While many people are born as “border dwellers”, Agnes DeWitt seizes an opportunity to
forge a new identity for herself in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. Born as
and identifying as an average woman for a large part of her life, she takes on the persona of a
priest, Father Damien Modeste, and plays this part for the remainder of her life. However, even
though she takes on the role of Father Damien, Agnes still retains her female identity, and she
never sacrifices one for the other. She takes on male attributes without sacrificing her female
attributes and takes on attributes of a priest without sacrificing the natural human tendency to
“sin”, especially when she engages in a sexual relationship with Father Wekkle. Agnes DeWitt
maintains the characteristics of a border dweller by straddling the rigid divisions between gender,
religion, and identity as she simultaneously plays the role of both Agnes and Father Damien.
Before Father Damien’s death, Agnes lived as Sister Cecilia, a nun who taught music.
However, Agnes only lived as Cecilia for six months before she decided to take on the persona
of Father Damien, a persona that she inhabited for the rest of her life. Therefore, Agnes
technically lived as three separate identities, yet she rarely referred to herself as “Cecilia” when
she became Father Damien. This calls into question how important an identity Sister Cecilia is
to Agnes if she could switch into the priestly role of Damien so quickly. Agnes herself describes
Cecilia as “…emptied. Thinned…” (Erdrich 14). However, when Agnes becomes Father
Damien, she claims, “She transformed herself each morning with a feeling of loss that finally
defined as the loss of Agnes” (Erdri...
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...weller by his refusal to link any gender to any religion; he
determines that a person is an amalgamation of genders and religions. Although these people
known as border dwellers are not typically accepted in their societies, Father Damien finds Little
No Horse to be a safe haven for him as he questions his identity. As Agnes states near the end of
her journey, “Here it was –the reason she’d been called here in the first place” (Erdrich 309). She
equates her time on the reservation to a spiritual self-discovery that absolutely needed to take
place for her to determine that she was in fact a border dweller. This awakening is crucial to her
character development because despite entering the reservation as a priest intent on reforming
the Ojibwe, Agnes learns more from their religion and enacts certain aspects of it in her everyday
life until her death.
every done, and she had personal challenges to face. She left behind children, just to make them
is very upset and think that they are the cause of her "death". Also, the Friar
St. Clare of Assisi took prayer and her religion seriously. Though she was thought to marry, which was a formal family tradition, she
When Catherine was six she saw a bridal chamber up in the heavens with Jesus Christ who bestowed upon her the sign of the cross and his eternal bene...
In Saint Marie (1934) Marie is only fourteen years old and is trying to find her identity and sense of importance. Even though she is half native american and half white, she doesn’t feel like she is fully accepted into either community. In order to find her calling, she believes she can prove herself good enough to be accepted into the Sacred Heart Convent and even become a saint. Even though she wants to become part of the Catholic religion she isn’t very religious herself: “I had the mail-order Catholic soul you get in a girl raised out in the bush, whose only thought is getting into town.” Her goal is not necessarily to become religious, rather it is used as a pathway to achieving acceptance in the white community. Marie tells this story a few years later looking back on it. Back then she thought highly of the convent, but when she is older she describes the convent in the book as “Humble, ragtag, out in the middle of no place. Where God had only half a hand in the creation.” She realizes that its a kind of place for nuns that lose their mind or don’t get along anywhere else. As the story progresses, it proves to be true. Yet at first, she has so much faith and trust in Leopolda simply because she was different from the other nuns. She thinks the reason is while the other nuns didn’t keep track of ...
Her increased participation within PLAYS becomes the turning point of her descent into the belief that she was once Queen Mary. As she learns more, Marla’s point of view reveals she is no longer pretending. She became convinced she is one with the deceased Queen’s experiences and
Previously, the narrator has intimated, “She had all her life long been accustomed to harbor thoughts and emotions which never voiced themselves. They had never taken the form of struggles. They belonged to her and were her own.” Her thoughts and emotions engulf her, but she does not “struggle” with them. They “belonged to her and were her own.” She does not have to share them with anyone; conversely, she must share her life and her money with her husband and children and with the many social organizations and functions her role demands.
was for her son to become a priest and to bless her with his own hands. But,
Horses are the most noticeable symbol in the whole book. Horses are a necessity to the boys. The horses are political and economic assets to Grady, Rawlins and Blevins. Specifically for John Grady, horses are more important to him than humans. He constantly dreams of him running with horses and always thinks about them. To Grady horses are like a way to distract him from all his problems and give him a sense of freedom because he does not have to worry about all the stress, problems, and people. Grady relates humans and horses stating that horses are superior to the human race. "Finally he said that among men there was no such communion as among horses and the notion that men can be understood at all was probably an illusion." (Page 111) Grady has a passion for horses. He tells the horses everything like his life story, his thoughts, and secrets. Since Grady does not trust humans he turns to the horses as an output. Grady’s love for horses reveals more about Grady himself. It makes Grady seem like a fairly lonely person because he only trusts horses and prefers horses over humans.
Moreover, Therese was not always a nun or a saint, she was a normal girl, yet her spark to become a nun began when she was fifteen. She wanted to become a nun to give herself completely to Jesus; however, Therese was rejected because of her age. Although her age was a problem,
Agnes is a typical Gothic heroine and is in love with Don Raymond. Although she transgresses conventional sexual morality of the period by allowing herself to be seduced by her lover, she is redeemable in so far as they were planning to be married before she was shipped off to the convent. Within the plot, she is purified through extensive punishment and imprisonment and the death of her baby. This and her loyalty to her lover allow her to become a “good woman.” She is happily married at the conclusion of the novel without violating the audience’s beliefs about the immorality of
In the story, the narrator is forced to tell her story through a secret correspondence with the reader since her husband forbids her to write and would “meet [her] with heavy opposition” should he find her doing so (390). The woman’s secret correspondence with the reader is yet another example of the limited viewpoint, for no one else is ever around to comment or give their thoughts on what is occurring. The limited perspective the reader sees through her narration plays an essential role in helping the reader understand the theme by showing the woman’s place in the world. At ...
She is the patron of nurses and can be helpful when you pray to her. For example, a month ago I fractured my ankle and the doctor said I would be out for around six weeks. I prayed for her to help the pain and swelling go away. Also, I prayed to Saint Catherine, to not be out for the full six weeks, so I could go back to cheer and not miss any important national competitions. Besides being helpful she is inspiring to me, of her abilities to resist temptations and her devotion to God. One time my dad told me to only have water because it was late at night. However, I had been desperately craving iced tea all day and thought I “had” to have it. So I opened the door and took out the iced tea, but before I poured it in, I thought about my decision. I remembered how my saint was able to pray to God to help her resist her temptations. Therefore, I placed the iced tea back in the fridge and accepted water instead like my dad suggested. As a result of having thoughts to disobey my dad, I prayed to God like Catherine did for help. Saint Catherine lived a life dedicated to God in the real world (reality). It is encouraging to me that she was able to live a life fully devoted to God and not have any distractions, doubts, or fears holding her
“Her twin, the murky depths of the river, the past, all conspire to claim her. And they do” (Gardner, 2004).
When Helena was born she was very weak and the people around doubted she would even live. Therefore, before the baby was even 24 hours old a baptism was held. Helena’s aunt, a young child, was asked to stand in as a godmother. During the ceremony, the child became restless and knocked over a candle without anyone noticing. The priest performing the baptism suffered severe burns when his robe caught fire. The people at Helena’s baptism saw this as a sign. She was nicknamed Lyola because her grandparents and servants thought she had powers. (6)