A Grace Disguised Analysis

Everyone here at Northwestern, even though it is a Christian college, has a different view of faith. Some people put it above all and others only know the stories. In the novel Ordinary Grace, Krueger throws challenges at the Drum family. Each family member reacts differently to every challenge thrown at them and has their faith strengthened or destroyed. In William Krueger’s Ordinary Grace, he shows the different levels of faith from the strongest to the weakest, and how they react to different obstacles in life through Nathan, Frank, Jake, and Ruth.

Often, we think of older people as being smarter, wiser, and generally more mature, but this is not always the case. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger gives a number of examples that shatter this generalization, offering an alternative to age as the primary factor in one’s level of maturity. Ordinary Grace shows how maturity is a result of circumstance and does not necessarily correlate with age.

In the early 1900’s the relationship between society and God had drastically changed. After witnessing the horrors of the Great War many came to believe that it was impossible for a God to exist in such a brutal world. This type of thinking quickly spread through the United States, touching every single form of art along the way. New authors emerged all writing about the death of God and the new world. The Godless world became the norm, and one of the writers who challenged this norm was Flannery O’Connor. O’Connor was a devoted catholic author whose stories gained popularity during the southern gothic era. In her response to the post God is dead world, O’Connor focused many of her stories on religious ideas, especially the moment of grace. She believed that everyone would have a chance at this moment and that it would be their final chance at salvation. In order to spread her religious ideas O’Connor injected moments of grace into stories such as: “ A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, “ Everything That Rises Must Converge”, “Good Country People”, “ The Displaced Person”, and “ The Lame Shall Enter First”.

As Hope and her family fought cancer, their faith in God kept them grounded. Stuart and Shelby, Hope’s parents, would often ask God for signs that he was watching over her. Some of God’s signs were miraculous to say the least. When Stuart was in the mountains, he saw a huge billboard that read, “Hope Thou in God.” Additionally, when Shelby went to pray in the chapel at the hospital a stained glass window titled “The Hope Window” featured a picture of a young girl on crutches with God’s hands placed on her shoulder as he was healing her. God was certainly watching out for the Stout family.

“Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home”. This was taken from a section of the song “Amazing Grace” and is quoted in the book as “The verse that belongs to us” by Reverend Groover. I found this to be one of the most pivotal moments in the book. This story contains the lives of those who, in a sense have been left behind and discarded. Like the man behind the story, of the song Amazing Grace, Jonathan Kozol portrays the heart breaking reality of a population left behind and forgotten, that is until now. The realities of how the children, parents and grandparents cope with their situations, sheds light on some very ugly truths. Jonathan provides his readers

Timothy Anglin faced the loss of his young wife while serving as a minister at church in San Diego, California. Overnight he became a single parent and a grieving widow. In this real, honest, and heartfelt book,

A woman name Angela Hundley and her family were away on a family vacation in the Dominican Republic. While there Angela ate fish that caused her to become very ill. Two weeks after they returned home from their vacation she was diagnosed with ciguatera poisoning. She could not open her eyes or lift her head. The doctor informed the family that the poisoning was untreatable, and an incurable. Angela felt like she was in a comma, she couldn’t move but she could hear everything. She could hear her children playing but she couldn’t play with them. She remembers her husband taking her to her church for prayer and at the alter she recalls her pastor asking her “Angela have you thanked God through any of this, even if you don’t see another day,

In Alias Grace, Grace Marks is a servant in the mid-1800s who performs chores and other household tasks for her employers. Throughout the book, Grace describes in detail the type of work she performs, and how she and her fellow coworkers are treated. A theme that more or less dominates the background of the novel is the apparent sexism of the mid-1800s. The women are considered too “weak” for the “tougher” jobs that were selected for men. However, it was not just a workplace issue; there is clear social sexism presented in the novel, as well.

The thought provoking novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, portrays that closure and meaning for life can be discovered even after death. After dying, Eddie the protagonist goes to heaven where he meets five people, whose own lives are ultimately affected by his decisions. Whether those five people were family or complete strangers, each life is shown to be inter-connected with Eddie 's, as they explain to him his journey and life’s purpose. The novel The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom, demonstrates that whether intended or not, actions do have consequences and these, can lead to feelings of sacrifice, regret and forgiveness.

In a patriarchal and misogynistic society, women are manipulated, humiliated and judged, which results in their role as secondary, subservient citizens. In Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, women are represented on complete opposite ends of the spectrum, either as pure, kind ladies or deceitful, ill-intentioned criminals and whores. In order to survive, women must be able to overcome personal and societal obstacles based on gender. Through sexual abuse, the power and advantages of white male privilege, society’s tendency to mistrust females, and the ways in how men in positions of authority impose upon and objectify women, women are oppressed and belittled to what society declares them.

“The Gestures Of Grace” is about becoming a greater teacher or someone who connects with his/her students, listens to their problems, and leaves her problems behind when she teaches. The author’s literal point is to show how teachers should act, teach and approach if they would like to become a better teacher but In other words the author explains more symbolically than what a teacher should actually do for handling, grading and teaching but more of how to approach students, how to stay calm and collective, how to be open minded to the students, how to welcome, and how to listed to gestures. Alison Melotti-Cormack did a great job of explaining how to treat students, knowing this from a student standpoint she made this accurate but of course

In The Gestures of Grace Allison says, “ Teaching is all about learning and the gestures of grace.” By the gestures of grace she means kindness and through love. She also says, “I believe that a good teacher must be able to connect with her students –- to meet them heart to heart rather than head to head.” This means by showing her students understanding and accepting the kid who likes to push her buttons. Next, she believes that a good teacher evolves over time, but it’s only the gestures that change. Then she believes by listening to her students is a gesture of grace, and it’s the place where truth is more important than being right. Teaching is all about learning and the gestures of grace.

The Alias Grace novel takes place in the 19th century in Ontario, Canada. The setting of the novel is based on murder, gender and feminism during that time. In the novel, Margaret Atwood touches upon various gender role issues that women faced in the mid 19th century by reviving the life of the 16-year-old Grace Marks, who was convicted of murder. Using Grace’s perspective, Atwood reflects the gender stereotypes of the patriarchal society in the novel. While facing limited opportunities in defining themselves independently, women are expected by men to act and look in certain ways and are looked down upon as objects. The constructed gender-biased identity illustrated in the novel, positions women as the fragile, weaker sex and leaves men with all the power and free of any moralities.

The book Radiance by Alyson Noel is a novel about a girl who left her sister, Ever, and crossed the bridge into the afterlife. The song that best connected to this book was “Open Fields of Grace” by Jackie Evancho. The theme, Life may have its challenging times but, adventures, love, and friendships are ready to be made can be applied to both Radiance and “Open Fields of Grace.” When you pass away, your journey is thought to end but actually is not over, as there is still an afterlife. Like Riley, who can still see her family and dog in a place called “Here”. She has picked up where she left off and continues to live her life to the fullest.

Last month, I made a telephone call to a man I’ve known for more than 20 years. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to call him “Luke.” I hadn’t seen Luke for several months and I wanted to see what was going on with him. Before he disappeared, I saw him at least once a week in the adoration chapel.