I've followed this discussion for a while now, and wanted to reflect on a character I recently authored for a story that will more than likely never see the light of day, because I wrote it for a very specific anthology and it wasn't accepted. I never thought I'd write a sympathetic character who was specifically Christian, moreso specifically protestant. However, when I set the story Lady of Mercy aboard a slave ship in the early 1800's I ended up doing just that. The character of Reverent Tipton provides an example of how european colonialism and the zeal of european missionaries negatively impacted Africa during the slave trade years and later during the "grab for Africa" as colonial powers stripped the natural resources from the continent. The main character, Mister Fredricksen, doesn't like Reverend Tipton and suggests his ministering to the slave cargo aboard Lady of Mercy is akin to abandoning his european/civilized heritage.
Here is the introduction of Reverend Tipton -
I dropped into the main hold where a hundreds of wide eyes blinked at me from the stultifying moist heat and overpowering smell of feces. Not a single negro spoke as I threaded through their cramped ranks, tugged at ankle chains and poked at thick cast iron locks. Reverend Tipton, a missionary on his way from deep in Bantu country to Haiti, knelt at the far end of the hold. He'd draped a white handkerchief over the bare breasts of a silent negro woman and balanced an open bible on his squat knees.
"You're wasting your time Reverend." I shuffled past him, past the rows of pink bottomed black feet interlocked in the narrow passage. "Those Bantu don't speak English."
"The word of God transcends language. Tell me, isn't there something you can do about the heat and smell, a hatch to open or something? This is unbearable for even the strongest men."
I shrugged. The heat and stink was the same on every slaver. Reverend Tipton should have waited for a proper passenger ship if he was concerned, but as is the case with virtually all of Europe's Christian Soldiers, they can't get off the continent fast enough. If Malaria doesn't grind them down, if the constant tribal warring doesn't get them killed, if the culture of uncivilized beasts doesn't sap their faith, then the relentless oppression of the colonials shatters their humanity, then they flee.
His booming voice echoed back towards the forecastle. "It's inhuman. It's un-Christian!"
"Then go above decks like a civilized man."
Sweat soaked through his white linen suit and showed his pink flesh beneath the cloth. "I am pleased to suffer with the cargo." His voice dripped with derision.
"I'm sure Captain Machado will be pleased to hear that." I shoved back into the corridor and threaded back through the dank towards the steps to the main deck.
Later, when a mysterious illness begins killing cargo aboard Lady of Mercy, it is only Reverend Tipton that inisists upon staying with the sick and dying. Fredricksen begins to understand Tipton more as the sickness gets worse.
Tipton offered to perform any more services as needed and took to asking each healthy negro to accept Jesus before they too were stricken. But the Bantu mostly ignored his increasingly anxious ranting, and we could see how Africa would strip a man, missionary, or otherwise, of his senses. Tipton seemed no longer to be on safe passage away from the continent, but still embroiled in the soul saving he'd abandoned only two weeks ago when his mission was sacked and burned.
Sanders, one of the regular crew, is bitten and infected by a zombie. As he lay dying, Tipton ministers to him as the wound festers and the infection spreads.
Tipton and fed him crumbs of hardtack, water and soothing passages from The Bible.
I realized now that the Reverend was in his element. He was as much a minister of the Lord's word, as a minister of goodwill and comfort. Conversions be damned, it was sick and the dying that stirred the evangelism in his soul. And in this I found great respect for him.
One day I should ask why he would abandon a continent so rife with need for such sympathetic men, more so, how me managed to keep his wits on a vessel crewed with the very agents of destruction to all of Africa?
Fredricksen's understanding of Tipton's personality and conviction is important as it illustrates the compassion and humanity that the main character lacks, and through that realization, Fredricksen begins to see his job aboard the slaver, and the position of the European colonials, in a much more negative light. This is his turning point in the story.
The point of this post, and these excerpts is that I never intended to write Tipton in what could be described as a "stereotypical" manner, but I ended up doing so for the very reason that his character has a spiritual grounding in contrast to all of the other characters aboard Lady of Mercy. Could I have made him an atheist member of the regular crew? Sure. Would that have made the story any better? Probably not. I chose the archetype for Tipton because I wanted that mirror for the main character. But that was the only agenda I had for the character.
I am releasing these excerpts on purpose. Lady of Mercy will more than likely be broken down and rewritten into something more contemporary as the market for historical zombie fiction is so small as to be atomic and this tale didn't make the cut.
