Crossroads

Crossroads is split into two parts that correspond to events on the Christian calendar: “Advent” and “Easter.” Advent is the month-long season preceding Christmas that always begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve. Easter is only one day, but it is the culmination of the 40-day season of Lent. Advent anticipates the birth of Jesus, whereas Lent leads up to Good Friday, the day on which Jesus’s crucifixion is memorialized, and Easter, the day his resurrection is celebrated. To observing Christians, Christmas is important because it prefigures Easter; in other words, Jesus’ birth in human form makes possible his eventual death and resurrection, by which humans can find redemption from sin.

For the Hildebrandts, too, events from the novel’s “Advent” section inevitably result in the events of the “Easter” section. From Russ and Marion’s growing disdain for each other and extramarital interests; to Perry’s alienation, spiritual emptiness, and drug exploration—these events make possible Perry’s life-altering crisis in Arizona. The parallels to the Christian Easter celebration in the novel’s “Easter” section are not exact; no one dies in the Hildebrandt family, even though Perry does attempt suicide. However, the family as it previously existed has died, set on a new trajectory by Perry.