The Literary Intricacies in the Book of Mormon

Reading the Grant Hardy edition of the Book of Mormon helped me to see much of the literary significance in the book, even if one isn’t looking at it from a faithful perspective. Just from reading the first couple of chapters, one can catch a glimpse of the Book of Mormon’s intricacy. Nephi laces his narrative with themes that give purpose and direction to the overall story; for instance, he ends the account of Jews trying to kill Lehi with the message that the reader will come to see that “the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen . . . to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance” (p. 7). He starts his narrative with the affirmation that even in spite of suffering, he knows the Lord has highly favored him (5).

In addition, the Book of Mormon is rich with literary devices such as symbolism, foreshadowing, and comparisons. Even in the first chapter Nephi alludes to the Bible when Lehi is compared to the “prophets of old” (7). Reading Lehi’s praise unto God (an apostrophe) and the Lord’s words to Nephi formatted as poetic verse gives more elegance and flow to their words. Lehi shows his wisdom and faith in his view of a valley as a symbol of being firm in keeping the commandments, then his hopes that Lemuel will become like that valley (8). The end of the second chapter even provides some foreshadowing: the Lord tells Nephi that the future Lamanites will never have power over the Nephites unless the Nephites falter in their faith and rebel against Him (9).

Ultimately, these literary features that I have discovered during this reading have given me respect for the Book of Mormon as a coherent narrative (in spite of its complexity) that supplements its story with important themes and testimonies of Christ. It utilizes symbols, themes, foreshadowing, and poetry in order to teach the reader about Christ.