Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop: Powerful Prose
It is understandable that some early twentieth-century critics of Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop said that the "'book is hard to classify,'" and "that it is not a novel" (On Writing 12). At that time, novels generally were written with a recognizable structure, with character development as a focus and chronology as a central organizational strategy (Harmon 350). In Death Comes for the Archbishop the central character's changes are subtle and relational, while the chronology sometimes seems random and unpredictable. Cather's preference to call her work "a narrative," a term usually contained within the definition of "a novel," does make sense, if only to distinguish her style in the minds of her readers.
Cather's main character, Archbishop Latour, does not change so much as come into clearer focus. It is as if her story begins with a picture of Latour through a blurry wide-angle lens. He is only a name in the prologue; he is denied authority when he first arrives in Santa Fe; he is traveling in foreign territory. Yet, through a series of vignettes, Latour's personality becomes more vivid and realized, like the landscape around him. Rather than major personal trans-formations or dramatic circumstances, we find that Latour becomes more of what we already thought he was.
Although a relatively solitary man, Latour is literarily never alone. Cather almost always sets her main character in relation to either another character or to the landscape. Comparisons of the scenery to that of other locales are made, but like the personality of the Latour himself, the landscape seems to develop its essence, as well. In a scene towards the end of the book when Latour is on one of his many journeys back to Santa Fe, we see a good example of this juxtaposition, "[t]he plain was there, under one's feet, but what one saw when one looked about was that brilliant blue world of stinging air and moving cloud" (DCA 231-2).
Cather points the fulfillment of her tale in her title. In the last section, titled just as the book itself, the Archbishop is "active in some other part of the great picture of his life" (Death Comes for the Archbishop 288). During his last days he was "done with calendared time," these words reflecting the arbitrary way in which memories are recalled, and the manner in which the book's minimal plot progresses.
In the Greek epic, “The Odyssey”, Odysseus encounters many monsters and other obstacles on his trip home to Ithaca. “O Brother, Where Art Thou” is a modern day twist on Odysseus’ trip home. Ulysses Everett McGill, or Everett, escapes prison to return home to his “treasure”. Both Everett and Odysseus encounter the same obstacles, like the cyclops, Lotus eaters, and Sirens.
To discover an erotics of place in Willa Cather's A Lost Lady, takes little preparation. One begins by simply allowing Sweet Water marsh to seep into one's consciousness through Cather's exquisite prose. Two paragraphs from the middle of the novel beckon us to follow Neil Herbert, now 20 years old, into the marsh that lies on the Forrester property. This passage, rich in pastoral beauty, embraces the heart of the novel-appearing not only at the novel's center point but enfolding ideas central to the novel's theme:
Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case,” displays the conflict between conformity and individuality through the main character, Paul. On a number of occasions, Paul is forced to lie and steal to escape the conformists who wish to control him and stifle his unique imagination. However, his lying, stealing, and attempts to escape the conformists, only force Paul into isolation, depression, and feeling a sense of shame for his individuality. Throughout the story one might see Cather’s constant contrast of individuality versus conformity, as well as Paul’s lying and stealing. Cather seems to draw the conclusion that extreme individuals, much like Paul are simply misunderstood, and not offered the acceptance they desire from conformist society.
While in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the highly-regarded American novelist Willa Sibert Cather was captivated by the story of Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy and his friend, Father Macheboeuf. She was so enchanted by these two men that she decided to write a novel based on the events of their lives serving as Roman Catholic clergy in New Mexico. Her 1927 novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop, tells the story of Bishop Jean Latour and his friend, Father Joseph Vaillant, as they travel to New Mexico in the mid-nineteenth century to strengthen the Catholic faith of the natives. In Death Comes for the Archbishop, the natives of New Mexico are devout, but their religion has been corrupted by superstition because there have been no priests to instruct them on their faith. “This country was evangelized in fifteen hundred, by the Franciscan Fathers. It has been
For instance, CAPM assumes all investors have access to the same level of information which allows them to invest in assets wisely. Also, the model assumes the variation of an asset is a tolerable tool used to ration the risk of the asset. With this assumption, CAPM assumes all investment in assets have the same percentage of risk which is relatively not real. Furthermore, the Fama-French three factor model is a model by the famous award winning Eugene Fama and also by Kenneth French to relatively explain and describe returns on stocks. The assumptions shows that observed assessments in market glitches like the scope and worth result of the assets cannot be explained by the CAPM. The CAPM is used to evaluate cost of common
The diction and detail used by Willa Cather in the book A Lost Lady, paints a picture in the readers mind by her prose selection of diction and arrangements of graphic detail, which conveys a feeling of passion, sadness, tense anger and unending happiness through Neil Herbert. Throughout the book, Cather describes Neil Herbert¡¯s life from his childhood, to his teenage years, and then to his adulthood with surpassing diction and supporting detail.
Risks are everywhere, however that does not mean one has to resort to accepting all levels of risk in the world. Risk is identifiable and as such can be mitigated down to a level where an individual is comfortable with or at the least tolerant of the risk. The stock market requires the use of an individual or business investor’s money and therefore involves considerable amounts of risk. Those who are averse to risk, yet can see the benefits of investing, must due their due diligence prior to investing in a stock that may be considered risky. By using beta and the security market line as tools to identify risk in the market, investors are able to mitigate risky decisions and build a comfortable portfolio that
Fama, E.F. and French, K.R. (2004). The Capital Asset Pricing Model: Theory and Evidence. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18, 3, 25-46. Retrieved December 2nd, 2011 from jstor.org
How should the risk of an investment, affect its expected return (Perold, 2004)? According to Perold (2004) the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) was the first coherent framework developed by Sharpe, Lintner and Mossin in 1964, 1965 and 1966 respectively, to answer this question. CAPM fundamental premise is that not every risk should affect an asset’s price, specifically risks that can be diversified away when held alongside other investments in a portfolio, cease to be risks at all (Perold, 2004).
The narrator continues with describing his resentment towards his home life, 'Coming home was not easy anymore. It was never a cinch, but it had become a torture (2).'; This excerpt provides the reader with an understanding of the sorrow that the protagonist feels at the beginning of the novel and throughout the first half. Further narration includes the protagonists feelings of distance from the land and blame that he places upon himself, 'But the distance I felt came not from country or people; it came from within me (2).'; Thus, as the reader, we understand that the narrator has removed himself from the land and his culture.
Hensel, C. R., Ezra, D., & Ilkiw, J. H. (1991). The Importance of the Asset Allocation Decision.
A mother loves and helps you. She will persuade you to not make a huge mistake. She will provide you with everything you need. One of the most important influential figures is your mother because she is kind, loving, and a big inspiration.
In the poem, Iliad, Achilles and Hector both show relative heroism in their own different ways. Achilles may have been the more popular hero, but Hector had great heroism as well. Each of these characters possess their own different strengths and weaknesses. These two characters both have pride as being one of their main weaknesses. Hector seems as if he would suit best in the modern world, but there are a few different reasons as to why the ancients may have chose Achilles. Hector and Achilles both lost a lot by letting their pride get in the way of their heroism. Both of these characters were their country’s best warrior. Achilles and Hector have very different personalities, and very different ways of approaching situations.
shows the friar as a beggar who uses his money not for the betterment of