Raman Gill
As For me and my House
Written by: Sinclair Ross
Plot Summary:
-Mrs. Bentley, a Protestant minister’s wife, writes journal (or diary) entries on a regular basis; the time span is just over a year (from 8 April 1939 to 12 May 1940, if the weekday noted with each entry is assumed to be correct). The couple has just moved to yet another small town, “Horizon.”
-Mrs. Bentley, whose first name we never learn, despairs of Philip (her husband), who is becoming ever more remote. As she records her feelings, it is clear she, as she suspects of her husband, has nothing but contempt for her husband’s flock. Mrs. Bentley sees herself and Philip as frustrated artists; she has a passion for music and, in her youth, entertained dreams of success as a pianist, and he spends much of his time sketching and painting.
-Her journal tells mostly of her efforts to win her husband’s affections, yet he appears to withstand her efforts, which are conflicted and subtly evasive. She strikes up a friendship with Paul, a local schoolteacher and philologist, while Philip engages the affections of Judith. They attempt to adopt a Catholic child, Steve, who seems to fulfil Philip’s desire for a child that Mrs. Bentley cannot apparently deliver, but this arrangement falls apart. Eventually, putatively under pressure from an increasingly hostile congregation, they prepare to move to a city.
Characters:
Mrs. Bentley – a Protestant minister’s wife
Rev. Philip Bentley – her husband, the reserved minister
Steve – the Catholic child temporarily adopted by the Bentleys
Mr. Kulanich, his hard-working immigrant father, probably from Romania
Paul Kirby – the local schoolteacher and philologist
Judith West – a young woman who befriends the Bentleys
Not named “Philip” – Judith West and Philip Bentley’s illegitimate child
Mrs. Finley – a leader among the women in Horizon
George and Stanley – Mrs. Finley’s brutal sons
Mrs. Wenderby – a prominent member of the community
Mrs. Ellingson – a friendly neighbour of Norwegian origin
Josephine Bird – the wife of the local doctor
Stanley Kirby – Paul’s brother, at whose ranch the Bentleys stay for a short vacation
Laura Kirby – Stanley’s rancher wife
Annie – Metis maid at ranch
Joe Lawson – farmer in nearby village
Key topics in the novel:
Big Question:
Thesis:
Subtopics:
Proof:
Subtopics 2
Proof:
Discussion Questions:
Does it affect our life if one of us are spiritually on a path and the other one isn’t.
Is it ok to have both feet in both boats meaning
In todays society whats it mean to be religious? Are theire evem a lot of religious people if so.. how do you balance a life style like that
