Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in It Can’t Happen Here, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
American Fascism
Liberalism and Tolerance
Morality and Resistance
Political Communication and Mass Media
Summary
Analysis
In Zero Hour, Windrip writes that he wishes that all the Christian churches could unite together. Like Jessup’s pastor father, Doremus Jessup is a Universalist. There are few other Universalists left in Fort Beulah, so Jessup seldom goes to his father’s old church—but after Windrip’s election, he does. He reminisces about his childhood while he listens to a visiting student give a lackluster sermon about sin. He wishes that the student’s speech could inspire and encourage him, but then he realizes that this is exactly what Windrip offers his followers. He visits the Anglican church instead, but the Rev. Mr. Falck’s sermon doesn’t console him, either. He can’t stand the congregation’s formal style and haughty attitude.
During the student’s sermon, Jessup realizes that he relates to religion in much the same way as most Americans now relate to politics: it’s his way of seeking comfort, meaning, and connection. But he sees how this can search for meaning become dangerous—wishing that everyone would follow the same church is no different from wishing that everyone would rally behind Windrip. In fact, this is why so many people turn to fascism: it appeals to their fundamental human instincts, like their desire for order and a sense of collective social purpose.
Themes
Lorinda Pike—who doesn’t go to church—spends that Sunday afternoon cleaning up her boarding house, the Beulah Valley Tavern. Doremus Jessup visits her there. They agree that Windrip will set back women’s rights, and Jessup says he wants to move to Canada, but Pike declares that the country needs newsmen like him—and she needs company. He jokes that he’s too old to get sent to jail, and she jokes that he better not be “too old to make love.” He suddenly feels much better. After a brief conversation about Emma, Jessup and Pike discuss their affair, which they agree is exciting, harmless, and well-hidden.
Lorinda Pike gives Jessup the sense of purpose and excitement that he fails to find at church. In addition to their sense of humor and interest in politics, they also share a kind of cynical humanism. Namely, they are deeply concerned about other Americans’ well-being, but also deeply skeptical about other Americans’ capacity to make wise decisions. They both feel a strong obligation to save American democracy from Windrip, but they don’t yet know what to do and recognize that this will put them in harm’s way. Indeed, they foreshadow the coming chapters in their conversation about whether they should escape to Canada or stay in the U.S. and resist the administration.
Themes
Jessup approaches the window, then notices someone watching him and Lorinda Pike from across the street. It’s Shad Ledue, who’s supposed to be working. Jessup says he has nothing to hide, but he’s also thinking about the death threat he received. At that moment, Sissy walks in the door. She, her father, and Lorinda Pike have tea. Afterwards, Jessup crosses the street and finds Shad Ledue hiding in the bushes. Ledue claims that his motorcycle just broke down, and Jessup politely offers to drive it home, but Ledue says no, insults Sissy’s driving, and says good night. Jessup feels like a stupid pushover but offers Ledue his car anyway. He drives Sissy home in hers, because she really is a terrible driver.
Jessup believes in treating everyone with honesty and respect—something that Shad Ledue absolutely doesn’t do for him in return. This conflict creates an ongoing personal dilemma for Jessup: can he treat Ledue ethically without letting Ledue take advantage of him? Of course, this speaks to a more fundamental question that is central to this novel: how can love defeat hate? In fact, Doremus Jessup’s relationship with Shad Ledue is a metaphor for the conflict between democracy and fascism. Jessup’s struggle to put his foot down with Ledue parallels his struggle over whether deception, betrayal, and even violence could be justified in the fight for democracy. This struggle is all the more complicated because democracy resolutely bans deception, betrayal, and violence. Thus, dealing with Ledue (and fighting for democracy) might require Jessup to suspend his normal ethical principles and decide that the ends justify the means—just like the idealists he spoke out against in the last chapter.
Themes
On their way home, Sissy criticizes Doremus’s overly cautious driving, then comments on his frequent visits to Lorinda Pike and suggests that they’re having an affair. Doremus denounces the suggestion, but Sissy says that an affair probably wouldn’t even hurt her mother Emma. Doremus asks if Sissy even knows anything about sex. Sissy sarcastically jokes that she’s happy to have never learned about it, but that sex would probably help Doremus focus his energy on fighting Windrip. She admits that she’s still a virgin, but probably not for long, given how her relationship with Julian Falck is going. (She has given up on Malcolm Tasbrough, who’s now an avid Windrip fan.) Doremus admits that Sissy’s impropriety embarrasses him, but Sissy says that, with the country in crisis, there isn’t “time for coyness and modesty.”
The clear generation gap between Doremus and Sissy underlines how Doremus might have to change his patient, cautious, puritanical ways in order to truly contribute to the fight against Windrip. In contrast, Sissy’s relationship drama and advice to her father about his affair show that she’s open-minded, confident, and courageous. She’s precisely the kind of newly liberated young woman that Windrip and his cronies want to destroy. But unlike her father, she’s also the kind of person who won’t hesitate to act on her values. It’s unclear if that makes her the kind of idealist that her father hates, the kind of activist that the U.S. will need to stop Windrip, or both.
Themes
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At home, Shad Ledue forgets to bring the keys inside and insults Sissy again, so Doremus Jessup finally fires him. Ledue proudly declares that he is leaving to go work for the League of Forgotten Men, anyway. Within weeks, Ledue requests a donation from Jessup and starts turning people off from his newspaper when he refuses.
Jessup finally works up the courage to fire Ledue—which represents how, as he ponders the horrors of the coming Windrip administration, he is becoming bolder and more decisive. Meanwhile, Ledue’s new job with the League illustrates one way in which authoritarian organizations are particularly dangerous: because they value loyalty above all else, they tend to reward greed and conformity, while punishing talent and imagination.
Themes
