Distance Learning

1987- We'll ask the preachers to pray for her. He's healed a lot of folks. The reverend Bevel Summers. Maybe she ought to see him sometimes.

1988- She stood looking down at him as if he had become a marvel to her. ''I'II have to see you meet him today,'' she said. ''He's no ordinary preacher.  He's a healer.  He couldn't do nothing for Mr. Connin though.  Mr. Connin didn't have the faith but he said he would try anything once.  He had this griping in his gut.''

1989- ''That's Bevel,'' Mrs. Connin said, taking of her coat. ''It's a coincident he's named the same as the preacher.  These boys are J. C., Spivey, and Sinclair, and that's Sarah Mildred on the porch.  Take of that coat and hang it on the bed post, Bevel.''

1990- ''Git away!” Mrs. Connin shouted. “that one yonder favors Mr. Pamdise that has the gas station,'' she said. “You'll see him today at the healing.  He's got the cancer over his ear.  He always comes to show he ain't been healed.''

1991-  If he had thought about it before, he would have thought Jesus Christ was a word like ''oh'' or ''damn'' or “God,'' or maybe somebody who had cheated them out of something sometime.  When he had asked Mrs. Connin who the man in the sheet in the picture over her bed was, she had looked at him a while with her mouth open.  Then she had said, ''That's Jesus,'' and she had kept on looking at him.

1992- ''The Life of Jesus Christ for Readers Under Twelve.''  Then she read him the book.

1993- ''If you ain't come for Jesus, you ain't come for me.  If you just come to see can you leave your pain in the river, you ain't come for Jesus.  You can't leave your pain in the river,'' he said. “I never told nobody that.'' He stopped and looked down at his knees.

1994- His voice grew soft and musical.  “All the rivers come from that one River and go back to it like it was the ocean sea and if you believe, you can lay your pain in that River and get rid of it because that's the River that was made to carry sin.  It's a River full of pain itself, pain itself, moving toward the Kingdom of Christ, to be washed away, slow, you people, slow as this here old red water river round my feet.

1995- ”I know from my own self-experience,'' a woman's mysterious voice called from the knot of people, “I know from it that this preacher can heal.  My eyes have been opened! I testify to Jesus!”

1996- ''Listen,'' Mrs. Connin said, ''have you ever been Baptized, Bevel?''

He only grinned.

“I suspect he ain't ever been Baptized,'' Mrs. Connin said, raising her eyebrows at the preacher.

''Swang him over here,'' the preacher said and took a stride forward and caught him.

 

1997- “If I Baptize you,'' the preacher said, ''you'll be able to go to the Kingdom of Christ.  You'll be washed in the river of suffering, son, and you'll go by the deep river of life.  Do you want that?''

 

1998- His mother sat straight up. “Well the nerve!'' she muttered.

“Furthermore,'' Mrs. Connin said, ''he’s a healer and he prayed for you to be healed.''

''Healed!'' she almost shouted.  “Healed of what for Christ's sake?''

“Of your affliction,'' Mrs. Connin said icily.

 

1999- ”I know from my own self-experience,'' a woman's mysterious voice called from the knot of people, “I know from it that this preacher can heal.  My eyes have been opened! I testify to Jesus!”

 

2000- The father had returned with the money and was standing near Mrs. Connin waiting to give it to her.  His eyes were lined with red threads.  “Go on, go on,'' he said, “I want to hear more about her affliction.  The exact nature of it has escaped . . .''  He waved the bill and his voice trailed off.  ''Healing by prayer is mighty inexpensive.'' he murmured.

 

2001- ''Come here, Harry,'' his mother said.  He automatically lifted his direction toward her without opening his eye any farther. ''Tell me what happened today,'' she said when he reached her.  She began to pull off his coat.

 

2002- “Don't let George go off with that,'' his girl said.

“I tell you it's valuable,'' George said. “1832.''

2003- He shut his eye and heard her voice from a long way away, as if he were under the river and she on top of it.  She shook his shoulder.  “Harry,'' she said, leaning down and putting her mouth to his ear, “tell me what he said.'' She pulled him into a sitting position and he felt as if he had been drawn up from under the river. ''Tell me,'' she whispered and her bitter breath covered his face. 

 

2004- He got up and tiptoed into their bedroom and stood in the dim light there, looking for her pocketbook.  His glance posed her long pale arm hanging off the edge of the bed down to the floor, and across the white mound his father made, and past the crowded bureau, until it rested on the pocketbook hung on the back of a chair.  He took a car-token out of it and half a package of Life Savers.  Then he left the apartment and caught the car at the corner.  He hadn't taken a suitcase because there was nothing from there he wanted to keep.

2005- Mr. Paradise’s head appeared from time to time on the surface of the water. Finally, far downstream, the old man rose like some ancient water monster and stood empty-handed, staring with his dull eyes as far down the river line as he could see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Man Without a Face

Norstadt starts off his journey by not knowing anything about McLeod.  Many of his friends that he had talked to did not know him and were giving Norstadt false information about McLeod. However, Norstadt had to find himself a teacher in order for him to pass his test that was coming up. He wanted to pass the test so that people would think of him as a genius and so that he would not have to stay home with his current family. So as he finally begins to talk to McLeod he does not know what to expect. All he does know is that he needs a teacher in order for him to do well on the test that he has to take.

