Eleanor Porter wrote a half truth in Pollyanna. She remembered “Rejoice … always,” but forgot “in the Lord.” In the sequel, Pollyanna Grows Up, she tried to bolster her argument by saying it is not enough to seek joy in everything, you must serve others also. This is decently satisfying as a secular psychology answer, but poorly satisfying as a spiritual answer.
Humans should pursue joy; it brings God glory. Porter shows us one method of pursuing joy, but she leaves out the most important part: the gospel. Pollyanna tells the story of an orphaned missionary child who teaches a town to rejoice in spite of their circumstances by teaching them “the Glad game.” In the process she helps heal old wounds and quarrels, reveals hypocrisy, and endures difficult and painful situations. Pollyanna is contrasted with her Aunt Polly—a woman embittered by the past into covering all emotion and living according to the strictest Duty. Pollyanna, while (almost) always obedient, seeks to find joy in even the most unpleasant tasks. At one point, she poses for herself the problem: where is the joy in Duty?
The Glad game itself arises from the view that God is serious in commanding His followers to rejoice. When the local pastor is struggling with the hypocrisy and infighting of his parishioners, Pollyanna reminds him of God’s commands to rejoice. He, being devout and seeking God’s will, takes the exhortation from Pollyanna and an article that advocates the practical benefit of encouraging people into obedience rather than scolding them. Oddly, the characters never mention sin as our worst problem or the Cross as the remedy. Christ is the true spring of our joy, and joy in anything else is shallow and less enduring.
Perhaps the sequel was written in response to criticism about Pollyanna, which many have said lacks depth—the girl finds joy in circumstances, pulled from nowhere. In Pollyanna Grows Up, Pollyanna encounters several circumstances in which genuine gladness may not be appropriate: cases of poverty and illness, loneliness and temptation, and death of a relative, in all of which she is unable to help. Pollyanna is distressed by these, finding it difficult to play her game. Scripturally, this makes sense. We are commanded to weep with those who weep, while continuing to rejoice in the Lord. Our view of circumstances may be low, but our view and joy in God is high. Yet Pollyanna cannot discover this tension.
Porter’s answer to these problems seems to be Christian service. The Glad Girl convinces a rich woman to adopt the poor and ill boy and to support a lonely and tempted working girl. When Dr. Chilton dies, Aunt Polly is again cast into despair by her widowhood. Pollyanna’s service to her aunt eventually alleviates this burden of sorrow. By serving others or convincing others to serve, Pollyanna brings joy into these circumstances where the Glad game cannot go. The end of the series is a silly, but entertaining romantic carousel, not significantly contributing to the overall themes of the books.
Although Elementary in reading difficulty, children should not read this book unless they are secure in the Cross as their source of joy, or at least they should be guided in discerning where joy comes from. Porter clearly presents the thesis and antithesis of Delight and Duty, but does not clearly articulate the synthesis found in the gospel—that God changes our hearts, then in grateful love we seek to obey Him (Phil. 2:13-14). For those secure in joy’s source, Pollyanna will be a sweet encouragement to treat God’s commands for joy seriously—a truth we as Christians often overlook.
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