Outline
Charlaine Harris, the author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels incorporates multiple elements of religion throughout her fiction series. The purpose of my research is to analyze how Harris' ideas of religion relate to those found in our society. Does Harris base the fictional Fellowship of the Sun on any real religious group found in our past or present society? How are Witches and Wiccans portrayed in Harris' novel? Where does Harris place the history of maenads in the brief role that Callisto plays in the novel Living Dead in Dallas? Also, what role does Sookie's faith play throughout the series? These are the questions that I am looking to explore by researching Harris' novels.
The Fellowship of the Sun plays a prominent role in Living Dead in Dallas, Harris' second Sookie Stackhouse novel. This religious organization is depicted as a group of crazed worshipers who despise the vampires and any vampire "sympathizers" who spend their time in the company of vampires. They take extreme action against the vampires and are often blamed for the death of the many people who mysteriously die in Harris' novels. They are responsible for much of Sookie's turmoil within Living Dead in Dallas, and a few more times within the following novels, as they try and kidnap her while she attempts to escape from the church after a blown undercover mission to dig up dirt regarding a vampire disappearance. This organization is also who the repentant vampire Godfrey flees to due to his shame and guilt cause by his actions as a vampire. I seek to find out any organizations of equal or lesser status in our society that Harris may have based this religion on, and draw from them any similarities or differences which can be found.
Witches are portrayed in Harris' fourth novel Dead to the World as a fierce group of both men and women who seek to destroy Eric Northman to gain his power and wealth. Within this novel there are also a group of people identified as Wiccans, who unite with Sookie and the Supes to fight the witches and regain Eric's control. I am interested in unearthing the parallels between our real life Witches and Wiccans and the ones represented in Harris' series. Has Harris stayed true to Wiccan ideals and what Wicca stands for in our society? How has she reinterpreted a growing religion in our present day world?
A maenad named Callisto plays a brief but terrifying role in Living Dead in Dallas, as it attacks Sookie and leaves her wounded and poisoned in attempts to gain the attention of Eric. Callisto also reappears at the end of the novel, drawn by the lust and drunkenness of a sexual party and kills some of its attendees, while leaving the others under its spell. Does Harris comply to the ancienty mythology of maenads? Or does she leave some room for interpretation in Callisto's role in her second novel?
In the Sookie Stackhouse novels Sookie is a self-proclaimed church go-er that puts her own spin on the religion she was born and raised to abide by. Multiple characters have died in the novels at the hands of Sookie, and she chooses to spend her time in the company of vampires, shape shifters, and fairies. Sookie, herself, finds out that she has supernatural origins. But in the face of all that, what does her faith mean to her and how does Harris use it to influence Sookie's actions?
These are the issues I seek to delve into through the use of scholarly texts and texts by people who have already sought to develop these issues through their own texts and articles. I will explore how Harris develops the themes of religion in the Sookie Stackhouse series, and how her ideas relate to those in our own society.