Greene’s `The Drowning of Stephan Jones’ strong stuff

THE DROWNING OF STEPHAN JONES, by Bette Greene, Bantam, 217 pages, $16.

Bette Greene states that, years ago, she read an article about the death by drowning of a gay man, apparently caused by three teen-age boys: “… if the man in fact had been murdered, it was a crime purely based on hate. I could not correlate such an unforgivable deed with the boys’ innocent, wholesome, all-American good looks … how … where … and why does a person learn to hate?”

Haunted by the memory of the drowning, she spent nearly two years conducting more than 400 interviews as part of her research in an attempt to answer her own questions regarding the issue.

The man who was killed was 23-year-old Charlie Howard; he was thrown from the State Street Bridge into the Kenduskeag Stream in Bangor; in the throes of an asthma attack, he drowned. Many of Greene’s interviews were conducted in Bangor. During her research, she “saw a surprising pattern emerge; religious fervor sometimes seemed to lead to prejudicial violence and often would then be used to justify that violence … found that hatred against homosexuals is taught in many Christian churches and that anti-homosexual teachings are particularly prevalent in televangelism.” The questions she asked and the publication of this novel have generated varying responses, from death threats to standing ovations.

“The Drowning of Stephan Jones,” ostensibly aimed at the young adult (ages 12 and up) market, is strong stuff for any reader. Certainly, its style is unsophisticated in the extreme, a fact that may prove irritating to the reader accustomed to more adult fare. The author has faithfully captured the speech modes, indeed, the very thoughts, of the rural teen-agers who live in the pages of this novel.

Set in the small adjoining Ozarks communities of Ratchetville and Parson Springs, Ark., the latter sporting a 700-foot-tall concrete Jesus and known as the crown jewel on the glittering buckle of the Bible Belt, the novel opens innocently enough as Carla Wayland makes her way to Harris’ Handy Hardware Store, heart rat-a-tat-tatting with the hope of seeing her secret love, Andy Harris. Poor Carla is thrust immediately into a sea of conflicting emotions, as her natural sympathies are extended to two gay men who are being maligned, while her Andy is one of the abusers.

Tired of never quite belonging to the in crowd — her mother, the town librarian, is a “flaming liberal” doing battle with a citizens group that wants the library to make a “sworn policy not to buy any books, newspapers, or magazines that are critical of our country, our religion, or our American way” — Carla longs to be part of the Harris family. Andy’s mother would never upset anyone, “all her ideas had already been handed down to her from everybody else.” Wasn’t Andy a good religious boy, who went to church with his family every Sunday and quoted extensively from the Bible, finding justification for his hatred of homosexuality in the pages of Leviticus?

Although Judith, Carla’s mother, tells her that “an artichoke is still an artichoke regardless of how many or how few people can identify it. And hate is still hate, Carla, regardless of how many or how few recognize it,” Carla manages to put her own sense of fairness on hold and accept the persecution of the two gay men. Until she witnesses the beating of Stephan Jones, she tells herself that no real harm is actually meant to anyone.

Greene has crammed much into a small book: hatred, homosexuality, religion, sex (including the teen-age heterosexual variety), fear, self-esteem (powerful observation regarding churches and the nurturing of children), courage, murder, and justice are but the most outstanding of the many issues presented so skillfully in this award-winning author’s sixth novel.

Strong stuff indeed. Never an easy novel, flawed, “The Drowning of Stephan Jones” is the result of the author’s search for answers to her own questions: How, where and why does a person learn to hate? She states: “Whether learned on the streets, at home, in the classroom, or in church, hate will always be unacceptable … my purpose is to spark discussion which might lead to new insight and education.”

The popularity of Greene’s “Summer of My German Soldier” continues; one wonders if that will change with the publication of this unique work, with its strong language and stronger issues (with its startling ending, it could have been subtitled “With Justice For All”). We eagerly await “The Eyes of Victoria,” now being written by the courageous Bette Greene.

Lois M. Reed is a free-lance writer who resides in Carmel.