The Voice Inside Myself

Preparing for my honors religion class I picked up the book, A Voice in the Wind, by Francine Rivers. I had heard from many others that this book would change my life forever and I would not be able to set it down, however I thought of it as just another summer reading book. Reluctantly, I started to read and though I could have put the book down, I didn’t. The beginning was like the beginning of any other book I had read. It introduced the characters, one by one, and it seemed to go on forever. However, this book was different, for none of the main characters knew each other. None of them even lived in the same town. I found this interesting and wanted to keep reading just to find out how they all came together and meet. Finally they all came together, but slowly, and throughout the entire book. They all meet at separate times and did not fully become engaged with each other until the end. This kept me from setting down the book and walking away, this kept me interested.
This book was also very different in the way that it was written. The author, Francine Rivers, managed to bring the ancient life styles of immediately after Christ’s death to the modern world. The story took place long ago; however I could not stop myself from applying the text to the modern world. There was not one character that I could not relate to someone I knew or even myself. I began to wonder how I could stay away from becoming more like the troubled Julia, who could not find true love or true happiness and be more like Hadassah, who was happy and felt loved without the help of humans just the Lord. I also found myself wondering what I would do if someone I loved offered to express his love back in a way that was sinful but full of pleasure. Would I stay strong and stick with my faith or would I break under pressure and fall completely under the spell of lust and sin. Throughout the entire book you could not help but want Hadassah to give in to her love for Marcus; however you were forced to take a step back and realize that Hadassah was giving in to her love by protecting Marcus’ soul.
Julia was the daughter of a wealthy man and she was well protected by her father, however her longing for attention and excitement soon ruined her father’s protection and ruined her. Julia always let her feelings and peer pressure get the best of her. So often in the story Julia would be faced with a life changing decision and every time I would hope for the best, however she always let someone else influence her to do the wrong thing. Hadassah never gave up on Julia and always tried to steer her in the right direction which in the end got Hadassah killed. Francine Rivers challenged me and many other readers to take sides and I chose Hadassah. I could not help but long for her and feel her frustration towards the decisions Julia made. Hadassah wanted the best for Julia and made me want the same. As the story went on Julia lost more and more control over herself. She was made thought to believe that she was taking control over her destiny, but really she was giving in to what her one friend wanted and her family feared.
Atretes, however, had a completely different problem put upon him. He was forced to fight until death for the entertainment of Rome and sometimes even for Julia. He fought in the arena after he was captured as a slave. He worshipped a made up god and soon gave up on his faith, however he kept fighting and never gave up on the idea of becoming free. I found myself liking him after reading about him for many hours. I first thought that I could not relate to him, but soon realized that we all have to fight for something that we might not believe in or we might not ask for. In my life I have to fight a disease that could destroy me. Both Atretes and I are searching for some type of freedom and when he receives it at the end of the story I realize that I can find freedom as well. All the characters search for freedom, and all of the characters have different ideas of what freedom is. Hadassah finds freedom in her faith early in the book; however Marcus never seems to understand her faith and does not find his freedom. Julia thinks her freedom will come if she takes control of her money and is able to do with it as she wishes. She also wants to do what she wants with her own time. She eventually gets to this point; however she finds that it is not enough. She needs more, but does not know what it is she needs or how she can receive it. Atretes seeks freedom from Rome and the arena, when he finally gets freedom; he finds that he, as Julia does, wants more.
I learned a lot from the book, not only about my faith, but about myself. I learned that I need to dig deep in myself to find what I really want and really need. I learned that sometimes what I think I want will not always satisfy me. This book is more than a story, though it is fiction, it is filled with facts of life and ways to deal with the struggles that come with life. A Voice in the Wind makes you want more, not only more pages to read, but more life to live. This book is a book I could read a million times and still learn more from it than the time before. The characters are inspirational and represent real struggle and real pain. These characters from long ago are relatable to all teenagers and adults and people around the world will be able to relate to their struggles for years to come.