Theft and Conscience in God Might Forgive Gershwin Burr

The theft that becomes a pattern

Brian Prousky’s God Might Forgive Gershwin Burr follows a man whose father has died violently. Gershwin steals a book and notices a change in his mood. In the story, that discovery develops into repeated theft, increasing skill, and a growing fortune.

Gershwin associates the first theft with relief, making the act a turning point in his life. What follows complicates that experience: stealing becomes an occupation he struggles to give up. The initial appeal and the later difficulty belong to the same course of action, leaving him caught in a pattern he has helped establish.

Pressure to stop, uncertainty about change

His wife wants him to go straight, and his conscience troubles him. Neither pressure gives him the desire to change. Then an unidentified person betrays his secret, leading to his arrest, conviction, and imprisonment. An internal argument becomes a situation he can no longer control.

In prison he searches for repentance while trying to identify the person who exposed him. Those aims do not necessarily point in the same direction. One concerns how he understands his own actions; the other keeps his attention on what someone else has done to him.

A question of responsibility

Readers interested in crime and conscience can follow Gershwin through that tension. The premise promises eventual answers to his questions, but an answer is not the same as a guaranteed transformation. His response remains part of the story to discover.