When God Talks Back: An Analysis Of Wieland By Charles Brockden Brown

In the book Wieland by Charles Brockden Brown, the character Theodore Wieland commits a number of murders and claims that God Himself ordered him to do so. Wieland is based on a true story, and is told through the eyes of Wieland’s sister, Clara. In the beginning of the story, Clara recounts the details of her father’s death, in which nothing was certain outside the fact that loud noises and a bright light were observed just before the death. Although there really is no explanation as to how or why he died, Clara believes it to be either spontaneous human combustion or divine intervention, both of which are clearly irrefutable. Later in the novel, Clara discusses her friend group, consisting of her brother Wieland, his wife Catherine, and his wife’s brother Henry Pleyel. Wieland was as devoutly religious as their father; however, Clara and Pleyel appeared to use a more rational approach to answering questions. The beginnings of the questionable and disconcerting experiences that would soon be reoccurring first appeared when Wieland had thought he heard Catherine’s voice. Later on, Wieland and Pleyel both heard Catherine’s voice, and even Clara herself began to hear voices. These
voices, however, were never kind-hearted. They almost always were awful, whether it be Catherine’s voice discussing the death of Pleyel’s mistress, or Clara hearing murderers’ voices coming from her closet. No matter the voices, they spoke of sickening subjects, something God would not do, as most people who have relationships with God would say that God only occasionally responded to them, and only with pleasant commentaries, proving that these voices were likely a result of psychosis and not religious relationships. Around this time, Francis Carwin, an intelligent but mysterious man, was introduced into the novel as a rather unusual character, as neither the reader nor any of the other characters can ever tell whether he is benevolent or evil. Carwin performed some sketchy acts, like hiding in Clara’s closet and mimicking her voice to trick Pleyel, and the motivation was uncertain, however, according to those with real relationships with God, He would not have asked someone to do that. Clara received a letter from Carwin telling her to meet him that night. As she went into her house to meet him, she came across Catherine’s dead body and it was later discovered that Wieland, who claimed it to have been a direct order from God, had also murdered Catherine’s four children. He had also received orders to kill Clara, although he was never able to kill her because he ended up killing himself out of guilt. Carwin subsequently confessed to throwing his voice around Clara and her friend group, causing them to hear things and Wieland to kill. Thinking about Wieland through the lens of Luhrmann changed my understanding of the novel because in Luhrmann’s book When God Talks Back: Understanding the Evangelical Relationship with God, she discusses the difference between the voices heard by people dealing with severe psychosis and those heard by people with a developing relationship with God.
Those suffering from psychosis often heard curt, malevolent voices poking fun at the person or simply annoying him/her, while those who heard God’s voice typically heard benevolent, simple thoughts, like advice on which shirt to wear or which boy to date. Luhrmann’s book opened my eyes and helped my understanding of Wieland grow, as I can now see how Wieland and his family were probably suffering from psychosis rather than hearing God’s
voice.