Lilies Of The Field Sparknotes

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In The Lilies of the Field, by William E. Barrett, Homer and Mother Maria share the similar character traits of stubbornness, hard-working, and kind-hearted. Homer and Mother Maria are both very hard-working. Homer is treated with inferiority and told he cannot possibly be dedicated enough to build the chapel for Mother Maria and the nuns. However, he stubbornly insists to construct the church in spite of the prejudice against him. Prior to meeting Homer, Mother Maria was adamant about building the chapel with just herself and the nuns. Though most of the town believes her to be an impractical nun with overly optimistic goals, this merely bolsters her commitment to establishing the church. When Homer leaves town, Mother Maria is steadfast …show more content…

Mother Maria exhibits what a hard-worker she is when she escapes Germany and starts an order of her own. With only herself and the nuns who bravely chose to accompany her, she works hard, selling lumber to buy tools and food, creating a new life for herself and the nuns. Homer and Mother Maria demonstrate what dedicated hard workers they are. Although it is not apparent at first, Homer and Mother Maria are both very kind-hearted. At the beginning of the book, Homer doesn’t feel obligated to help the nuns, but he buys the nuns quality food because his caring heart doesn’t want to see them hungry or deprived of what he believes to be ‘good food’. Even after Homer has temporarily left the nuns behind for the bustle and excitement of the city, he continues to think of them and buys them a bathtub, to make the chore of carrying heavy buckets from the well worth their while. Mother Maria shows her tender-heartedness when she is determined to create a school for Spanish-speaking boys who “get into trouble” and give them a chance to better themselves. She also shows her good nature when she allows and joins the nuns and Homer in singing in the

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