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Ingathering: The Complete People Stories

Zenna Henderson,

Mark Olson

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Jan 27, 2010 Matthew Gatheringwater rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction-and-religion

Considering that in Mormon theology, worthy patriarchs are rewarded with their own planet to populate, it is not surprising that Zenna Henderson, a former Mormon, would come to write a story cycle about deeply religious people from another planet after she left the Mormon faith. And it is perhaps also not surprising, that after leaving her religious home, her stories should be suffused with longing, loss, and a deep desire to find community. Her characters are often people with special abilities Considering that in Mormon theology, worthy patriarchs are rewarded with their own planet to populate, it is not surprising that Zenna Henderson, a former Mormon, would come to write a story cycle about deeply religious people from another planet after she left the Mormon faith. And it is perhaps also not surprising, that after leaving her religious home, her stories should be suffused with longing, loss, and a deep desire to find community. Her characters are often people with special abilities who feel alienated from or threatened by the people around them or are quite literally lost in this world, and seeking a home they can only incompletely recall.

I know that these stories have been attacked as mawkishly sentimental, but I'm not sure that is fair. "Sentimental" in this sense suggests affected emotion. If you have never felt the longing for one place in this world where you feel you belong, if you have always been sure of who you were, if you know where your people come from and what it means to be one of them, then maybe it is hard to believe the feelings of Henderson's characters. I've had some of the same experiences as Henderson's characters (and Henderson herself) and felt some of the same sense of displacement and longing--enough, at least, to recognize the reality of the sentiments she describes.

Sentimentality is also an unfair criticism because of the other kind of character that populates these stories: the observer or witness. Often a teacher (like Henderson) or an invalid, these characters are anything but sentimental, and are often rather hard-bitten. They are convinced only by empirical proof and even then are skeptical. They are aware of their need to believe and how misleading that need can be. These observer characters are what made the stories so much fun for me. Their skepticism gave me a kind of reader's permission to enjoy the miracles they witness in a way a straight-forward fantasy would not.

The religion of the aliens in these stories is of the variety William James would have called "once-born": they consider morality to be self-evident and they aren't asking a lot of difficult questions to challenge their faith, such as why God would allow their home planet to be destroyed or why, if their God is the same one worshiped by human Christians, it is these same Christians who are so often responsible for their persecution? They have little ritual besides a vague hand-gesture and although they do pray, they seem to get more practical use and comfort from telepathy. It is hard to see what God (or as they say, The Presence) does for them, except serve as a placeholder for numinous feelings.

Henderson spends a lot of time thinking about the interactions between humans and aliens. In this, she reminds me of Octavia Butler. The Outsiders in Henderson's stories (people born of Earth to the rest of us) cannot be saved from themselves by the aliens, although they can be helped. On the other hand, we Earthlings have abilities unknown to the aliens, and can assist them. The aliens in Henderson's stories who choose to live apart from humans seem to lose their humanity, so to speak, and the trend in her stories suggests that humans and aliens will have to save each other if either race is to fulfill its potential.

The most important thing I got out of reading these stories, is the conviction that I don't have merely to suffer a longing for community, that longing can also spur action to create or contribute to community. The observer characters in Henderson's stories witness wonders they cannot always share. Rather than letting the comparison lead them to envy or inertia, they use it as inspiration to find their own way to make a bit of something wonderful. In my own life, I am sometimes sad that it is unlikely that I will ever have children of my own, for example, but that doesn't mean I can't be a good friend to the children of other people I know. I may not have any relatives of my own, but that does not mean I have to live alone. I've decided that when I someday leave my current situation, I'm going to join or create some effort toward intentional community among people with whom I am not biologically related. Perhaps my own path to belonging will involve making other people feel welcome.

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