Summary
The pastor decides to visit the schoolmaster's mission house, as Storm's regular Bible studies increase church attendance and unity throughout the town. After the prayer meeting, during which Storm self-importantly preaches the Bible, a group of twenty people, led by the meek Hök Matts Ericsson, enter the room. Ericsson explains that he began preaching after "the Spirit descended upon" him two weeks prior. Assured of his ability to teach the Bible with authority, he decides he "ought to come down here and let all the people hear."
After the schoolmaster condescendingly dismisses Ericsson, the congregation protests that they desire to "hear something new" and "see a fresh face behind the rostrum." They claim that the intention of building the meeting hall was to encourage an egalitarian exchange of religious ideas. After many men speak against him, Storm sits down, allowing the congregants to squabble among themselves, then demands they all leave so he can "put out the lights and lock up." However, the congregants pay him no heed. Storm realizes that the people he regarded as malleable schoolchildren are hard-headed adults and that he has unintentionally ushered into "heresy, revolt, and division" by building the mission. Storm symbolically leaves the key to the mission house on the pulpit, vowing never to return.
Ingmar realizes that Elof Ersson spent or hid the entirety of his inheritance. Though Halvor's wealth supports Karin, Ingmar is penniless and remains with the Storms, pursuing a teaching career. He becomes friends with Storm's daughter, Gertrude, though the pair often annoy each other. After Storm gives up his mission, he allows the children "to be young" and host and attend dances. Despite Ingmar's shy reluctance to dance, he practices alone in the evenings.
On the way to Strong Ingmar's house for a dance, Gertrude composes pastoral stories but is interrupted when Ingmar sees his old farm and falls silent. When asked if Strong Ingmar can use magic, young Ingmar replies with an account where Strong Ingmar used supernatural powers to determine when the charcoal he was processing caught on fire. The story and Ingmar's sudden willingness to tell it makes Gertrude uneasy.
The group arrives at a small hut where several couples dance despite the building's apparent minuscule size. Ingmar dances with Gertrude but quickly grows embarrassed by all the attention Strong Ingmar shows him for being Big Ingmar's son. Though Stong Ingmar encourages Ingmar to buy back his farm, Ingmar is unskilled and fears he will fail. Strong Ingmar then shows him a nearby waterfall on which Ingmar might build a sawmill and generate enough money to buy back his farm.
Suddenly, Strong Ingmar hears a "mountain dog" barking and running straight for the house. With fear and urgency, he ushers everyone inside, closes the flue, and snuffs all the candles. A booming sound, "like the rolling of thunder across the face of the earth," or "as if the whole mountain had come tumbling into the valley," fills the room. For the entire night, Strong Ingmar's guests anxiously pray, believing the source of the noise to be demonic forces. When they return to the village, Gertrude discloses that "those voices" she heard during the night told her "the devil would come" for her because she "was so fond of dancing." Ingmar, by contrast, believes that "all the old Ingmarssons" were "threatening and cursing" him for wanting "to be something more than a peasant," "tilling the soil and working in the forest." Karin, meanwhile, dreams that Elof is alive and wickedly destroying her home. The massive winds whip through her home, destroying her windows and possessions. While attempting to plug the open window, she collapses and cannot regain use of her legs. Concluding God is punishing her, she is taken to the mission house, where she entreats Dagson, a popular preacher, to explain her predicament.
Nearly the entire village gathers in the mission house, where, in his sermon, Dagson paints "a terror-striking word picture of hell and the prince of darkness." After the sermon, a couple, one of Strong Ingmar's daughters and her American husband, cause a disturbance by reprimanding Dagson, calling out, "Woe to those who give stones for bread!" Karin attends meetings with the Salvation Army and Baptist laypeople throughout the summer but still fails to heal her temporary paralysis.
