Blankets, By Craig Thompson

The Sacred Romance Drawing Closer to the Heart of God by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge is an interesting book that’s supposedly filled with useful information about how to live like a Christian and become more like Christ. However, this book has many issues. Brent Curtis and John Eldredge attempt to get us as readers to understand how to live and be more like Christ by comparing the pains and sufferings we all go through in our everyday lives to that of arrows piercing our hearts. As Curtis and Eldredge talked about arrows piercing our hearts I realized there have been times in my life that happened to me. Finally, after reading the book I realized that this book has the potential of being an interesting read but, it’s many errors leave us as readers confused.

Defined as a complete trust in people, faith prevails as an essential quality for the development of interpersonal and personal connections. Accordingly, John Brehm, author of “Sea of Faith,” illustrates a scholar experience in a freshman class. A teacher, which the reader implies as Brehm himself, becomes irritated at the lack of knowledge in his students at such a simple topic: figurative language. Disgruntled at the question he begins to examine the significance behind it. Ultimately, after self-examination, he comes to understand the young lady who posed the question that annoyed him (1000). Through the use of literary devices such as personification, tone, and comparison: the author illustrates the changing perspective and ultimate connection the teacher makes with the students as he realizes the positivity that arises from faith.

Even though he will not let himself be beaten for no reason, if he has made an inadvertent mistake, he will try to correct it, as he does with his grandmother, after accidentally embarrassing in church. “Later, I convinced her that I had not wanted to hurt her and she immediately seized upon my concern for her feelings as an opportunity to have one more try at bringing me to god. She wept and pleaded with me to pray... I promised; after all, I felt that I owed her something for inadvertently making her ridiculous before the member of her church.” (Wright 119) And he follows through with that. He prays, daily, for an hour. That hour is torture, but he keeps his promise, abiding by his moral code. He is different from the boys and girls of his church congregation, and class: they have been indoctrinated and do as they are told, docilely. One boy walks up to Richard, prompted by the congregation, who think that Richard is doomed to burn in Hell, and tries to convert him; it is obvious that the boy has no real conviction in God of his own, rather, the belief in God has been forced upon him by his parents and community. “Though older than I, he had neither known nor felt anything of life for himself; he had been carefully reared by his mother and father and he had always been told what to feel.”(Wright 116) Meanwhile, Wright, in stark contrast, resists the attempts of his Grandmother and extended family to indoctrinate him into religion, instead deciding to

"Why I Left the Church" by Richard Garcia is a poem that investigates the nature way of religion and the relationship that the innocence of kids has with the congregation of the church. The narrator of this work is having thought over the genuine reason he left his faith. It is an account that blends a realist method of narrating with a twist of fantasy that goes from literal metaphors to figurative metaphors similitudes in the depiction of why the narrator left the congregation.

As they get older, many people start to experience a sense of demoralization and little self-worth. Nikki Giovanni reflects her dismay in the poem “Quilts” by comparing herself to an old piece of cloth as she transitions from hopeless to hopeful throughout her acceptance of aging.

The life outcome that Wes Moore, the author, had was different from the other Wes More. He was doing bad in his education as well with his interactions with the family. Every teacher declared that Wes was a poor student and was unmotivated to pay attention in class. The teachers came to conclusion that Wes had a problem socializing, however; Wes “was a victim of a monocultural educational environment that alienates and denigrates him” (Sue, 230). The school staff was unable to see that the problem existed within the institution/ environment and not on Wes, because they were focusing only in one culture which made Wes feel as an outsider. The

Throughout centuries, humans have expressed different perspectives toward a single idea. The subject of religion invites challenging discussions from skeptical minds because religion is diversely interpreted based on personal faith. The authoress sets her novel in a fictional town, Cold Sassy, where religion plays a predominant role in people’s lives. Through Will Tweedy’s narration she explores the religious opinions of the town’s most prominent citizen Rucker Blakeslee, Will’s grandpa. Although Blakeslee spent his whole life in a religiously conservative town, he has a radical approach toward religious concepts such as predestination, suicide, funerals, faith, and God’s will, thus forcing him to challenge the traditional views of

Throughout time, readers have learned many different lessons from their favourite books. In The Chrysalids, John Wyndam used his story to teach his readers valuable, lifelong lessons. He makes it evident to his readers that prejudging certain people is not right. Also, he relates how change is possible, but hard to achieve. More specifically, religion often influences one’s point of view. John Wyndam’s, The Chrysalids was written with a purpose that teaches his readers about discrimination, about how change is possible, and how religion often influences one’s point of view.

