I Heard the Owl Call My Name - the Church Belongs in the Gutter

We as humans are given free will by whomever we worship to make decisions. Whether the outcome is negative or positive, determines if the result is a fault or blessing. When we experience faults in life we find faith in a higher power to lead us in the right direction, far away from fault as possible. Structures of worship have been around for centuries encouraging people to learn the word of the righteous, and giving them lessons through those who have faulted before them. The church belonging in the gutter is a comparison of a human’s capability to make decisions and God’s ability to give consequences. In the book, I Heard the Owl Call my Name, the story takes place with the villagers building a new vicarage. The Bishop comes to bless the vicarage and the natives prepared for a community feast. The feast was taken place in honor of the Bishop’s blessing. After the feast was held, the commoners continued in celebration with dancing and socializing. When the celebration ended, the Bishop prepared to leave as he and Mark climbed into the speedboat. They traveled downriver to where the seaplane would carry the Bishop home.
As the Bishop boarded the plane, Mark stated his concern for some of his best parishioners ending up in the gutter once the tribe will be able to buy alcohol. The Bishop replied with saying: “The church belongs in the gutter. It is where it does some of its best work.” (98) The church belonging to the gutter as the Bishop is saying, it is opting to help ones in need; it is accepting to aid the unbecoming. The significance of this quote to the novel is in August, the villagers were able to purchase alcohol legally which foreshadows misfortune.
The natives of Kingcome were opposed to an intercultural connection with the white man because they felt their traditions and heritage had already been manipulated by his influence. The importance of their culture had become isolated to the younger generations of the tribes. Lifting the ban of liquor was

Cited: Page Craven, Margaret. I Heard the Owl Call My Name. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973. Print.