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"Elmer Gantry" is an amazing film that does not seem dated at all, having lost none of its bite or appeal with the passing of time. date the date you are citing the material. One cleric suggested that Lewis should be imprisoned for five years, and there were also threats of physical violence against the author. He confesses his love for her and they begin an affair, peppering their lovemaking with religious imagery. So scandalous was Lewiss portrayal of religion that the novel was banned in several cities and denounced from Elmer Gantry sets out to do just that in the world of evangelical revivalists, and an examination of the complicated relationship between the congregations and the religious leaders of the film may help illuminate the popularity of many religious movements, even those that appear to be a farce from the outside. He thereby makes a defiant gesture, nonetheless, somewhat apart from his customary preoccupation with quixotic heroes whom he could admire for their protests, rebellion, and search for freedom. The congregation slowly begins to join back in and Gantry begins to solo with the He is influenced by the atheistic Dr. Zechlin who lends him theological works by liberals and skeptics. Dooley argues that the novel fails because it is not a realistic portrayal of religion, and it lacks sufficient wit and humor to compensate for its unfairness. His portrait of a golden-tongued evangelist who rises to power within his church-a saver of souls who lives a life Even the physical description of Binch is calculated to evoke disgust: Dr. Though the bulldog of the football team in college, Elmer shows his cowardice during the fire in Sharon Falconers tabernacle (which is built out over the water): In howling panic, Elmer sprang among them, knocked them aside, struck down a girl who stood in his way, yanked open the door, and got through it the last, the only one, to get through it. He then ran out a little into the surf and dragged in a woman who had already safely touched bottom, and then at least thirty more who had already rescued themselves. He is no Harry Zenz or Bruno Zechlin, who have both thought deeply about theology and have emerged as atheists. Earthy and real, she and Elmer both sing the hymn Im on My Way, a sort of religious counterpart to I Did It My Way. Elmer romances her only as a way to Sharon, but Rachel is the woman Elmer should have gone with. WebElmer Gantry has a great plot. Write a brief character sketch of Frank Shallard and describe his role in the novel. These blossoming words, these organ-like phrases, these profound notions, had been rammed home till they stuck in his brain, ready for use. Prayings the cheapest first-rate medicine I know, he says. The church filled him with awe, frightened him, became the center of all his emotions. Web1. Paperback June 3, 2014. Pengilly is an old Methodist pastor who is something of a saintly figure. While working for the Daily Courier in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1908, he wrote an editorial about fraudulent evangelists, which suggests that the seeds of Elmer Gantry were already being sown. Gary H. Mayer, "Love is More Than the Evening Star: A Semantic Analysis of Elmer Gantry and The Man Who Knew Coolidge". There is a good priest whose career runs counter to that of the bad priest Gantry, but he ceases to be a priest. After several failed efforts to hear God calling him to the ministry, Gantry shares a bottle of whiskey with Jim and emerges with the feeling of having received the call. WebElmer Gantry is a fast-talking, hard-drinking traveling salesman who always has a risqu story and a hip flask to entertain cronies and customers alike. WebHappy Birthday # 75..Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey, An Actress. The film isn't just about rural religion in the 1920s, or how media is exploited, or how sometimes clever hucksters can outwit themselves. One attendant of the revivals even describes himself as only being a good Christian when a revival is in town, and then going back to his old ways once it is gone. In fact, the film could be seen as prescient, as both religious revivalism, and celebrity-scandal driven journalism (another of its subjects), have arguably become more prevalent since it was made. Meanwhile, Hettie turns out to be a married woman who, with her husband, tries to blackmail Elmer. 99107. Juanita Klauzel is Elmers girlfriend in Cato, Missouri, when he is a student at Terwillinger College. Charles W. Ferguson, in the Bookman, described Elmer Gantry as a glorious lampoon, although he also commented that the novel was a social commentary and not a work of fictional art. After a brief interlude with Mrs. Evans Riddles New Thought movement, and teaching Prosperity classes on his own, Elmer joins the Methodist Church. Many of the people attending the revivals would then be working-class individuals. There is no character development, and so Elmer, after his character is first established, does not change during the course of the novel. The footballer wins by flattering Elmer, insulting Elmers courage, and challenging Elmer to a fight over The Lord. After Sharon dismisses him in favor of Elmer, Cecil tries to conduct a rescue mission in Buffalo. Stidger introduced Lewis to many other clergymen, among them the Reverend Leon Milton Birkhead, a Unitarian and an agnostic. I can't say I've ever seen anything quite like it. I am really and truly sanctified! One Sunday, he is surprised to see Lulu in church, and the next day he begins an affair with her. Lewiss first real success came with Main Street (1920), the book that made him famous. Elizabeth S. Prioleau, "The Minister and the Seductress in American Fiction: The Adamic Myth Reduz". He fell in love with Sharon when he first met her, and is devoted to her. