The Lame Shall Enter First

The Lame Shall Enter First

 

       In the story “The Lame Shall Enter First”, Sheppard, the protagonist father, renders himself to be Christ-like, but ironically does not believe in heaven or hell. He also is unable to empathize with the grief his son, Norton, exhibits for his one year laid to rest mother. So without the belief of God or heaven, the viewpoint of life and death does not provide his son for comfortable understanding of the death of his mother. To fill the void between Norton and himself, Sheppard reaches out to an underprivileged, delinquent, young child named Rufus Johnson. The exposition of this story continues by way of Rufus entering Sheppard’s household by way of the key he offered the young lad while he is away. Sheppard becomes enlightened when he sees a young and bright Rufus Johnson in his home reading an encyclopedia and pleads for him to stay. By the end of the exposition, Rufus also can tell that Sheppard resembles Christ by saying, “He thinks he’s Jesus Christ!” In contrast, Rufus, the antagonist, considers himself to be consumed and overtaken by Satan, but has strong belief and faith in The Bible and Christianity. 

 

       The rising action of this book accumulates while Rufus begins to show his love and passion for Christianity, despite being filled with sin himself. He tries to explain to Norton, to the disapproval of Sheppard, where his late mother is. The dialogue between the two about heaven, hell, and the Bible continue throughout the rising action, while Sheppard completely disregards of it. Rufus, though a complete troublemaker, achieves Grace and a connection with The Lord because he believes and tries to convey the truths about The Bible with Norton and even Sheppard.  The police make regular visits to the Sheppard household when something goes wrong around the area, assuming it is Rufus. Sheppard at first doesn’t take bail for what the offending Rufus had done, but to cease the moment and try to craft him into a better individual, Sheppard defended Rufus.

 

       As a reader of this short story I do not believe there is a certain or particular moment to be credited as a climax, because throughout the whole story the action rises and builds up until the very end as the audience is then appalled and somewhat saddened by the act of suicide by Sheppard’s real son. One could make the case that in the beginning of the story there was a hint of foreshadowing because Sheppard paid more attention to Rufus Johnson than his actual son. The reader could even argue that at the beginning he loved Rufus more than his son, Norton. 

 

       A key point in the story is when Rufus denies the special made shoe Sheppard provides for him and refuses to wear it. This symbolizes how Rufus is dependent on his handicap to maintain a healthy belief of going to heaven, despite being evil and a juvenile delinquent, pronouncing, “the lame shall enter first.” The story exhibits a great deal of irony, as the story suggests that compassion and love cannot be replaced. Through the mentioning of the suicidal event occurring by the window with the telescope and Norton, irony is exposed relating back to Sheppard wanting to acquire and create the telescope on behalf of Rufus, as he disregarded his own son. By the conclusion of the story, Rufus Johnson, a troublesome, evil filled, child who believes in good and evil makes known to Sheppard that he needs to spend more time and love his son unconditionally; but it is too late because he learns this after Norton hangs himself striving for his mother which he fantasizes seeing in the telescope through the window earlier.