less compelling.

The first sequel Anne of Avonlea is slow moving and spotty with episodes that don’t often build on one another. There are good moments, but not enough. Better is the third book in the series Anne of the Island which covers Anne’s four years in college. The book has the opposite pace of Anne of Avonlea and it races through without slowing down enough to give us the character insight of Anne of Green Gables. But it’s the best of the sequels.

The fourth book Anne of Windy Poplars is difficult to read and lacks narrative direction because it’s written as a series of letters. At the beginning of the fifth book Anne’s House of Dreams, she marries and Anne no longer seems like Anne. Her romantic view of the world doesn’t seem compatible with the married life. The Anne of Anne’s House of Dreams is so far removed from the Anne of Anne of Green Gables, it’s as if Montgomery gave up on her and carelessly writing sequels for money. Anne of Ingleside is even worse and there are even more sequels focusing on Anne’s children after that.

Work

Author: Louisa May Alcott

Publication Date: 1873

Storyline: The orphan Christie Devon leaves her aunt and uncle who have been raising her to make her way in the world. She works several grueling jobs before descending into despair and poverty. But a former co-worker leads her to a kind woman who opens up her home to women in need. She’s connected to a church that helps the poor. Christie starts attending the church and makes some changes in her life so she finds the spiritual meaning and community she’s always wanted.

Spiritual Take: In Louisa May Alcott’s best-known book Little Women, there’s a chapter where the four March sisters decide they are too overworked and want a life of leisure. So their mother tells them they don’t have to do their chores and can do anything they want for a week. At first, they’re elated. But then they grow restless. They learn that work has redemptive qualities to it (as long as they don’t overwork).

Work is the central spiritual dilemma in Alcott’s novel. It shows that just as the right work guides us to our higher self, the wrong work corrupts us or plunge us into despair. The opening chapters are a harrowing view of working class life that read like Theodore Dreiser or Thomas Hardy.

What’s striking is that unlike the tomboy Jo March from “Little Women,” — the character most associated with Alcott — Christie is a solitary figure. She is a pilgrim making her way alone in the world. And the novel shows how miserable jobs cause an alienation which strangles her spirit.

Religion has a lot to do with Christie’s redemption. The principles of the religious characters at the church she attends are at odds with a world that thrives on greed. The church is an evangelical one, but one that helps the poor as a mission. Organized religion saves her with its communal support. And there’s some clear influence from John Bunyan‘s allegorical Christian novel Pilgrim’s Progress, which Alcott referenced several times in Little Women and appears to have been in real life perhaps the Alcott family’s favorite book.

The book has its flaws. There’s some melodrama, some preachiness and some Dickens-like coincidences. But it’s a powerful book about working class life and spiritual redemption. And it shows the issue of work that’s still so relevant. At its best, work is service and redemption. At its worst it’s exploitative and spiritually crippling.

Main Street

Author: Sinclair Lewis

Publication Date: 1920

Storyline: Carol Milford works in a library in St. Paul and enjoys the single city life. But after she marries the doctor Will Kennicott, she moves to the small town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. At first she looks forward to it because she dreams of reforming and improving the provincial town. But after her plans are met with disapproval and hostility, she falls into a malaise and low-level despair. How can she ever spiritually survive in this backwater town?

Spiritual Take: The best of Sinclair Lewis’ novels like Main Street are in the realism genre but have a satirical edge to them. So this book is both a satire of small town life and a story about a woman trying to find her place in the early 20th century.

The novel’s protagonist Carol doesn’t have the arc that many realist novels have of a heroine with flaws becoming a better person through education. She’s a well-educated liberal reformer who is interested in aesthetics and helping outcast figures, but still doesn’t have a clear enough sense of herself. The town where she lives isn’t helping her find it either.

Gopher Prairie residents simply want her to yield to the status quo. They want her to play the role of a doctor’s wife, socialize with the town’s business class, and abandon artistic and political projects that are too radical, experimental or socially-charged. Carol’s husband Will and the small town elite who are his friends are comfortable, conservative and resistant to change.

Central to the problem is Carol’s marriage to Will. There seems to be no other explanation for her marriage other than she married him because she didn’t have a solid enough sense of herself to know what she really wanted. She admires his work as a doctor but is frustrated by his lack of artistic sensitivity and his desire to stay in the small town she grows to loathe.

Anyone who has struggled in a small town can relate to this book. And in many ways it’s not just one particular town. It’s a metaphor of the part of America lodged in the spiritual doldrums of status quo with an inability to see beyond the perspective of elites.

But it’s also a disjointed and confusing spiritual journey for Carol. It’s modernist in the sense that she feels alienated and doesn’t have mentors or connections that can consistently help her in her quest. She has occasional conversations or insights but nothing that usually sustains her.

Main Street points out how much we can be at exile in this world. Positive connections with others can be difficult to make, creating political and social change is hard, and the status quo usually works against us when we try to make major changes.