Godless (novel)
Encyclopedia
Godless is a 2004 young adult novel by Pete Hautman
. It won the 2004 National Book Award
for Young People's Literature.
It is about a 15-year-old boy, Jason Bock, who develops a religion of his own called "Chutengodianism." His god is the Ten-Legged God, also known as the water tower, and he is shocked by the consequences of this seemingly obvious jest.
This book has sparked religious controversy with many parents questioning the motivation behind it. The author has written a response, which can be read here.
-going-on-atheist
Jason Bock invents a new god – the town's water tower. He recruits an unlikely group of worshippers: his snail farming best friend, Shin; incredibly ordinary Dan Grant; cute-as-a-button (whatever that means) Magda Price; and the violent and unpredictable Henry Stagg. As their religion grows, it takes on a life of its own. While Jason struggles to keep the faith pure, Shin obsesses over writing their bible, and the explosive Henry schemes to make the faith even more exciting - and dangerous. But when the Chutengodians hold their first ceremony high atop the dome of the water tower, things quickly go from merely dangerous to terrifying.
Shin (real name: Peter Stephen Schinner) is Jason's best friend and the First Keeper of the Sacred Text of Chutengodianism. He farms snails as a hobby and is the first member (other than Jason) of the church of the 'Ten-Legged One.' Unlike the rest of the group, Shin really seems to take the religion seriously and even believes to hear the water tower speaking to him. It gets to the point that he sneaks out in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm and climbs to the top of the water tower, seeking some sort of enlightenment. When Jason finds him and climbs up to him, Shin refuses to come back down. He wants to swim in the head of the Ten-legged One, as every other member had done in the ill-fated previous meeting of the Chutengodians.
Dan Grant is, as Jason puts it, is his ordinary friend. He is so average that one usually has to meet him six or seven times before one remembers his name. He is the second acolyte of the 'Ten-Legged One' and is also the preacher's son. At the very end of the novel, where Jason and the other members of Chutengodianism are doing community service as punishment for the church's activities, it is revealed that Dan holds a grudge against Jason for getting him in trouble and messing up his life.
Magda Price is a pretty girl who works at Wigglesworth and the third member of the new religion. She joins after she overhears Jason and Shin talking about their new church over a couple of Wigglesworth's famous Brainblasters. The two boys originally disapprove of her joining, but they eventually agree that they shouldn't discriminate genders. After Jason made a comment about breeding, she dumped his Brainblaster on him, but later apologized. Her relationship with Henry Stagg grows throughout the book, until they are seen at the mall together as a couple towards the end. Magda allegedly helped Henry create his commandments for the "Choots."
Henry Stagg is the last one to join the chutengodians. He is somewhat of a bully to Jason and Shin and does not care what happens to him or others. He will not hurt innocent victims, but will pick on any able bodied person. He starts a branch off of Chutengodians named the Choots with his 3 friends: Mitch Cosmo, Marsh Andrews, and Bobby (No last name mentioned).
Mrs. Bock is Jason's mother. She is obsessed with a medical book (which Jay says she reads like the Bible) and loves to diagnose her son with strange conditions he has never heard of. She often worries that Jason has some sort of sleep condition, although he insists that he just likes to sleep.
Father Haynes is the priest at the local church. His sermons and church services are particularly boring in Jason's opinion.
Just Al is the "head brainwasher" at the church's TPO meetings. Jason says he is a "car salesman", with the ability to change the subject to whatever he wants. Jason often finds ways of annoying Al or disrupting the meetings in some way. Al usually responds to these disruptions by changing the subject or giving a small speech about faith and God. He is famous for his unique prayers, which typically state something about Jesus being "one cool dude" or other similar comments.
The Three Goons are Henry Stagg's juvenile delinquents that will follow him around and do whatever Henry tells them to do.
Their names are Mitch Cosmo, Marsh Andrews, and Bobby (no last name mentioned).
Pete Hautman
Pete Hautman is the author of many well received young adult novels, one of which, Godless, won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Hautman moved to St. Louis Park, Minnesota at the age of five. He later graduated from St...
. It won the 2004 National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
for Young People's Literature.
It is about a 15-year-old boy, Jason Bock, who develops a religion of his own called "Chutengodianism." His god is the Ten-Legged God, also known as the water tower, and he is shocked by the consequences of this seemingly obvious jest.
This book has sparked religious controversy with many parents questioning the motivation behind it. The author has written a response, which can be read here.
