Gestures Of Protection

By Frances Stokes Hoekstra • January 1993

“It’s like a spiritual cruise ship, a love boat,” says Joan. She’s determined to be positive. The lounge on the first floor is decorated with large posters of attractive, radiantly smiling men and women who have given money to the ashram. All the women appear fitter, happier, more relaxed than she. Few of the men are as handsome as her husband. Joan cannot imagine Richard raising up his arms in an attitude of joy, as a man with curly gray hair is doing in a field of daffodils. Underneath the posters are racks of brochures with quotations from the guru and lists of activities available to guests.

Frances Stokes Hoekstra

Correspondence

I loved Frances Stokes Hoekstra’s “Gestures of Protection” [January 1993] because it was so cleverly ambiguous. I was never really sure with which character I was supposed to sympathize.

The ashram scene was inherently false, yet somehow powerful and legitimate. The guru had wisdom and power, but he also seemed suspicious, with his flip answers and the set-up of his little domain. The father was correct in his distrust of the whole scene, but he was entirely wrong in trying to manipulate his son with money. He had a profound experience at the end, but I don’t blame him for resisting it if it meant that he would have to surrender — even something as simple as credence — to the guru.

I’d like to know if Wally eventually came home or at least left the ashram; I rather hope he did. Do you think you could ask Hoekstra for a sequel?

Marc Polonsky Berkeley, California

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