Summary

The novel opens during the 1920s with the Griffiths family, headed by father, Asa, and mother, Elvira, leading a street sermon with their four children, Esta, Clyde, Julia, and Frank, on a summer evening in Kansas City, Missouri. While his elder sister Esta sings a hymn, Clyde Griffiths is noticeably uncomfortable with the practices of his family. His family’s chosen religious lifestyle, along with its lack of financial reward and the public ridicule that comes along with such a station, fills Clyde with contempt. After the family finishes its address, they make their way back to the mission house that serves as their home. The level of spiritual fulfillment earned by the evening’s work is not nearly as perceptible in the children as it is in the parents.

In the following chapter, Clyde is shown to be very aware of his...