The Giant Joshua is a 1941 novel written by Maurine Whipple, considered to be one of the most important works of Mormon fiction.[1] The work portrays pioneer life and polygamy in nineteenth-century Utah Dixie. The idea for the novel started as a short story submitted to the Rocky Mountain Writer's conference in 1937. There Ferris Greenslet encouraged Whipple to apply for Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship, which she won in 1938 in advance of her first novel. She completed the novel over the course of three years.
The novel focuses on the life of Clorinda (Clory), who becomes the third wife of Abijah MacIntyre and lives in Southern Utah during its early years of colonization by Mormon pioneers. Clory survives through both emotional and physical hardship as she experiences the deaths of her children and multiple miscarriages, near-starvation due to drought and floods, and emotional neglect from Abijah. One of the themes of the work is how polygamy and enduring harsh conditions are both tests of faith. Whipple embeds folk beliefs and narratives into her story, giving it greater depth.
Contemporary reviewers praised Whipple's realistic portrayal of Mormon pioneers in Utah and the way her realistic characters elicited sympathy. John A. Widtsoe, a prominent church leader, wrote that its treatment of polygamy was unfair, but that it showed the "epic value" of early settlements. After a resurgence in interest in Mormon literature in the 1970s and 1980s, the book became one of the best-known examples of a Mormon novel. Terryl Givens wrote that it is "perhaps the fullest cultural expression of the Mormon experience," and Eugene England stated it was the greatest Mormon novel. Though Whipple planned to write a sequel, she never finished one.
^"Maurine Whipple | Mormon Literature & Creative Arts Database | HBLL". mormonarts.lib.byu.edu. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
TheGiantJoshua is a 1941 novel written by Maurine Whipple, considered to be one of the most important works of Mormon fiction. The work portrays pioneer...
novel TheGiantJoshua (1941). The book is lauded as one of the most important Mormon novels, vividly depicting pioneer and polygamous life in the 19th...
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brevifolia (also known as theJoshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca) is a plant species belonging to the genus Yucca. It is tree-like...
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A giant planet, sometimes referred to as a jovian planet (Jove being another name for the Roman god Jupiter), is a diverse type of planet much larger...
neighborhood to believe that the Three Nephites have visited them. TheGiantJoshua by Maurine Whipple, a popular novel detailing polygamy and pioneer...
is named after theJoshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) native to the Mojave Desert. Originally declared a national monument in 1936, Joshua Tree was redesignated...
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growth serum is tested on lab rats, turning them into giants. While the animals rampage, the use of the same serum on cancer cells causes massive tumors....
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Joshua is bitten by an escaped tarantula and accidentally knocks down the spider cages. Joshua is killed by the spiders. After devouring him, the spiders...
Joshua (born May 1, 1948) is a former professional baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1969–71, 1973–74 and 1979), San Francisco Giants (1975–76)...
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The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. TheGiants compete in the National Football League...
relationship between the Anakites and Philistia (Joshua 11:21, Jeremiah 47:5), identifies the Anakim with Anax, thegiant ruler of the Anactorians in Greek...
Thegiant oceanic manta ray, giant manta ray, or oceanic manta ray (Mobula birostris) is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae and the largest type...
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