by Elise Abshire

Elise Abshire is a graduate of the MA program in Theological Studies at the University of Dayton. Currently, she is finishing her PhD, and works at UD as a Grant Coordinator on a grant from the Lilly Endowment centered around creating and enhancing worship for children with disabilities using Montessori methods.  Her areas of research include disability and theology, the intersection of social media and Christianity, and Louisiana Catholic cultural traditions.

“The goal of an influencer is not to be lovable, and it is not to be unbearable. The goal is to be both at once. In other words: addicting” (247)

Caro Claire Burke’s work, Yesteryear, recently hit the shelves and has already spent nineteen weeks on The New York Times' Best Sellers list. I originally heard about the book from a friend, and then suddenly I was hearing about it from most of my friends. Both of my book clubs mentioned reading it for our book of the month. I had to figure out what all the buzz was about with this tradwife satire, so I grabbed a copy, and after reading the first few pages, I was hooked. Burke’s writing is sarcastic, witty, and clever, but underneath the humor are some important themes to think about in both the Christian life and the world of social media.

The story revolves around the character of Natalie Heller Mills who is a traditional wife and influencer living in a rustic farmhouse with her husband and six children. At first sight, it may seem that her Instagram shows the perfect traditional family life full of aprons, chickens, and sourdough bread. However, Natalie's household is full of modern gadgets, producers, and nannies. Anyone who disagrees with Natalie is simply an “Angry Woman” who is jealous of her supposedly perfect life. Natalie even goes as far as to say: “Sometimes it actually makes me nauseous, how satisfying – no how perfect my life is, and how good I am at living it” (269). Natalie’s obsession with creating this image is important because she eventually begins to believe the image herself. Her family becomes part of the brand she is building, and she becomes more concerned with appearing like the perfect wife and mother than actually caring for the people around her. This is especially obvious with her children. Natalie frequently records them for her social media, and at one point her daughter Clementine tells her, “Stop filming me” (24). The problem is not simply that Natalie shares her family online. Parents share pictures and stories about their children all the time. The deeper problem is that Natalie’s understanding of her family becomes shaped by the need to produce a particular image of family, a Christian family at that. 

Spoiler alert! One of the main twists in the novel is that Natalie seems to travel back in time to the 1800s where her trad wife life looks bizarre while still strangely familiar. Burke uses this shift to show what Natalie’s idealized tradwife life might actually look like in the 1800s. Instead of the beautiful farmhouse and carefully staged Instagram posts, life in the past is difficult and not aesthetically pleasing. This is where Burke really plays with Natalie’s ideals. Natalie wants her Instagram page to “feel like stepping into a time machine,” while still having “all the aesthetics of the olden times and all the amenities of modernity” (45-46). Platforms such as Instagram can function as spaces of cultural and religious formation. They shape what people see, what they value, and eventually what they understand to be normal. Even something as simple as clicking “follow” can place a person within a much larger network of cultural, political, and religious influence. 

There are around 170 million Instagram users in the United States, with women making up approximately 55 percent of U.S. users. Additionally, there are three billion people worldwide reported to use Instagram each month. The size of this audience matters when thinking about influencers as cultural and religious figures. Kristin Kobes Du Mez makes a similar point in Jesus and John Wayne when she writes, “The products Christians consume shape the faith they inhabit” (10). Media has long been connected to evangelical identity, and social media has only made that relationship more visible. 

Many people online have suggested that Burke based Natalie on Ballerina Farm, the popular social media account associated with Hannah Neeleman. Hannah Neelman has responded to the claims that Yesteryear is based off of her life, saying that she tries to stay away from conversations about the term "tradwife" because the term is a stereotype without true meaning. She expanded on that thought saying, “I don’t think women who want to work are winning. I don’t think mothers are winning. In fact, I think it’s a step backward. If someone wants to be a mother, great. If someone wants to be a mother and sell sourdough-bread kits, great. We have to support and cheer each other on even if it doesn’t look like what our home life looks like.”

There are many other influencers who could have inspired Burke’s creation of Natalie. I have long been intrigued by Madison Prewett Trout, one of the token Christian influencers of The Bachelor franchise. Prewett Troutt left the show abruptly, and she framed her exit as an act of conviction, grounding it in biblical standards. She commented on her presence on the show saying, "So many girls have given their heart to Jesus and girls who have decided to wait until marriage, just hearing me talk about my decision. It has just been so cool… We're all called to step out in faith and sometimes it doesn't look like what we thought.” What followed from this type of exit from The Bachelor was the creation of her as the “true” Christian influencer who stands up for her beliefs, especially actions and beliefs backed by Scripture. Prewett Troutt has since extended this narrative on TikTok, Instagram, and podcasts, gaining a massive following online, with 2 million TikTok followers and 1.7 million Instagram followers. Along with Hannah Neeleman, MadisonPrewett Troutt offers a window into the character of Natalie and religious ideals, especially how evangelical fundamentalism is not only thriving today but adapting, finding new life through social media platforms. 

Natalie’s religious identity is also puzzling, as Burke never fully explains her faith background. She defies classification in a particular religious tradition, since she has a baptism that took place during her teenage years, but there is still no evidence that she belongs to the Mormon faith, as she does not go to a temple. Another question I had with the book was the story line of Natalie and her producer that lives in the house, Shannon. Natalie finds out that her husband, Caleb, is having an affair with Shannon, and Natalie goes to confront Shannon with yells and even physicality. Their conversation raises the question of Natalie’s queerness because Shannon later says her pants were pulled down, so there is an allegation of sexual assault here. To say that Natalie was in the closet and then possibly abuses a woman to get her sexual frustration out is to paint a picture full of assumptions of Christianity and queerness. 

Additionally, Natalie often invokes Scripture, resorting to it whenever she faces difficulties. While doing that, she fails to use the text properly, and she interprets it in a way that she finds consistent with her conservative beliefs. If Scripture cannot be wrong, then she must find ways to justify her life with the verses. The inerrancy of Scripture is the basis of religious fundamentalism. Natalie begins to see God as someone who tests and manipulates his children and rewards them when they behave correctly. She does not seem to understand God as a kind, just, and loving Father. When “Old Caleb” is coercing Natalie to have sex with her against her wishes, she says “I’m not alone. I’m not stuck, not lost, not forgotten, not punished. I am here, a chosen one, with Him, and I will remain here, wherever here is, until He decides to take me elsewhere” (259). Natalie’s view of a God who keeps people in abusive situations and wants their suffering is not a healthy theological view. Thus, with Yesteryear, Burke is also asking what happens when Christianity becomes part of an image that someone is trying to maintain. One can justify their life off of the interpretation of Scripture to the point that it becomes toxic and dangerous.

By the end of Yesteryear, Natalie’s fantasy completely collapses. Natalie is left to confront the difference between the family she imagined and the family she actually created. Ultimately, this work leaves the reader with a much more complicated picture of Scripture, social media, and influencers. Burke’s novel is not trying to say that traditional family life is bad, but instead, Burke is asking what happens when religion and homemaking becomes an aesthetic, when faith becomes part of a personal brand, and when Scripture is used to defend an image rather than to transform the person reading it.