Francine Rivers is a world renowned author. She started off her writing career after receiving a degree in English and Journalism from the University of Nevada. For nearly nine years, Rivers’ books were purely secular-- that is until she found the Lord Jesus as her Savior. From the point of her salvation onward, Rivers began to write books based on her new life found in Christ. She wanted to write stories that would point others to her Father. The first book Rivers wrote after her salvation is a book entitled Redeeming Love. This novel is one of the most beautiful and profound stories I have ever read. Rivers tells the story of a farmer, Michael Hosea, during the years of the California gold rush and his pursuit of God that leads him to marrying …show more content…
Sarah would endure many hardships in her young life leading up to her being sold into sex slavery at the age of eight. I found this interesting because though the story of Hosea and Gomer is one of my absolute favorites, I have always looked on Gomer with such disgust, but I had never truly contemplated her story. What lead up to Gomer’s life of prostitution and her unfaithfulness to Hosea? How dark was her past? Rivers displays Sarah losing her innocence and her deterioration into the walled-up fortress she becomes as a young …show more content…
Francine Rivers’ writing painted a picture so clearly of what true brokenness is and then shows the reader what “rock bottom” can be for someone. Redeeming Love makes one recognize their filthiness before God, and it is beautiful. Michael Hosea’s communion with God and willingness to spend all he had to buy a prostitute and take her for his wife is not just a retelling of what Hosea did for Gomer, but is also what Christ did for us on Calvary. As the story goes on Angel is seen running from Michael not once, not twice, but three times but each time Angel comes back more mended and more healed than she was before because through the “redeeming love” of Michael Hosea, Angel has seen God’s love.
Rivers chooses to tell this story from an omniscient point of view by writing chapter by chapter from a different character’s perspective. This allows the reader to become immersed in the plot and get to know each character individually. The big picture of the whole situation is more readily available because the story is not just told from the perspective of Angel, or Michael, or Paul (Michael’s brother-in-law), or Miriam (a young girl befriended by the Hosea family). The story is told with so much emotion felt by each character that the reader begins to ache for the characters
In his novel, Saints at the River, Ron Rash develops the struggle to maintain the environment as well as spiritual peace. A young girl has drowned, and is now trapped, in the Tamassee River, bringing grief and sorrow to Oconee County. The father, Herb Kowalsky, is very troubled and tries to find help from anyone. This incident brings numerous diverse individuals together to support the Kowalsky family. One of the main supporters is a writer, Allen Hemphill, who felt great empathy toward the family. Although Allen and Herb are very different men, they display similar qualities throughout the novel. Some of their similar features include being outsiders from Oconee County, sufferers of family tragedy, and crusaders to bring
The notion behind loving someone is simply a very complicated and esoteric in nature. People often describe a certain chemistry, as in a certain attraction, needed between two individuals who are in love but Barbara Fredrickson is able to coordinate the definition of love on the basis of chemicals. Barbara Fredrickson is able to provide the definition of love on the deductive reasoning based on chemistry, biology, and neurology explained in Love 2.0: How our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything we Feel, Think, Do, and Become. As Barbara explains "With each micro-moment of love, then, you climb another rung on the spiraling ladder that lifts you up to your higher ground, to richer and more compassionate social relationships, to greater resilience
A History of Marriage by Stephanie Coontz speaks of the recent idealization of marriage based solely on love. Coontz doesn’t defame love, but touches on the many profound aspects that have created and bonded marriages through time. While love is still a large aspect Coontz wants us to see that a marriage needs more solid and less fickle aspects than just love.
Overall, the use dual narration in this novel is very effective as it conveys the thoughts of both narrators. Furthermore, altering chapters also acquire momentum for the text, as well as foreshadow the events of McBride's life through that of his mother, plus suggest the similarities between them. Subsequently, by highlighting similarities between two stories due to the different narration, the novel, The Color of Water achieves complexity and nuance. While the parallelism of several issues and the rhetorical strategies further contribute to the meaning of the novel’s message, when Ruth and James finally came to terms with their past and when Ruth was able to help James understand his origin.