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of But Page plays the small role of choir leader Sister Rachel. Those who believe in the doctrines of the church are presented as fools or morons, and are easy targets for malicious fun. Id sell anything.. He is not a deep thinker and does not really care whether the Baptist doctrines he preaches are true or false. Pengilly sees through him with the spiritual eye of an eagle, and asks, Mr. Happiness is the key to success. Mel Gibson aside, you don't expect to see a sympathetic portrayal of religion in the movies; from 'Night of the Hunter' onwards, the dodgy preacher has been a more common character than the saintly one, and there's another kicking for the born-again movement in 'Elmer Gantry'. Like a priestess she takes him to the chapel, a shrine with hangings, a crucifix, statues of the Virgin, and heathen idols, including a naked Venus. I'm not talking about what happens just before the end, but I know its trueits in the Bible. There have been five adaptations of the novel. A typical picaresque narrative chronicles the exploits of a rogue, an immoral but not criminal character who lives by his wits. Movie Forums . Elmer is, obviously enough, an example of the latter. Fire is mentioned throughout the film, and cinematographer John Alton sets the mood by casting dark red and brown shadows. It is clear that the revivals rely on the approval and demand of the public and that the revivals certainly could not survive without the support of a large number of congregants; however, there are several points in the film in which it appears the congregants are being taken advantage of by town and religious leaders. He welcomes Elmer into the Methodist church. Jim tries to persuade Elmer not to go along with it, but when Elmer attends the Annual Prayer Week he cannot resist the emotionalism of the service. He manipulates his way into Sister Sharon Falconer (played brilliantly by the late Jean Simmons who should have won an Oscar for her performance in this role). The psychological factor that works against Elmer is the mechanics of the conversion experience. WebA second-division British psychedelic band with a tangled history, Elmer Gantry & the Velvet Opera recorded a couple of albums in the Pink Floyd/Soft Machine/Tomorrow/Nice mold in the late '60s without coming close to establishing a solid identity of their own. Kraus used []. Af The church provided all the music he ever heard, his only oratory except for campaign speeches by politicians, all his painting and sculpture, and all his philosophic ideas. His ambition knows no bounds. Others praised its accurate reporting and its denunciation of hypocrisy, comparing Lewis to great satirists such as Voltaire and Swift. Elmer Gantry begins in 1902. Later, he is kidnapped and beaten nearly to death, an episode that leaves him blinded. He is invited by a group of scholars to go on a lecture tour to oppose religious fundamentalism, but his first lecture, in a city in the southwest, he is interrupted by local toughs. Another famous name was Aimee Semple McPherson (18901944), a female evangelist who clearly resembled the fictional Sharon Falconer. He became known in the 1920s for his books that satirized the spartan materialism and intolerance that Terwillinger College and Mizpah Theological Seminary are both fundamentalist institutions. Harry Sinclair Lewis, best known as Sinclair Lewis, was born on February 7, 1885, in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Some characters from Lewis even read Sinclair Lewis himself; the Reverend Philip McGarry asks his friend Frank Shallard to forget that you have to make a new world, bettern the Creators, right away tonightyou and Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells and H. L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis (Lord, how that book of Lewis, Main Street, did bore me ).. Schorer, Mark, Afterword, in Elmer Gantry, Signet Classics edition, New American Library, 1967, pp. 23 Feb. 2023 . However, the date of retrieval is often important. There was a timebetween the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11when Elmer Gantry might have felt outdated. Discuss the issue of creationism and evolution. She wore expensive clothes and jewelry and put on a spectacular show. Lulu becomes devoted to Elmer but he gets bored with her. Nevertheless, it is possible to recognize the working of quixotic elements throughout the novel, especially in the fancifully conceived Sharon Falconer and in the character who is a foil for Elmer, Frank Shallard. After the fire and Sharons death, Elmer is conscience-stricken. She is volatile, self-dramatizing, self-deceiving, self-promoting, cunning, playful, cynical, ambitious, and ruthlessa Cleopatra of the revivalist circuit. Elmer joins the Methodists and is sent to the small town of Banjo Crossing, where he falls in love with Cleo Benham, the daughter of a church trustee. Although Elmer is clearly a self-centered individual from the beginning, Lewis presents him, up to and including his conversion, as