The Prodigal Son: a comparison
From the Gospel of Luke and by Garrison Keillor, a comparison. Many parables originated from Christianity. One of the most well-known ones is the Prodigal Son. In fact, due to its popularity, it is often quoted from, and different adaptations of it have been written and even acted out. The original version of the Prodigal Son is from the Gospel of Luke 15:11-32. Garrison Keillor, a celebrated fiction writer, and host of a weekly live radio show, attempted and succeeded at such an adaptation of this parable and came up with a humorous version of his own in which he retold the story through a radio drama. A parable is a short, simple story, which conveys a moral or a lesson. These lessons are taught by use of comparisons. During early Christianity, Jesus used parables to communicate the hidden truths of God's kingdom. Through these short stories, the people were able to understand the lessons better, because they were able to relate to them from Jesus' use of illustrations and examples taken from their daily life. These parables helped the people apply these life lessons in their goals to be Christians and because of this importance the parables were always of a serious mood or tone. For this reason, K
eillor's version of the Prodigal Son seems unnatural because of the way he portrayed it, yet its lesson still comes across. He also seemed to favor his younger son more. Such characteristics are ignorance, envy, jealousy, bitterness, and selfishness. The sin of human nature through the younger son's selfishness and squandering, and through the older son's incapability of forgiveness is also shown. In addition, Keillor satirizes certain human follies in his version. He even satirizes the Samaritan's unusual kindness. In short the parable reveals that we humans have a free will and if we choose to love in God's Grace, regardless of our past sins, God will welcome any of us with open arms into His kingdom. The younger brother on the other hand took advantage of his father and was very irresponsible and immature, maybe because he knew that his father would take him back. The only character in the biblical version that I noted had a shortcoming is the older brother. He was unforgiving and quite jealous of the love that his father had for his younger brother. The older brother was very bitter because of this and was very jealous of his younger brother. Just as the biblical version was probably easier to understand for the people of the past, the modern, humorous version is just as easy for us to comprehend. As Luke's version is of a conservative nature, Keillor's is of a perverse one.
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Acceptance Essays