The Rivers family lives in the projects, which are known as Henry Horner Homes. This is a public housing development for individuals who cannot afford other housing. The area around the housing development is taken over by gangs, where murders and shootings happen almost every day. Friends of the Rivers family ended up getting murdered on the streets because of drugs and gangs. LaJoe, their mother, raises the children with the occasional help of their father Paul. Their father is sometimes absent in the children’s life’s due to his drug addiction. Throughout the book, LaJoe was afraid that she would lose her sons from gangs that surround their neighborhood. Lafayette is forced to help his mother around the house and work a side job - washing cars near a stadium to help his mother save money. But Lafayette sometimes hangs out with the wrong crowd. For example, when Lafayette was with his friends at a video store, he got convinced to steal a tape, but ended up getting caught by the store manager. LaJoe was terrified that Lafayette was going to turn out like his older brother Terrence, who got incarcerated for armed robbery. Toward the end of the book, Lafayette was arrested for allegedly breaking into a truck and had to go to court and was found guilty. As for Pharaoh, he was always the child who impressed LaJoe when it came to school. He loved the spelling bee and
The narrator in the story does not know everything in the story, the narrator cannot understand everything in the story, and can only describe everything that happens in the story through, the narrator’s view, and thoughts, portraying that the story is told in the first person limited point of view. For example, when Sheila was describing how fishing was boring, or uninteresting for her, the narrator tries to think of ways why her dislike of fishing came through, but never really figures it out, “Now I have spent a great deal of time in the years why Sheila Mant should come down so hard on fishing/ Had she tried it once” (Wetherell 3). This shows that the narrator is desperately trying hard to figure out why does, Sheila, someone that the narrator hold in high regard, hates something that, the narrator also holds in high regard. Despite, the previous mentions that the narrator had learned so much about Sheila, the narrator was not knowledgeable on the topics that Sheila was talking about in the canoe ride with the narrator. “It was a few minutes before I was able to catch up with her train of thought/I had no idea whom she meant” (Wetherell 2,3), many instances were showed that the narrator had really nothing in common with Sheila, and could not give much
Throughout her experience, she found comfort in her faith, although tested. In her writing, she praises the Lord for situations such as her using oak leaves to tend her wounds (31). As the minister’s wife, she makes sure to make known her devotion to the Lord, referencing the Bible often. She wants her readers to know the power of God and faith in hard times “here Read, you may see an instance of the Sovereignty of God, who doth what he will with his own as well as others; and who may say to him, what dost thou?... That God is indeed the supream Lord of the World”
In the short story “A Kind of Courage” by Ruth Sterling, the protagonist, Davy, is trying to win Ginny’s heart.
The Progress of Love by Alice Munro Plot: Woman gets a call at work from her father, telling her that her mother is dead. Father never got used to living alone and went into retirement home. Mother is described as very religious, Anglican, who had been saved at the age of 14. Father was also religious and had waited for the mother since he first met her. They did not have sex until marriage and the father was mildly disappointed that the mother did not have money.
Pure Love in Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood Margaret Atwood, through a series of different situations, depicts the lives of typical people facing various obstacles in her short story “Happy Endings”. Despite their individual differences, the stories of each of the characters ultimately end in the same way. In her writing she clearly makes a point of commenting on how everybody dies in the same manner, regardless of their life experiences. Behind the obvious meaning of these seemingly pointless stories lies a deeper and more profound meaning. Love plays a central role in each story, and thus it seems that love is the ultimate goal in life.
The human experience is what connects people to one another. What we experience defines who we are and who we become. It also defines how we interact with others. The amazing thing is that not only do the events that bring joy, peace and happiness connect us but also those that bring anxiety, fear and despair. This brings to light the fact that God somehow in his sovereignty uses all things for the good of those who love Him. These ideas are brought to light in Jerry Sittser’s book, A Grace Disguised which is his personal journey of loss and the insight and experience that was gained in the face of great tragedy. In his book, Sittser discusses various insights he has gained, such as how Christian’s view sorrow, how families recover when someone they love develops a mental disorder, and the Christian view on suffering and forgiveness. I believe that the author has written a book that has many universal truths that can be applied to anyone’s life and they have the ability to bring healing to many. His ideas can also aid professionals who work with the mentally ill in becoming more compassionate.
In her book, Against Love, Laura Kipnis explains her views on love and why she is against it. She begins with an explanation of how maturity plays into love; maturity in love is seen as the willingness to settle down while immaturity is not wanting to commit. Then she gives a tour of love throughout history, stating that romantic love didn't exist until only a few centuries ago. Also, Kipnis believes that advanced intimacy, one of the essential things to keep a relationship healthy, isn’t good and an overall scary experience. Lastly she lists off an endless list of arbitrary things that you can not do in a relationship anymore. Kipnis contends that if it helps a society to have its citizens believe that it’s shameful to start over, or that wanting more from a relationship is illicit, grizzly acts of self mutilation are clearly needed. However, I believe that love is, in essence, unnecessary. One can live their entire life without
Love is a beautiful thing, it always works out in the end. Everyone is always happy and no problems occur. West Side Story, a musical by Leonard Bornstein based on Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet parallels a love story of two star-crossed lovers. The play takes place in 1961 in New York City. This musical displays importance because it shows that nothing can overcome the power of love. This play is based on a love story between the main characters of Maria and Tony. Theses two are from different gangs that trouble to get along. They are from different gangs that do not get along at all. Roughly two hundred blocks make up Manhattan’s West Side, which stretches from Central Park West to the Hudson River. For the most part, the street youths
The purpose of the article “Navigating Love and Autism” by Amy Harmon is to emphasize that autistic people can achieve love, even though the struggles of autism are present. In this article, Jack and Kirsten both have autism and are working to build a dating relationship. For Kirsten and Jack, being comfortable is a huge aspect in their relationship. After their first night together,
Janice A. Radway teaches in the literature program at Duke University. Before moving to Duke, she taught in the American Civilization Department at the University of Pennsylvania. She says that her teaching and research interests include the history of books and literary production in the United States, together with the history of reading and consumer culture, particularly as they bear on the lives of women. Radway also teaches cultural studies and feminist theory. A writer for Chronicle of Higher Education described Radway as "one of the leaders in the booming interdisciplinary field of cultural studies." Her first book, Reading the Romance (1984) has sold more than 30,00 copies in two editions. Her second book, A Feeling for Books: The Book-of-the-Month Club, Literary Taste, and Middle-Class Desire appeared in October of 1997. What follows is a topic-outline of the introduction to the English version of her first book.