John Hellgum, who claims to have been a blacksmith, visits Birger Larsson and suggests he let his sons aid him "in the things that pertain to the spirit," leaving Larsson confused. The next day, Big Ingmar's daughter, named Brita after her mother, fashions a noose with which she plans to hang herself in her husband's shop. Just before she slips the rope around her neck, the same stranger enters, staring at her without speaking. In her mind, Brita divulges her marital problems to him until she begins to cry, believing his presence is an act of "protecting her against herself" and a sign from God. The stranger leaves, saying cryptically in parting, "Do thyself no harm, for the time is nearing when thou shalt live in righteousness."
The stranger, John Hellgum, is Strong Ingmar's son-in-law. Hellgum cuts down Strong Ingmar's precious rosebush, which Strong Ingmar believes "sheltered elves and fairies." When Strong Ingmar tries to confront Hellgum, Hellgum recites a Bible verse condemning "heathen" beliefs and behaviors, as he maintains his faith is "the only true Christianity." However, he fails to win converts, as he is "not as eloquent a speaker" as the town's other pastors.
Karin grows increasingly depressed as she fails to regain the use of her legs. One day, she overhears Hellgum and Halvor arguing about faith. Hellgum suggests reevaluating Christian doctrine and shares his story of being taken advantage of by his fellow factory workers due to his Christian principles. In prison, he realizes that because it is so difficult to coexist with others even while professing Christianity, "Satan must have taken something away from the Bible, so that Christianity should go to smash." Hellgum suggests Halvor join him in building "the New Jerusalem" by living in a Christian commune. He believes "the most difficult work in the world is to live a Christian life," which cannot be accomplished without community. Hellgum legitimizes his authority by claiming to heal the sick, which excites Halvor, who hopes Karin can be healed.
Hellgum visits Karin while she is alone and offers to pray for her. Karin, vowing never to deal with preachers again, hesitates to accept his help. After Hellgum leaves, Karin's infant daughter walks over to the hearth, where a fire blazes, and nearly falls in. Without thinking, Karin rushes to save her daughter, thereby regaining her ability to walk. She credits her "miracle" to Hellgum. Soon after, the villagers gather at the Ingmar farm and plan to follow Hellgum and thus "embody the only correct and true principles of Christianity."
Young Ingmar and Strong Ingmar return to the farm after a winter of felling trees in the forest. Karin invites Young Ingmar to join Hellgum's congregation, arguing that to do so would honor Big Ingmar's wishes for his family to "walk in the ways of God." Ingmar is excited and agrees, as he befriended Hellgum during the winter and considers him "the finest chap he had ever met." However, Ingmar is concerned that the congregation refuses to speak of the schoolmaster and his family. Additionally, Strong Ingmar hates Hellgum, believing that his theological doctrine goes against "true" Christian beliefs, like those held by Big Ingmar.
The debate over Hellgum divides Strong Ingmar and Ingmar. Strong Ingmar then explains the religious fervor and contagious conversions by relating a story about how Gertrude scolded Hellgum after he convinced a girl to leave her parents to live on the Ingmar Farm with Hellgum. Strong Ingmar then asks Ingmar to decide "on which side" he stands as the village looks to the Ingmar heir as a future leader.
Over breakfast, Karin reveals that the village no longer associates with the Storms, as Hellgum's community pulled the children out of school, inciting the schoolmaster to call the police. However, Gertrude, a friend of Hellgum's, decides to join them. Karin and Halvor then explain that Ingmar will only keep the sawmill and farm if he joins the Hellgumists. Ingmar then visits Gertrude, who says she will join Hellgum, thus ending her relationship with Ingmar. As Ingmar leaves, he ominously proclaims that Gertrude "will never join the Hellgumists."
At the sawmill, Ingmar overhears three men shouting at Hellgum for driving their brother mad through his teachings. When Hellgum cries for help, Ingmar rushes to his defense, throwing the assailants out of the house. One of the assailants stabs Ingmar in the neck. Wounded, Ingmar refuses Karin's help and wanders into the woods. He only agrees to let Karin save his life after she promises to send Hellgum back to America. While Ingmar recovers, Gertrude visits him and confesses her love, explaining that she only went along with Hellgum to find peace from her anxiety over Ingmar's affections.