As many rumors circled around about McLeod, Norstadt did not believe them because of the trust that the two developed together. They both gained this trust because of the constant amount of work that they did together. Also, Norstadt was beginning to not only look at McLeod as a teacher, but also as a father figure. Reason he was doing this was because, Norstadt’s father was a man who always got drunk and had many problems over his life. He also died when Norstadt was just three years old. So Norstadt basically grew up without a father in his life. So as he received the teachings from McLeod, the more Norstadt grew up into McLeod as a person that he could look up to as a father type figure.

Near the end of the movie, the rumors got even more intense. Norstadt’s mother told him about the time McLeod had abused another boy in the past. That was the reason that McLeod had isolated himself from the town. He was only able to buy his groceries at night when everybody was gone. Norstadt didn’t want to believe his mother, but his mother began to bring the police into the situation after Norstadt said something he should not have. His mom asked him if McLeod had ever touched him. Not understanding the context of the question his mother had asked, he ended up saying that he did touch him. However, he did not mean sexually, but that was the context of his mother’s question. So, his mom ended up contacting the police about the situation. After the police were notified, they gave Norstadt an attorney to talk to. However, it did not make much of a difference because Norstadt did not say much so that event got the police nowhere.

Norstadt winds up stealing his mom’s fiancée’s car in order to drive to McLeod’s house. He ended up asking him the big question on if McLeod abused the boy in the past.  McLeod did not answer the question but asked Norstadt to answer is himself. He had already told Norstadt that he got the scar from a car crash with the boy in the car. Norstadt continues to tell McLeod that he will believe him if he just answers the question. However, McLeod asks him if he had ever laid a hand on him but friendship, and to answer the question himself. Norstadt thinks about the question and realizes that McLeod did not abuse the boy. He was just accused of it because the boy was in the car during the car crash. This keeps the friendship strong between the two as now Norstadt knows the truth among the situation.

After that event, McLeod was then going to attend court; however he was lied to and told that it was just a meeting. During the court, the prosecutors try to see why McLeod had any type of relationship with Norstadt. They end up trying to hide the question at the end on if he had ever abused the boy. After the question comes up, McLeod goes on a rampage on their question. In the end he ultimately tells them that he did not abuse the boy at all. He was just trying to tutor a boy who was in need of help so he could pass his exam. There was not anything else to the situation but a second chance for McLeod. After court, he is told that he is no longer allowed to have any type of communications with Norstadt.  So he does the thing that everybody wants him to do. He ends up moving to a different place and leaves Norstadt a note. He also ends up at Norstadt’s graduation, and that is how the movie ends.

What Does it Mean to know Something

To know something is something that you are familiar with. You get this through experience. You can’t just know something out of nowhere just because somebody told you. Then you are just copying their answer; however you don’t really know that thing that they are talking about. To know something has to deal with the experiences you had with the particular subject. When you know something, you are able to give a proven truth about the subject or object that has been put into the category of concern.

For Example, a man is getting ready to ride a motorcycle for the first time. His friend tells him about all the things he can do on the motorcycle, and how much fun it is. However, the man doesn’t agree with his friend all the way yet because he has never experienced being on a motorcycle ever in his life. That is until the day he gets on the motorcycle for the first time. Once he gets on he likes it and has a thrill. He ends up riding for more the two hours. He now has the experience to give proven facts about the ride on the motorcycle. Now he knows about the motorcycle.

So, in order to be able to know something, and give facts about something, you have to get your own experience from it first. You can’t just take what somebody else says and have that as the correct answer. Experience in something is always the correct answer.

Cathedral

1. The narrator is not looking forward to seeing the blind man because he thinks very stereotypical about blind people. He says they move slowly and never laugh, and that they have seeing eyed dogs. He also said this because of things that he saw in movies. This says that the narrator's character is terrible for judging on stereotypes.

2. The wife thought that is was so interesting about the blind man touching her face that she wrote a poem about it. The blind man is trying to feel what she looks like so she is being seen by him. It also could be a sense of attention as she attempts suicide.

3. It means to make that person's friend, your friend. So you do whatever it takes to make them seem very comfortable and try to make them your friend also.

4. The blind man never got to physically see what Beulah looked like, but he did see her mentally and emotionally. They ended up getting married together and had relations with each other. He also unfortunately had to bury her from her loss against cancer.

5. The characters smoke pot so that they can relax themselves. It reveals that they like to be laid back people and not all energetic.

6. Churches reveal that God is the only God and that he is the Almighty God. In churches they also have statues of the son Jesus, and he came to save us from our sins.

7. The narrator doesn’t see anything at the end of the story. He says that he knew he was in his house but he wasn’t in anything. He also has trouble describing the Cathedral because he can’t see it.