The idea of exile in Israel Potter

Question from the floor: "can you talk about the 'idea' of exile in IP"? OK, there's one major intertext beneath this, which is the Biblical story of the exile and captivity of the Israelites in Egypt, and then later in Babylon. In the Egypt story, the Israelites arrived basically as contract laborers, were made slaves, and then were ultimately led out of captivity by Moses (and Aaron) into the promised land of Zion. This becomes a template for a virtually infinite number of "redeemed captivity" stories, especially in slave narratives (read Douglass' speech carefully and you'll see his frequent reference to this Biblical theme).

American Revolutionary discourse often made reference to their oppression as being like that of the Israelites: the colonists were 'slaves' and the King of England was like Pharaoh. (The irony of this usage of 'slave' seems to have been mostly lost on them.) Because of Israel's name, his struggles to break free of the English yoke (the "dogs" who chase him, as he tells JPJ) can be likened to that of the revolutionaries. But he doesn't really break free for 45+ years. A story of captivity, to follow the Biblical template, should end with redemption from captivity, with salvation, as when the Israelites get to form their own nation. Instead, Israel's "full circle" homecoming is laden with irony; it's not triumph but social death--the land and the nation don't remember him, and there is no promise for the future.

Israel's story seems to deviate from that of his nation, which perhaps suggests there is some unfinished business in the US redemption plot. And/or it may suggest the limits of mapping a modern political story onto a spiritual story: economics, and the contingencies by which a hard-working person can slip easily into abject poverty, are also important. Nations like to think of themselves in such spiritualized, sacral terms, but there are always economic factors at work in political questions, as well as philosophical/spiritual causes.