being swept along by sociological and psychological forces over which he has no control. publication in traditional print. He is soon invited to preach at one of her meetings. He hires a new secretary, Hettie Dowler, who replaces Lulu as his mistress. Gantry is portrayed as a smooth talking but frustrated salesman, struggling to make a living. Edward J. Piacentino, "Babbittry Southern Style: T. S. Stribling's Unfinished Cathedral". One of the first scenes with Sister Sharon Falconer involves her asking for donations from these people. Think about how Jim would view Elmer, and how he might react to what Elmer says. Harry Zenz is a student at the Mizpah Theological Seminary. He becomes the symbiotic antithesis to Sister Sharon: while he tells of heading toward the depths of hell for his many sins, she tells of being saved from that fate if repentance is forthcoming. I just spend two days at my best friends' home for his father's funerals, and during the obligatory moments of life contemplation, we were wondering what was awaiting us all. The couple abandons their campaign against Elmer and leave The novel tells the story of a young, narcissistic, womanizing college athlete who abandons his early ambition to become a lawyer. In his ever lustful sights is a voluptuous female preacher. Elmer Gantry shows the necessity and sincerity involved in these functions, as well as the dangers of falling into the trap of hypocrisy and greed, through its highly humanized leads, Elmer Gantry and Sister Sharon Falconer. In 1926, Lewis refused the Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith, because he believed it would compromise his artistic independence. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. But the honest man who dares to live according to his convictions, and to speak about them in public, has no place in a superstitious society; when he gives an antifundamentalist lecture, Frank is beaten and blinded. WebFull IPTV List channels worldwide With 20000 channels + 40000 Movie and series. Quarles has no time for vain arguments that lead nowhere! Quarles is hostile to the kind of free intellectual inquiry that the liberals advocate, and he relies instead on prayer and faith. In 1905, after two years study, he is ordained. Mark Schorer, in his biography of Lewis, records a remark that Lewis made to his friend Richards Brooks in 1946. For the evangelists, the irrational is valued more highly than the rational, but for the novelist, the reverse holds true. Part of a tipper lorry became wedged underneath a gantry in a crash on the M5 on Thursday, 2 March. Box sets galore! Webbest neighborhoods in san diego for young professionals. He is a worldly man and gives Elmer some shrewd advice about how to build up the church. He has an affair with his secretary, who then tries to blackmail him, and only escapes ruin because he has a clever lawyer. In a notable passage Lewis tells us sympathetically of the problems of the rebel, of the preacher or the writer who suffers from sensitivity and innocence: He was supposed to cure an affliction called vice. Gantrys fame continues to grow, and he is soon preaching at churches across America. Like ordinary mortals, she is often weary. Grebstein, Sheldon Norman, Sinclair Lewis, Twayne United States Authors Series, No. Lewiss description of the service at which Elmer succumbs is compelling in its evocation of the rampant emotion of the occasion. As the film progresses, we learned of Elmer Gantry's past especially his own previous desire to be a minister/preacher. In a southwestern city, he falls into the hands of violent fanatics who beat him so badly he is blinded. Word Count: 916. Reverend Dr. Willoughby Quarles is president of Terwillinger College. The Reverend McGarry tells Frank simply to accept the church with all its imperfectionswith its Gantrysand turn to giving hope and comfort to the piteous human beings who come to the church for help. He was supposed to bring peace to mankind. online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. Mark Schorer, then of the University of California, Berkeley, notes: "The forces of social good and enlightenment as presented in Elmer Gantry are not strong enough to offer any real resistance to the forces of social evil and banality." Im afraid! He replies, Thats damned nonsense! Later he says, Come on now, Clee, show some spunk! Making fun of her, he thinks, Fellow ought to be brutal, for her own sake. Brute, fake, or philanderer, Elmer Gantry seems nevertheless destined for a successful career. Im not! He is a well-educated Englishman in his early thirties with a colorful past. If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original But for my money it is Jean Simmonds, surely robbed of her own Oscar here, who has the most impressive part. Jim is the college freethinker and the only person who has any influence on Elmer. Elmer Gantry is not, however, a movie about making good choices. Hes the all-American salesman: hed believe, really believe, in anything he thought youd buy. Elmer Gantry is a role and a character as big as he is, and Lancaster puts his whole back into it. Jim Lefferts is Elmers roommate and his only friend at Terwillinger College. Shirley Jones small part made the movie. But Frank rages on at the inconsistencies in doctrine, the contradictions in the Bible, the evil men who are ministers, and the fools and dullards who work about him in Zenith: Gantry, Bishop Toomis, Chester