Revival

Electricity is the novel’s most prominent motif, underlining both The Dangers of Curiosity and The Dynamics of Science and Faith. Charles Jacobs’s experiments are fueled by electricity. During one of his first encounters with Jamie Morton, he offers to show him “miracles” on the Peaceable Lake model table that are eventually revealed to be electrical tricks. This entices the young Jamie to follow Jacobs’s experiments, especially as they become progressively more incredible. It also foreshadows the blurring of science and faith in Jacobs’s own mind, as well as how he will use the former to appeal to the latter in his revival tours.

Electricity follows Jamie throughout his youth—especially during Jacobs’s absence. Jamie discovers his talent for music when he picks up his brother Conrad’s abandoned electric guitar. He also loses his virginity to Astrid Soderberg when they visit Skytop at the onset of a hailstorm. These events warn him of the continued role Jacobs will play in his life.

Jacobs’s electrical treatments cure people but also expose them to the dangerous aftereffects that connect them to Mother and the Null. Jacobs disregards this collateral damage, arguing that he has helped more people than he has harmed and that those he has harmed do not really deserve consideration anyway.