Victorian Conceptions of Nineteenth-Century Mormonism

A while back I read Sherlock Holmes offends Mormon mother in Virginia, school board pulls book. Essentially, "A Study in Scarlet," the first Sherlock Holmes story, from a historical perspective, inaccurately portrays Mormonism; the Virginia school district had it on a reading list for students; the Mormon mother asked that it be removed; the school board removed it because it was "inappropriate" for 11- to 12-year-olds.

At the time, I hadn't read "A Study in Scarlet," but I was a bit offended that the mother would make such a big deal about the story. I've run across inaccurate portrayals of Mormons before in Victorian literature, and I mostly find them amusing, since they reflect Victorian anxieties, fears, and double-standards. Now that I've read the story (and I hope the mother in question above read the story, too, or else I'm even more upset with her), I still think things were blown out of proportion in Virginia, but I can understand what offended her. That's not what I'm going to write about, though. I'm writing in defense of "A Study in Scarlet."

[Spoiler Alert!] The mystery and double murder (quadruple, when everything comes out) are founded on misconceptions of Mormons. The story starts with an introduction to Watson and his introduction to Sherlock Holmes. At the end of the first part, Holmes declares who the murderer of two foreign men is, though we are at a loss as to why, how, etc. (ah, the beauty of a well-constructed Homes story). Part 2 begins with the emigration of a man and his adopted daughter, the only survivors of a transcontinental wagon train that died of starvation. They are discovered, starving to death on the prairie with circling vultures, by a Mormon wagon train (featuring Brigham Young in a fancy, well-stocked wagon). A bit of the history of Mormons is given: their being driven from place to place and their final quest to find Zion in Utah. Well, John Ferrier and his daughter, Lucy, agree to become Mormons in exchange for being rescued. They arrive in Utah, and everyone soon becomes wealthy and prospers. Lucy grows into a fine woman. She falls in love with Jefferson Hope (oh, how I love that name!), a trapper-trader-mountain man kind of guy, and they are essentially engaged. Jefferson takes off for a bit to become more wealthy. Meanwhile, Brigham Young tells John Ferrier that Lucy must marry a Mormon (he gives her a choice between a man with four wives and one with seven). John Ferrier, above all, does not want his daughter to marry a Mormon. Brigham Young gives them a month to decide. The engagement with Jefferson is discovered, and Ferrier begins to receive a daily countdown to decision point (numbers painted on various surfaces around his farm). He knows that if he doesn't comply, he will mysteriously disappear, as every man who contradicts Brigham Young tends to. Jefferson Hope returns with a couple of days to spare, and the three escape. While Jefferson is hunting one day, he returns to camp to find Ferrier's grave and Lucy taken. He returns to Salt Lake to find Lucy married. She soon dies (of disappointment, etc.). Soon after this, there is a faction in the Mormon leadership, and several men decide to become "Gentiles"; one is Lucy's husband and another is the other man she could have married. Jefferson proceeds to try to kill both of them, and this begins a long manhunt, where Jefferson follows them across the United States, throughout Europe, and finally to England, where he kills them.

Most of the portrayal of Mormons and Mormonism is incorrect. Salt Lake (Utah) is portrayed as a locked down fortress, where no one may leave without consent of the "Four Elders." Portrayals of Mormon doctrines concerning polygamy are not correct, and a few other things, like the wealth of Mormons (the story suggests the leaders are the most wealthy and marry lots of women who will bring more wealth and land). Side note: The Mormon pioneers were incredibly poor for many years after they got to Utah, and though they prospered to an extent, they struggled for quite a while before becoming as prosperous as the story suggests. I mention this because it was the inaccuracy that stood out the most to me, along with the, for lack of a better term, "cultish" nature of the religion; oh, and it's clear they are headed to "Utah," which didn't exist until well after the pioneers got to the Rocky Mountains). I could point out more stuff, but I'm going to move on, since this is a defense of the story.

As I mentioned, I usually find mentions of Mormons and Mormonism amusing (the episode in Around the World in Eighty Days is great), and the portrayal in this Sherlock Holmes story is very interesting. It is such a central part to the story, and I find it fascinating that Doyle would make almost half the story about Mormonism. Remember, this is the first Sherlock Holmes story, and Doyle had a lot riding on the story's publication. It had to be good in order for him to continue writing more stories. Evidently, it made such a big hit that Sherlock Holmes has become a long-lasting hit (new movie's out!). I'm not suggesting that Mormons made the story a hit (Sherlock is the star, for sure), but why put Mormons in the story that needs to be successful?

(Side: I did a brief search to see if any scholars have written about this, but my search yielded only something in French, which I didn't feel like reading. There could be more out there; I just didn't feel like looking that hard...)

My theory is that Mormonism was a hot topic in Victorian England (not a major topic, necessarily). I've come across a few articles in magazines on Mormonism, and one particular "firsthand" account of Mormons was reprinted in a few different places. My thinking is that there were a lot of rumors floating around, and people were mildly interested in the strange new American religion (especially that it was being proselyted in England). People were getting a skewed view, too, since most firsthand accounts weren't really firsthand or were based on other firsthand accounts. From what I've seen, Victorians were interested in the practice of polygamy because of recent bigamy trials, where some men and women were I believe convicted of being married to more than one person. This (the 1880s and 1890s) is the period just after the sensational decades (1860s and 1870s), where literature began picking up on the subversive in Victorian society, being practiced more or less in the open. This is the time of the rise of the detective novel, where the obsessive interest in crime by regular readers led to the creation of detectives like Sherlock Holmes. Literature was delving into scandalous stuff, and what could be more scandalous than a religion that openly practices polygamy, believes in gods and angels arriving on earth bring sealed golden records, and keeps secretively to itself because of terrible persecutions? Who knows what goes on in that secret valley in the Rocky Mountains, where so many who enter never emerge? Is any of that accurate, historically? Maybe. But what is fascinating is the possibility that it exists! That is what Sherlock Holmes is all about; that's what sensational literature, literature that focuses on crime and scandalous happenings. And guess what: it sells!

The title of my blog post is carefully worded: Victorians had some strange conceptions of nineteenth-century Mormonism (which is much different than Mormonism of today; for instance, we no long practice polygamy and haven't since before the turn of the century--1900; we also are less closed, meaning you'll find members of the church all over the world: when young and insecure, the meager group of followers had to band together; now we're much more secure about ourselves). It saddens me that some people, like the woman in Virginia, can take offense at stories like "A Study in Scarlet." Perhaps I just have a different perspective on the matter, but "A Study in Scarlet" represents an interesting point in literature. It reveals, because of its interest in Mormonism, certain anxieties Victorians had about strange things. The historical portrayal of Mormons is besides the point. If anyone who reads the story really thinks that's the way things were, he or she had better rethink what "fiction" and "poetic license" are. Did Doyle know the "truth" about Mormons? Probably not; he was subject to the misconceptions floating around, just like all other people. Did he care? Heavens no! The misconceptions he so eloquently perpetuates make for a great story.

One question remains: If I had been in the above woman's situation, what would I have done? Well, I would have let my kid read the story and talked to him about why the story is the way it is. I probably would have armed him with information to take to classmates to talk about the differences between what fiction portrays and what really happened. In fact, I probably would have given him a few copies of the Book of Mormon with the instructions, "If anyone wants to read nineteenth-century Mormon literature that's accurate, have him read this."

For more information about Mormonism, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, click here. 

For more (accurate) information on the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, click here.