The Scarlet Thread
By Francine Rivers
" The greatest gift you can give him is the freedom to spread his wings."
The Scarlet Thread is a little known book about two girls. The first girl's name is Sierra. She lives in a present day time period. She has two kids, Clanton a boy and Carolyn a girl. She is married to a man named Alex. The other girl in the story is named Mary. She is the great great great grandmother of Sierra. She was married to a man named James. By the end of the story, Mary had a total of eight kids. The two girls, Mary and Sierra, are connected by a journal. Mary is of course dead by the time Sierra gets her journal. With the journal comes a patchwork quilt. Each patch in the quilt tells the story of Mary. The patches are all held together by scarlet thread. Sierra starts having major problems in her life. At first it was just one problem. They had to move to an unfamiliar place so her husband can have better job opportunity. It nudged her a little and she slipped. However instead of getting back up she would lay their and complain. She isolated herself. She refused to heal. She refused to fix it and continued to complain. She was ignorant of her own faults. She had to put blame on something so she blamed her husband Alex. So he left her. This was like a kick to the stomach. She still refused to understand what was going on. She continued to blame Alex. She continued to whine. She still refused to get up and move on. She went back to her old home only to find that her mother had cancer. When her mother died she was unable to gain control. She read the journal since her mother gave it to her. in the story she read about Mary and her life. Both Mary and Sierra where married to head strong men that where smart and always searching for something better. Mary talk about how she was outcast from her family, her father a drunk, her mother dead. The journal talked about how Mary meet James and how they fell in love. It also talks about how Mary handled moving to the west and losing many loved ones along the way. Most importantly however, it talks about how Mary came to forgive herself and how she renewed her lifestyle. Mary used to cast blame much like Sierra, however, when the going got rough and lives where lost, other saved, she realized that best thing she can do is stay calm and fix her problems with an open mind. After reading the journal Sierra realized why Mary had chosen scarlet thread for keeping all the patches together. She realized why the last patch was just a wall with some scarlet thread hanging out a window. It represented the part in the bible when a person risked herself to help spies from her own country. The person had to leave scarlet thread hanging out the window so the spies would know where to stay. That is not the only thing it represented. It was also the blood that was shed to help others, the pain one had to go through to reach a better understanding of the world around them, the sacrifice needed for the greater good. The scarlet thread represents how such experiences held together life when it looks like there is nothing left to live for. Sierra looks back on her past and sees all her mistakes. She sees all the times she caused problems instead of solving them. She picked herself up, she went to Alex and apologized for her actions. She apologized for all the times she shut him out or blamed him for her own faults. She forgive him, he forgave her. They worked together to build up each others trust again. They know this time things will be different since they have both changed. They both have some more common ground and are more forgiving and wise. They both have the same major goal now. To live long, happy, and together.
Major Quotes from the book.
" You are not to worry what people say. The truth always comes out in the end. "
" White. The color of purity. The color of death. "
“It can’t be sunshine all the time, or flowers wouldn’t grow ... "
" I know what’s killing Papa. Hatred. It is eating him alive. "