The ninth hour by Alice McDermott
The ninth hour by Alice McDermott
1. Pertinent Biographical and Bibliographical Information Regarding the Alice McDermott: This should include basic information regarding McDermott’s life and her writing. (Obviously you already know she is a Roman Catholic which is one significant reason her book has been chosen.) Also be attentive to her overall corpus of writings. 2. Pertinent Background Information Regarding the Story Itself: date of writing and publication, where it first appeared, how the author came upon the idea (if you can actually find this information). 3. Content, including the following: a. basic storyline (scene by scene, chapter by chapter, or however the narrative unfolds and progresses). Here you might to pay close attention to some of the major characters: Annie, Sally, Sister St. Saviour, Sister Jeanne, Sister Lucy, Sr. Illuminatathe, other nuns (“Little Nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor”). b. the main thesis/theses or idea/ideas of the story (to the degree that you can discern it/them) c. the ideas in the story that you found most appealing/provocative/puzzling/unappealing including i. the one quote with which you agreed, or found most intriguing or appealing as well as reasons why ii. the ideas in the story that you found most puzzling and/or least appealing including iii. the one quote with which you least agreed or found most puzzling as well as the reasons why iv. why you surmise this particular story was selected by the professor to be read for this particular course 4. The Catholic Imagination in The Ninth Hour: Where in the story do you find manifestations of what we are calling “the Catholic imagination”?