Analysis
Just as Karen attempted to prevent suffering by rejecting Halvor, only to endure the exact suffering she feared at the hands of Elof, Storm's mission house ironically encouraged the very thing he hoped to prevent. He hoped to fortify the community against "heretical" Christian beliefs by organizing a schoolhouse-style meeting to better inform the congregants, assured that his version of Christianity was unshakeable, logical, and accurate. However, by offering a place for congregants to engage directly with their faith, Storm validated their experiences and empowered them to pursue their faith in unconventional ways. The novel symbolizes this irony in the mission house's key. Storm abandons the key, proclaiming it "unlocked the door to everything which [he] had hoped to shut out."
The novel uses mystical imagery and the theme of signs and omens to explain the community's spiritual vulnerabilities. This device is best exemplified during the avalanche that coincides with Strong Ingmar's party. Because the massive winds are unexpected and frightening, and coincide with attending the dance, Gertrude concludes that God is condemning her frivolous pleasures. She then amends her behavior accordingly, vowing she has "danced her last dance." Similarly, Ingmar is disturbed by the noises, which sound nightmarish and demonic. However, he interprets the omen differently from Gertrude. Whereas Gertrude believes the omen holds religious significance, connecting to the theme of religious devotion, Ingmar thinks the noise is his ancestors scolding him for abandoning Ingmar Farm and wanting to pursue a different career path. Ingmar's interpretation demonstrates the themes of legacy and connection to land and community, important values for members of the Ingmarsson family.
Even before introducing Hellgum's literal pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the text foreshadows this mission by using Biblical terminology and allusions to "God's Holy City." Both Storm's mission house and Hellgum's attempt to create an idealized Christian community are referred to with epithets such as "his Zion" and the "heavenly Jerusalem." "Zion" refers to a sacred hill in Jerusalem and colloquially references a paradise or spiritual home. "New Jerusalem" is a term used in the Book of Revelation that refers to the heavenly kingdom Christians believe they will inhabit after death. Thus, the religious leaders Hellgum and Storm believe that their individual interpretations of faith are sanctioned by God and embody the ideals of Christian unity. Since Hellgum and Storm are antagonistic, and their sects differ in dogma, their shared faith in the correctness of their beliefs is ironic.
Hellgum's attempt to convert the villagers demonstrates the theme of unity and division using paradox and irony. Hellgum believes Christians can only authentically express their faith by living in unity. However, Hellgum also proposes that to live in harmony, all Christians must convert to his cause and follow his teachings perfectly. This ironic legalism for the sake of unity creates a paradox in Hellgum's religion. The village was far more unified and "Christian" before his arrival when believers like Strong Ingmar were permitted their unique beliefs, practices, and superstitions. Hellgum's attempt to create a cohesive, homogenous congregation tears the village apart.
In his discussions with Halvor, Hellgum uses the imagery of industrialization to explain his Christian beliefs. He compares Christianity to a machine, explaining that in "any perfect mechanism, if a cog happens to slip...the whole machinery stops." In this analogy, he argues that modern people must reassess Christian principles and the meaning of a Christian lifestyle. By invoking mechanical imagery, the text equates Hellgum with the destructive forces of industrialization and modernization. Just as Hellgum's religion threatens Dalarna's social fabric, industrialization threatens the village's traditional economy and values.
Though Hellgum makes many enemies, he also wins many converts. Hellgum is a mediocre preacher, but he uses his charisma and striking appearance to create a mystical, authoritative persona. Because the Dalarna villagers are accustomed to seeing their lives through signs and omens, many readily accept Hellgum's teaching simply because he appears at opportune times. For example, Brita, Big Ingmar's daughter, abandons her suicide attempt when Hellgum appears in her shop. Hellgum remains silent and makes no move to sabotage Brita. However, Brita projects her own emotional turmoil onto Hellgum's silence, choosing to believe that his stoic appearance is a sign of her life's value and his spiritual authority. Similarly, when Karin regains the use of her legs to save her daughter's life, she attributes this "miracle" to Hellgum simply because she was disillusioned by conventional religion and had coincidentally spoken with him earlier that day.