Brown, Hickenlooper, and PottsPotts especially, who gets his idea of human motives out of George Eliot and Margaret Deland, and his ideas of economics out of editorials in the Advocate, and his idea as to what he really is accomplishing out of the flattery of his Ladies Aid! Frank adds that he doesnt find Jesus an especially admirable characterJesus was more vain and furious than a leader should be. Garrison As a sojourner on this earth, she goes on, trying to explain how in these months she has kept her sanity and her faith, I dont feel terribly entitled. It would end Sunday entertainment, curtail freedom of speech, and put restrictions on the rights of Catholics. He becomes one of the first clergymen in the country to have his services broadcast by radio, and in 1924, he travels to Europe with Cleo. A charming conman pretends to be a preacher and romances a roadside revivalist. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/elmer-gantry, "Elmer Gantry Elmer Gantry, like the big Lewis novels that preceded it, is centrally concerned with the struggle between the old and the new. Sacrilege is a word that was used often in the violent arguments that accompanied the publication in 1927 of Elmer Gantry. For all that, you also fear for a world in which the influence of modern-day Gantries shows no sign of diminishing. At the start of the novel Elmer is a college football player so little given to piety that he is known as Hell-cat. At the end of the book he is Dr. Gantry, minister of the large Wellspring Methodist Church in Zenith, with hopes of becoming the head of a national moral-rearmament organization, the National Association for the Purification of the Arts and the Press (Napap). Elmer of course towers above everyone else in the novel. For example, the division between Northern and Southern Baptists is explained in this way: [B]efore the Civil War the Northern Baptists proved by the Bible, unanswerably, that slavery was wrong; and the Southern Baptists proved by the Bible, irrefutably, that slavery was the will of God. Later in the novel, Frank Shallard realizes how threatened conservative clergymen are by scientific knowledge and how inadequate they are to preside over educational institutions. Ive made herby prayer and by having a right to be her!. (film) Elmer Gantry is a 1960 film about a con man and a female evangelist selling religion to small town America. He is out for money and pleasure and powerand the ministry is the career which gives him all three. After North invites him to lecture for Napap, Elmer is filled with ambition to combine all the moral organizations in America, with himself as the leader. [5], However, the book was a commercial success. A modernist movement, led by such preachers as Harry Emerson Fosdick and reinforced by the essays that appeared in The Christian Century, was concerned with making the church more of a live option for the intellectual and the sophisticated city dweller. For all his wisdom, he speaks in platitudes, although Lewis does give him one searing moment of insight. The story of a womanizing con man and an evangelist selling religion all across America was an But not long after that he lost his faith in God altogether and became an atheist. Yet at the fire, it is Sharon who is heroic. Even Gantry wouldnt have been such a bad fellow if hed been, say, a salesman. Only a very curious moral outlook could have permitted the creator of such a monster as Elmer Gantry to say that his characters lack of a sense of decency would not have been objectionable if he had changed his profession . Interviewing key stakeholders in the company, gathering and organizing information, analyzing data and preparing reports that summarize finding. | This is a film that has outlasted its time. Published in 1922 The Lancastic! In the Shadow of No Future: Justice Claims and the Israel-Palestine Conflict? In the following essay excerpt, Dooley calls Elmer Gantry a picaresque novel that begins as a satire of revivalism.. Shortly Frank meets more of real life than he is prepared for. , Sinclair Lewis and the Method of Half-Truths, in Society and Self in the Novel, Columbia University Press, 1956, pp. McGarry is accused by the fundamentalists of heresy, and he does not seem to accept the traditional dogmas of the Methodist Church: [T]he only dogma he was known to give out positively was the leadership of Jesusas to whose divinity he was indefinite.. His genius took its chance in mockery, parody, grotesquerie, and excessive performance. That night she seduces him. With a long line of charismatic cinematic rogues to his credit, Burt Lancaster pulls off a barnstorming performance as Elmer Gantry, the salesman turned opportunistic evangelist whose fast-talking pitch scarcely slackens, off-stage or on. Initially, he is an enemy of Elmer and tries to prevent him from becoming president of the student body for the second time. Literally, in one case, when the tabernacle catches fire at the end of the movie. Gantry befriends a famous criminal attorney, T. J. Rigg, who becomes his adviser and confidant. But Sharon stands by Elmer and truth prevails, until both are seduced by fame and blind faith over common sense, and fate deals them a crushing blow. Elmer thinks he is fat and pompous, but respects him nonetheless. PG. She and Elmer have an affair, which later turns out to be a trick on the part of Hettie and her husband Oscar to blackmail Elmer. Elmer Gantry, like Arrowsmith, is an