“Jemima had rebelled against these hard doctrines of her father’s, but their frequent repetition had had its effect, and led her to look upon those who had gone astray with shrinking, shuddering recoil, instead of with a pity so Christ-like as to have both wisdom and tenderness in it.” (chapter 25)
Jemima is taken aback by what she heard about Ruth. She can’t believe that it was really Ruth that committed these sins that had been ingrained in her head by her father. Although, she is able to acknowledge that her reaction to Ruth is a taught behavior and that maybe she shouldn’t be so quick to judge Ruth. She knows her character and has a great deal of respect for her. Jemima shows that despite the negative gossip around Ruth, she is still able to see and respect her as a human being. I think a lot of people dehumanize Ruth, which is heavily influenced by the ideas about sin and religion.
Do the religious values of the 1800s affect how Ruth is viewed? From what I gather, being sexually deviant is viewed as sinful. Not to say that Ruth had publicly committed a sexual act by holding hands with Henry, but some characters act like it was. If the concept of sin was taken away, would there have been different reactions to Ruth and Henry’s relationship?
