The Book and the Brotherhood | Themes

The Book and the Brotherhood Themes

Death

The characters in this novel all have a death wish in one form or another. Death remains consciously at the edge of their inner thoughts and often intrudes into their lives. From Sinclair Curtland's accidental death prior to the events of the novel to Jenkin Riderhood's equally accidental death near the end of the novel, death becomes not so much a part of life, but life is viewed as an interruption of the endless process of death in which all beings are engaged. How is it done? This question grips the imagination of Gerard Hernshaw as he views the dead body of his elderly father. When does that moment come? After all the care, the communication, the help, the soothing of the dying, suddenly there is a small moment, and death is there with its utter solitude, its loneliness and the end of all that kept one in life.

Death...
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