Summary Of The Convulsions Choir

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Analyzing the Harmful Effects of Christianity on Epileptics in the Virginia State Colony In The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded, Molly McBrown delivers a haunting account of three disabled women who are living in the Virginia State Colony. In the collection of poems, McBrown makes frequent use of religious motifs, including speaking in tongues, churches, altars, and praying. Although each character in the collection provides their own religious meaning and symbolism to the work, this analysis will focus on “The Convulsions Choir,” which is a poem narrated by Edith Miller, an epileptic woman living in the colony. “The Convulsions Choir” clearly communicates the mental torment and suffering of the feebleminded due to the exclusionary, hypocritical, and …show more content…

These are all behaviors that you might see in a typical Pentecostal service in a church. Since partial seizures are more common in adults than children, it is reasonable to conclude that Edith has some partial seizures and likely experienced uncontrolled speech or gibberish. In contrast, speaking in tongues is defined as speaking an unknown language during worship and is described as a spiritual gift in Corinthians 1:12 (“A Searchable Online Bible”). However, Edith knows that her seizures will never be considered a spiritual gift, and they will instead damn her to hell. Although Edith is doubtful that she will find salvation, she still wonders if she could reach God if her sisters all prayed and spoke in tongues together. Notably, she asks to be healed, perhaps hoping for the same miracle that Jesus gave the epileptic boy in the New Testament. The irony of Edith’s plea is that the colony staff who held her in the Virginia State Colony actually prevented her from being

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