... French priests whose missionary zeal is kept in check only by their understanding of indelibility of local Mexican and Native American spirituality. Although their progress in building a traditional Catholic church is slow, the process of growth and learning in their lives closely mirrors the growth of stronger congregations ... manner that leads to the addition of this quality to the working definition of the heroic. Death Comes For The Archbishop by Willa Cather The book "Death Comes For The Archbishop", by Willa Cather, is a unique and compelling story about the Archbishop Latour an...

• Word Count: 7335
• Approx Pages: 29
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Climate In times of recession and falling expectations, stress levels rise, alcoholism increases, and marriages falter. In Carver's stories, disaster always seems to be just outside the pages of the book. His characters generally have jobs, although they are jobs that do not contribute to their emotional or intellectual well-being. The characters seem to float in existential despair through their ... took on ever-greater importance with academic scholars and critics and generated a variety of critical readings. Ewing Campbell, for example, agreed with earlier reviewers that "Cathedral" r...

• Word Count: 11148
• Approx Pages: 45
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... his native Normandy. In 1869 Maupassant started to study law in Paris, but soon, at age 20, he volunteered to serve in the army during Franco-Prussian War. (http://www.online-literature.com/maupassant/ Literature Network) This comes into play when in the text it says: "When the war broke out, Mother Savage's son, who was then thirty three years old ... subjects for his pessimistic stories and novels chiefly from the Norman peasant life, the Franco-Prussian War, the behavior of the bourgeoisie, and the fashionable life of Paris. (http://www.online-literature.com/maupassant/ Literature Ne...

• Word Count: 2584
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... a hero. At the beginning of the novel the reader sees Hepzibah as a stagnant and unlikely candidate for a hero. However, as the novel progresses, the reader becomes aware of Hepzibah's moral progress - her subtle transition into a heroine. Another good way of portraying this is to look at her progression as a step outside of her domestic role. For an old woman who is ... progresses, and Clifford becomes trapped by Maule's curse, Hepzibah's devotion grows stronger, and it is her and her alone that keeps Clifford alive and well at the end of the book. Again, Hepzibah is a surprise heroine...

• Word Count: 2986
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... tone and point of view throughout the novel. Fitzgerald tells a wonderful story and in this novel, the story is quite easy to follow. In the first book, the couple (Anthony and Gloria) meet and fall in love. We are introduced to Adam Patch, Anthony's philanthropist prohibitionist grandfather. We meet Anthony's friends, ... from the pampered life of the beautiful to the suffering of the damned. The damnation is mainly caused by alcohol. Toward the end of the book, the broken, debt-ridden hero, Anthony Patch, "awoke in the morning so nervous that Gloria could feel him trembling in the bed...

• Word Count: 2828
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... Lafferty has captured the essence if Indian writing very well. This is shown by his description of day to day living of the Indians. This book showed how Lafferty could be versatile. This work was a very realistic story that people are able to relate. He uses a science fiction twist on ... realism. Shake again. The exact latitude and longitude of Paradise: go there and see, Shake, the exact name written upon the Devil's tombstone. This book is a strange twist of myths and monsters. The Devil is Dead is the classic example of the bizarre potential of Science Fiction. It is very ... tries ...

• Word Count: 2850
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... published in 1983. With its publication he finally received the critical praise he had longed for. Cathedral is generally considered to be one of Carver's finest works. The book was also Pulitzer Prize nominated book. The story is narrated in first person and is about a blind man who is coming to visit the narrator and his wife. The narrator does not realize ... of short stories by Raymond Carver, Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, was his first key work. It was published in the United States in 1976 and nominated for a National Book Award in 1977 (Claude Grimal, 1995). Carver began dri...

• Word Count: 3978
• Approx Pages: 16
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... of the title- he tells readers to take action, explaining that history is never unbiased- it is tainted by the storyteller's prejudice. The imagery in the title, and throughout the book, indicates that assuming the skin of a lion can be a way of legitimising one's life in order to compensate for historical omissions. This provides an opportunity for the once marginalised persons ... is actually an attempt at coming to terms with his own story since the stories of these two women are intricately interwoven with his own. By the end of the book, which actually is the beginning, Patrick is ...

• Word Count: 3985
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: High School

... for revenge. We can also see how Pip is at heart a very generous and sympathetic young man, a fact that can be witnessed in his numerous acts of kindness throughout the book (helping Magwitch, secretly buying Herbert's way into business, etc.) and his essential love for all those who love him. Pip's main line of development in the novel may be seen ... ...

• Word Count: 3498
• Approx Pages: 14
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Graduate