Although Chris McCandless’ controlling and toxic family environment was a major motive for his escape, his deep-seated internal battle was simply an irresistible impulse for discovery and liberty. Chris’ journey shows a new level of freedom; what true independence holds. He set out into nature alone without support of family or friends, searching for a path unlike those of most, and running from a barred cage of conventional living. Unsatisfied and somewhat angry with himself and his life of abundance in money, opportunity, and security, his preceding experiences and determined character lead him to an inevitable flee into no-mans land. Throughout the novel, Krakauer wants the reader to understand that there is more to Chris than his habit of criticising authority and defying society’s pressures. He needed more from himself, and more from life. He wasn’t an ordinary man, therefore could not live with an ordinary life. Krakauer demonstrates this by creating a complex persona for Chris that draws you in from the beginning.

Miriam Toews’ novel, A Complicated Kindness, explores the aspects of one’s interpretation of faith, their reintegration into society and self-improvement. These elements are explored through Natasha Nickel’s formulation of her newfound faith, a step in which she soaks knowledge, questions what has been learned, and then incorporates the changes into her lifestyle. Through this critical thinking process, Tash becomes the most logical follower of faith in the community.

Not only is Junior unpopular and alienated, but the victim of taunts and bullying as well. Furthermore, he’s considered a traitor after he transfers to Reardon. At Reardon, he’s called names and endures racial jokes until he finally finds acceptance through basketball and surprisingly finds friends with similar interests. Ultimately, Junior comes to the “huge realization” that not only does he belong to the Spokane Indian tribe, but to no less than 13 additional groups (Basketball players, cartoonists, bookworms, and sons to name a few). It is the first time he knows that he will be “OK”, sending a positive message to readers that identify with his struggles. By reading about characters similar to themselves, young adults can see that their challenges are not unique and are shared by other adolescents (Bucher & Hinton, 2009)

Religion also plays an important function in allowing the authors to comment on society and faith’s role in it. For example, both authors seem to be suggesting that our religion is only compatible in society as we know it, that is to say that it is not compatible with other situations. In The Children of Men a major disruption to the working of society, mass infertility, has led to a total destruction of the Christian faith. In Brave New World, an unstoppable surge of machinery and technology has led to the disregard of religious moral and the introduction of a new set of hedonist attitudes, both scenarios being deplored by the reader. This could also be seen as the authors’ asserting that a civilized society desperately needs stable religion and morals, given that the utter breakdown in The Children of Men is arguably as shocking as the superficial worship of machinery and pleasure in Brave New World.

In a postmodern world it is worth contemplating in what we can put our faith. Does culture, religion, or God merit our trust? Or is this a world of mechanical and biological evolutionary processes void of any meaning and purpose? The Sunset Limited, “a novel in dramatic form,” by Cormac McCarthy, is a dialogue between two persons who approach each other from opposite worlds to answer these questions. Black, a born-again believer and ex-con, and White, a nihilistic college professor, attempt to determine whether belief in God is viable in this world and if life is worth living. Despite Black’s efforts to convince him otherwise, White remains a Depressed Self who denies God’s existence, affirms his view of the world as deranged, and leaves to complete his suicide.

“Young Goodman Brown” is full of allegorical content relating to the Puritan religion. The names of the characters in “Young Goodman Brown” are the most profound examples of allegory influenced by Puritanism. The protagonist, Goodman Brown, has a name that suggests far more than just a name. “Goodman Brown” for example, is a name that presents the character as a good moralistic man that at all costs resists temptation. Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, has a name that assists in illustrating the downfall of Goodman Brown. After seeing Faith in the forest, Goodman Brown cries, “My Faith is gone!”(323). His wife, Faith was gone along with his spiritual faith. We first see Goodman Brown as a moral Puritan man, and after loosing his faith he becomes the opposite.

As, perhaps arguably, his most famous novel, from his most famous book series, The Chronicles of Narnia, there has been much debate as to his motives for the implementation of religion in his works, and even some question as to whether religion is an actual existing aspect of the work. This essay will not only outline the unmistakable presence of religious allegory, but also focus on the purpose of it being there. Thus being, that C.S Lewis uses religious allegory to effectively introduce and develop core themes of the novel in a fashion both comprehensible and relatable for a universal audience.