Hightower's Church (Location Key)

The Presbyterian church that Hightower once preached in, "using religion as though it were a dream" (61), is Presbyterian, and also "perhaps the principal church" in Jefferson (48). While for a while the members of the church show patience with the the idiosyncrasies of Hightower's sermons, and seem genuinely concerned for his wife's welfare, the novel later paints a much darker picture of its system of belief. At least, when the defrocked Hightower listens to the congregation singing hymns at a Sunday evening prayer service in the church, the music has "a quality stern and implacable," driving the believers "to crucifixion of themselves and one another" (367-68).