Caleb’s Crossing

Set in the mid-1600s on Martha’s Vineyard (known then as Noepe) Geraldine Brooks’s Caleb’s Crossing is a work of historical fiction inspired by the true story of Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. The novel is narrated by Bethia Mayfield, a curious and spirited Puritan girl who defies the rigid gender constraints of her time to explore the island’s wilderness.

At age twelve, Bethia encounters Caleb, the young son of a Wampanoag chieftain and a powerful shaman. Despite the intense suspicion and prejudice dividing their communities, they forge a secret bond and exchanging knowledge of their respective cultures and languages. Caleb, intelligent and observant, learns to navigate the world of the “English invaders” to ensure his people’s survival, while Bethia, forbidden from a formal education due to her gender, gains intellectual nourishment through her secret encounters and by eavesdropping on her father’s lessons.

Bethia’s father, a devoted Calvinist minister, sees his life’s work as converting the natives, whom he views as caught in the clutches of Satan. Ironically, this ambition brings Caleb directly into the Mayfield home to study with them. Yet, the settlers’ life is harsh and full of loss. Following her father’s death during a sea voyage, Bethia is plunged into poverty. She is forced into servitude in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as an indentured servant, a sharp contrast to her earlier life of relative freedom, while her lackluster brother, Makepeace, continues his education.

The narrative moves between the rustic isolation of the island and the burgeoning, often filthy, academic setting of Cambridge. Caleb, along with another Native named Joel, thrives academically, studying Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, but he is fundamentally uprooted from his home to survive in the harsh, colonial environment. Bethia, serving near Harvard College, finds her only solace in seeing her friend thrive in an alien world.

Tragedy defines the end of their journey. While Caleb triumphs and becomes the first Native American to graduate from Harvard in 1665, his victory is a “lament” rather than a triumph. He falls ill with tuberculosis shortly after graduation. Joel is murdered by other natives protesting white encroachment. Bethia, having returned to the island to marry, looks back on their lives, grappling with the immense cost of this cultural intersection. Through her eyes, the novel explores the themes of faith, betrayal, the loss of Native culture, and the marginalized voice of women in the 17th century.