Then
they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite
Galilee. When Jesus
had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had
demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived
in a house but among the tombs.
When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him
and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus,
Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.”
For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the
man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and
bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be
driven by the demon into the desert.)
- Luke 8:26-29
William Blatty opened his supernatural
thriller, The Exoricst, with the above quote from the 8th
Chapter in the Gospel of Luke. The Exorcism of the Grasene Demoniac
is one of the most memorable stories in the Bible. However, this is
not the only occasion when Jesus of Nazareth performed an exorcism.
In fact, the Gospels accounted in Jesus' life time, he performed at
least, 9 individual exorcisms. While theological implications exist behind these stories, but given the fact that Jesus and his
disciples clearly believed the reality of demonic possession, one
would have expected that 2000 years later, the followers of Jesus
should also believe it, right?
Ok, imagine this scenario. A strange,
unexplainable mental illness struck a 12 years old girl. The girl's
mother, who is an atheist, consulted numerous medical professionals
to no avail. All signs point to a demonic-possession. This is a
paranormal phenomenon believed by many ancient cultures, recorded in
holy books around the world, but ridiculed in the modern day as
superstitions. Out of desperation, the girl's mother approached a
priest for help, pleading for an exorcism, but the priest palmed her off (back) to the doctor. Why? As it turned out, the
priest, who is supposed to believe this stuff doesn't believe it
himself!
For the priest, faith has become a
matter of philosophical, academic pursuit only. For the priest, the
demonic possessions only happened in the holy book, it probably
doesn't happen today. But even then, the priest argues, the demonic
possessions in the holy book should be interpreted with sophisticated
hermeneutics, to downplay the supernatural reality while emphasizing
the philosophical, and theological meanings behind the miracles. This approach will somehow, bring his religious worldview up to scratch with a world that seeks rational explanations for everything. Meanwhile, perhaps the truth
is, the priest doesn't really have faith anymore? In this case, when
the faithfuls don't even have faith themselves, who can help this
demon-possessed girl? (As a side note, I thought this premise sounds very familiar to a story narrated in the 17th chapter in the book of Matthew)
With this premise (described above),
William Blatty wrote a most captivating tale about faith. Indeed,
after I finished reading this brilliantly written, fast-paced novel.
I realized this novel is not just some horror story trying to
entertain its readers with spooks. Instead, The Exorcist is a
allegory about the internal struggles for modern-day religious believers, who, wrestle to adapt their own perception about faith to a world where everything is being
rationalized.
I thought The Exorcist is an
intriguing novel. This novel, counting to 400 pages, directs its theme and messages more at those with a religious persuasion than those who are without it. This novel has 4 major characters; 1) Regan McNeil, a 12 years old girl who was possessed by
a demon, 2) Chris McNeil, who is Regan't mother, an established movie actress and an atheist, 3) Father Damien Karras, a priest with a wayward
religious faith, whose background is psychiatry, and 4) Father
Merrin, the exorcist and a renowned archaeologist.
The protagonist in this book, however,
is Father Damien Karras. In the story, Damien was asked by Chris to
help her daughter, Regan. Damien was highly skeptical about this
alleged demonic possession. He examined Regan, and despite seeing
many strange signs and paranormal evidence with his own eyes, Damien
still rejected Regan's condition was an authentic case of demonic
possession. Instead, Damien, with his background in psychiatry,
insisted seeking naturalistic explanations for Regan's condition.
Damien's reluctance to accept the fact Regan was possessed by a
demon, is a manifestation of his own struggling faith in a modern world. On the
surface, Damien wore the iconic, priestly collars, he symbolizes a faithful believer. However, when a
supernatural event, one that was documented in his holy book, materialized in front of his eyes, then strangely he was unable to
believe it is true. At this point, the story creates an ironic,
fascinating scenario where a non-believer such as Chris was ready to
believe based on the paranormal signs, but a believer such as Father
Damien rejected these signs because he tried so very hard to
rationalize his faith.
For an irreligious reader, this book
may be a very interesting reading experience, where one may look at
the story of Damien and become frustrated at him for being a believer
yet denying the obvious evidence in front of him. Furthermore, The
Exorcist story also raised an interesting question for the
modern-day religious believers, who, based on their holy book,
subscribe to the belief of a supernatural reality - when something
unexplainable happens today, why do they often default to a
naturalistic explanation over a supernatural one like the
non-believers do?
Out of the 4 major characters in this
book, Father Merrin stood out as a striking character. After Damien
requested the church to grant an exorcism, Merrin was chosen by the
church to perform the rite. During this episode, Merrin acted and
spoke out of certitude and faith (not to be confused with certainty)
that Damien found admirable. Damien reflected, that Merrin had a trusting faith that Damien did not have in himself. For Merrin, Regan's demonic
possession was as real as the gravity pulling an apple down to the
ground, but for Damien, Regan's demonic possession was his chance for
testing if his god was real. Damien, was the doubting Thomas that
most people can easily relate to.
At this point, one may ask, why read
this novel if you have already seen the movie? My answer is this; if
you have seen the movie and liked it, or if my review has roused your
interest in this book, then reading this novel is going to worth
every minute of your time, for two reasons: A) This novel explained
the origin of the demon, which was omitted in the film, B) The novel,
as a written medium, described and captured, vividly, characters'
thoughts and emotions. This vital information was not communicated
effectively in the motion picture adaptation.
I found The Exorcist to be an
excellent book. This book is well-written, and it tells a
fast-paced, engrossing story. This book is often dubbed "The scariest book ever written", but I did not find this book scary, it did
not scare me at all. Instead, I was most intrigued by this book's
theme and its underlying message. This novel's ending generated some controversy, if
you have seen the movie then you probably have an idea what is this controversy.
However, I think that controversy belongs to a different discussion,
and it is unrelated to the central theme of this book. Meanwhile, at
its core, The Exorcist explores the thought-provoking topic about the perception for the nature of faith in the modern world, and it does so
brilliantly by telling a spectacular and entertaining story.
P.S. This review is based on 40th
anniversary edition for The Exorcist. Apparently, in this
edition, the author restored some contents that were previous omitted
in the original edition.
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