Fable

Fable

We begin with the women confessing their sins. Each character has distinct sins which in a way show their personalities. For example, Besty, a deaconess, confesses that she “angry at the hens” for nipping Izzy. Later in the lines the youngest Shaker, Izzy, confesses that she provoked the hens which caused them to attack her. Following scenes are of the girls doing their chores and giving small talk. They discuss about various things such as the men they saw (which is looked down upon), the cat that gave birth to kittens. These small talks give the audience peeks into their different background like Jane not getting sleep because she mourns the death of her children or Polly “working on her back in a fancy house at age twelve”.
Seeping through these conversations, different girls say that Fanny told them she sees angels in the meadow. She brings Izzy and Polly to see the angels for themselves. While Izzy proclaims that she sees the angels too, Polly logically explain to the audience what was really being seen.
After seeing the “angels” Izzy believes that Polly has the “gift” to draw. This was discovered when Polly was drawing pictures on jam jars to help the sisters identify each type of jam. Soon Izzy finds that her “gift” is laughter when she couldn’t stop laughing which interfered with her chores.
Hannah confronts Fanny about what she saw, believing that she was seeing men and talking with them. Fanny states to Hannah that she was not seeing the men but angels. Hannah doesn’t believe her. So she, Besty and Phebe confront Fanny, Izzy, and Polly. Polly states that she didn’t see anything while Fanny and Izzy states that they saw angels.
Because of these statement of angels, Izzy was sent to her fathers, although she has only seen him twice in her life. Fanny tells her to just run away while the others are practically pushing her out the door.
Fanny is asked to leave, although she does not want to. In her conversation with Hannah, she states that she simply wanted to understand why the angels were talking to her. Hannah replies that she still thinks that Fanny is lying about the angels. Fanny asks her if Hannah can handle the fact that with Fanny leaving with no money and no home, she would have to sell herself in order to survive. Fanny asks if Hannah would pray for her knowing that she was the cause of Fanny’s future downfall. Hannah tells her that she would pray for her and states to her that she would be able to stay if Fanny stopped talking about the angels. Fanny says she simply wanted to understand the angels. Hannah cruelly replies that she knows Fanny is lying because if angels did come to earth, they would come to the elders, not to “an uneducated who has not even signed the covenant.
The resolution ends with the final scene when Fanny leave the family and goes to a different family who is in need of her talents of gardening.

Plot Summary

As It Is in Heaven takes place at a time when this revolution was in full swing. In 1838 Hannah, the eldress, rules and watches over a group of eight women who represent the female population of one of the families of the Shaker community of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. Fanny, one of the newer younger female members, starts to dance and sing “promiscuously," speak in tongues, and claims to see visions of the angels, Mother Ann, and George Washington! This completely disturbs the daily lives and security of these nine women. The surrounding community is appalled and threatens to eject this religious sect from their community. Hannah must act. Why would Mother Ann and the spirits come to this ignorant child and not the eldress? Hannah's very position is threatened, but by what—a young manipulative girl or the heavens themselves? The controversy threatens the very life of the entire community. The Lord's Prayer asks that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What is God's will? Who gets to decide?
http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/spotlite/slpress/111602.htm