Plot summary
Fed up with his parents' old religion, agnosticAgnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
-going-on-atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
Jason Bock invents a new god – the town's water tower. He recruits an unlikely group of worshippers: his snail farming best friend, Shin; incredibly ordinary Dan Grant; cute-as-a-button (whatever that means) Magda Price; and the violent and unpredictable Henry Stagg. As their religion grows, it takes on a life of its own. While Jason struggles to keep the faith pure, Shin obsesses over writing their bible, and the explosive Henry schemes to make the faith even more exciting - and dangerous. But when the Chutengodians hold their first ceremony high atop the dome of the water tower, things quickly go from merely dangerous to terrifying.
Main
Jason Bock is a large 16-year-old boy from St. Andrew Valley. He becomes fed up with his parents' religion, Catholicism, and invents his own religion. Jason creates Chutengodianism, a religion that worships the town's water tower. His father forces him into attending weekly Teen Power Outreach meetings, which Jason believes to be brainwashing sessions. He enjoys messing with the "head brainwasher," whom Jason calls Just Al. His best friend is Peter Schinner (a.k.a. Shin), a snail farmer. He has uncertain feelings for Magda Price, and does not care much for the infamous Henry Stagg and his "three stooges." When his new religion starts out, it seems to be going great. As Founder and Head Kahuna of Chutengodianism, Jason must try to hold his religion together as it blows up in his face.Shin (real name: Peter Stephen Schinner) is Jason's best friend and the First Keeper of the Sacred Text of Chutengodianism. He farms snails as a hobby and is the first member (other than Jason) of the church of the 'Ten-Legged One.' Unlike the rest of the group, Shin really seems to take the religion seriously and even believes to hear the water tower speaking to him. It gets to the point that he sneaks out in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm and climbs to the top of the water tower, seeking some sort of enlightenment. When Jason finds him and climbs up to him, Shin refuses to come back down. He wants to swim in the head of the Ten-legged One, as every other member had done in the ill-fated previous meeting of the Chutengodians.
Dan Grant is, as Jason puts it, is his ordinary friend. He is so average that one usually has to meet him six or seven times before one remembers his name. He is the second acolyte of the 'Ten-Legged One' and is also the preacher's son. At the very end of the novel, where Jason and the other members of Chutengodianism are doing community service as punishment for the church's activities, it is revealed that Dan holds a grudge against Jason for getting him in trouble and messing up his life.
Magda Price is a pretty girl who works at Wigglesworth and the third member of the new religion. She joins after she overhears Jason and Shin talking about their new church over a couple of Wigglesworth's famous Brainblasters. The two boys originally disapprove of her joining, but they eventually agree that they shouldn't discriminate genders. After Jason made a comment about breeding, she dumped his Brainblaster on him, but later apologized. Her relationship with Henry Stagg grows throughout the book, until they are seen at the mall together as a couple towards the end. Magda allegedly helped Henry create his commandments for the "Choots."
Henry Stagg is the last one to join the chutengodians. He is somewhat of a bully to Jason and Shin and does not care what happens to him or others. He will not hurt innocent victims, but will pick on any able bodied person. He starts a branch off of Chutengodians named the Choots with his 3 friends: Mitch Cosmo, Marsh Andrews, and Bobby (No last name mentioned).
Minor
Mr. Bock is Jason's devout Catholic father. He is bothered by Jason's disbelief in God and forces him to attend Teen Power Outreach at his church. For most of the story, he disapproves of Jason's new religion, although he later accepts it at the end of the novel. After the ill-fated meeting of the Chutengodians on top of the water tower, Mr. Bock made Jason write book reports of five Catholic books, all of which Jason could not focus on to save his life.Mrs. Bock is Jason's mother. She is obsessed with a medical book (which Jay says she reads like the Bible) and loves to diagnose her son with strange conditions he has never heard of. She often worries that Jason has some sort of sleep condition, although he insists that he just likes to sleep.
Father Haynes is the priest at the local church. His sermons and church services are particularly boring in Jason's opinion.
Just Al is the "head brainwasher" at the church's TPO meetings. Jason says he is a "car salesman", with the ability to change the subject to whatever he wants. Jason often finds ways of annoying Al or disrupting the meetings in some way. Al usually responds to these disruptions by changing the subject or giving a small speech about faith and God. He is famous for his unique prayers, which typically state something about Jesus being "one cool dude" or other similar comments.
The Three Goons are Henry Stagg's juvenile delinquents that will follow him around and do whatever Henry tells them to do.
Their names are Mitch Cosmo, Marsh Andrews, and Bobby (no last name mentioned).