Science and Health

Science and Health is a book by Mary Baker Eddy that Norma Jeane reads as part of her private exploration of Christian Science. Carried from Manhattan to the Captain’s House and read in Baby’s room, it becomes a small but telling sign of how she seeks ideas and forms of consolation beyond the understanding of her husband, the Playwright.

Identity and Context

The novel places Science and Health alongside The Sentinel, a publication featuring accounts of prayer and healing. Together, the book and the testimonies connect Norma Jeane’s reading to Christian Science, though the evidence does not specify which passages she reads or describe her applying a particular teaching. Her interest appears as one part of a broader habit of searching through books and reference materials for ideas she might use in caring for Baby.

That search occurs within a household shaped by sharply different views of illness and belief. The Playwright is a rationalist and agnostic, and he regards Christian Science with deep contempt. He hopes Norma Jeane’s interest is only a diversion. The contrast is not presented as an abstract debate: it surfaces in their shared home, where her reading can be seen and judged.

Reading in Private

Norma Jeane brings books from Manhattan into the Captain’s House and reads Science and Health while curled in a chair by the window in Baby’s room. The room also holds her secret diary, poems, and lists of words copied from a dictionary. Her reading therefore belongs to a private intellectual and imaginative life, not simply to a public declaration of religious commitment.

The Playwright notices what she is reading when he comes into the room. Although he disapproves, Norma Jeane continues to read the book and The Sentinel. The scene presents the text as part of a repeated domestic tension: her chosen reading is visible to him, while the meanings and needs she brings to it remain her own.

Marital Conflict and Other Reading

The Playwright’s concern extends beyond the religious books. He thinks of Norma Jeane’s mind as unusually sensitive and easily influenced, and imagines it as a well that must not be polluted by toxic substances. His protective language also reveals his impulse to supervise what enters her mind. Science and Health thus stands within a wider conflict over her intellectual independence, rather than serving only as an emblem of faith.

On another afternoon, he finds her reading a history of European Jews instead. He is relieved that it is not one of the Christian Science publications he hates. The contrast makes the disagreement specific: his reaction changes with the subject of the book, while Norma Jeane’s pattern of reading across disciplines continues.

Narrative Significance

Science and Health is significant chiefly through its place in Norma Jeane’s private life and her marriage. It is associated with a practice of seeking guidance through reading, alongside her lists, poems, and diary, while the Playwright’s disapproval turns an ordinary book into a point of friction. The text also sits against the novel’s accounts of institutional treatment: Gladys Mortensen has spent years in Norwalk Hospital, where electroshock and medication have been used to manage her illness. The contrast does not establish that Norma Jeane reads Science and Health as a substitute for medical care; instead, it places her spiritual reading within a story where beliefs about healing, illness, and who gets to define what is helpful are in tension.