account of career development. FAQ The portrayal of revivals as a necessary service with a precarious balance between helping and hurting both the revivals leaders and attendants is masterful. He had been a solitary in college, generous but fastidious, jarred by his classmates belching and sudden laughter. Like Carol Kennicott, he suffers a betrayal by books, for his reasoning had been turned from an examination of men as mammals to the mystic theories of souls and their salvation. The consulting analyst's duties generally include planning studies and analyses of the business problems or issues, the consultants have been asked to help resolve. After college, he attends a Baptist seminary and is ordained as a Baptist minister. Dr. Howard Bancock Binch is a prominent Baptist who defends the literal interpretation of the Bible in his writings. It is not merely a case of the good priest versus the bad priest. Yet through it all, he is awarded ecclesiastical advancement, even though he barely escapes ruin at the conclusion of the novel when one of his secretaries, Hettie Dowler, tries to blackmail him. You'll all burn in hell! Not now! Elmer pulls the burning jacket off her, and beats She has created an enchanted image of herself, and she has convinced her audience of that image, so that they see her as she wants to be seen, and only we, given glimpses of another self when she reveals herself to Elmer, come to know how complete and insane is her transformation. Bill Morgan sees thru Elmer and tells Sharon that in 1917 he was expelled from the seminary for seducing the deacon's daughter. He survived for a while by interpreting some of the Biblical stories as symbols that revealed the glory of God and the leadership of Christ. Elmer Gantry was first published in the United States by Harcourt Trade Publishers in March 1927, dedicated by Lewis to the American journalist and satirist H. L. Mencken. He says both. Most distressing of all, says Frank, the sermons of the preachers are agonizingly dull. So Frank leaves the church temporarily to enter the army where he learns to be common with common men; he schools himself further with Ethan Frome, Pre Goriot, Tono-Bungay, and Renans Jesus. The movie was not just a group of scenes depicting sex and violence. Fascinating - 1960's "Elmer Gantry," based on the Sinclair Lewis novel, could be made today with nothing changed and be as powerful - maybe more powerful - than it was in 1960. Watching it today, it is hard to be surprised by any such suggestion since my cynical generation is much more accepting that nothing is what it seems and everyone has an agenda. He soon discovers he has a gift for preaching, and he loves the feeling of power he gets when his sermons move his congregation. As Elmer turns an attractive and charming preacher with a large audience . Equity is one part of a broader vision for the Hiawatha network of schools. Elmer Gantry: Sin. WebThis count will explain the meaning of Macrons declaration that peace, security, and stability in Europe, and in the Ukraine, are for Europeans to agree with Russia. WebToday universally recognized as a landmark in American literature, Elmer Gantry scandalized readers when it was first published, causing Sinclair Lewis to be "invited" to a jail cell in New Hampshire and to his own lynching in Virginia. It shines upon the cradle of the babe, and sheds its radiance upon the quiet tomb As Elmers career begins its ascent, we learn something more of the images which fill his mind: For all his slang, his cursing, his mauled plurals and singulars, Elmer had been compelled in college to read certain books, to hear certain lectures, all filled with flushed, florid polysyllables, with juicy sentiments about God, sunsets, the moral improvement inherent in a daily view of mountain scenery, angels, fishing for souls, fishing for fish, ideals, patriotism, democracy . Elmer Gantry was raised by his mother, a staunch Baptist, in the small town of Paris, Kansas. Gantrys mother is a strict fundamentalist, so Gantry spent much of his childhood in church, where he learned the dour lifestyle of a Christian. The target of his earthly desires is Beautiful Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) a sincere, but fallible woman out to build a ministry. He long ago lost his faith in the literal truth of the Bible and has become an atheist. Her main supporter is worldly William Morgan (Dean Jagger) who believes in Falconer, and sees Gantry and Lefferts for the opportunistic impediments they are. The pious but stupid Eddie complains that [E]verything we Baptists stand for is threatened by those darn so-called liberals . He is referring to the practice of open communion, which is favored by liberals, as opposed to the closed communion of the fundamentalists, according to which only Baptists are allowed to participate in the rite. She even tells Elmer (who falls for her the instant he sees her) that she is the reincarnation of Joan of Arc, although she later admits that she does not really believe this. In creating the evangelist Sharon Falconer, the author presents himself with a bigger, although more complex, target. This site -- maintained by the faculty but also involving our students, our alumni, and the graduate teaching assistants who help us in our classes -- discusses the relevance of the study of religion, in particular, and the liberal arts, in general, for understanding both the past and present, by seeing religion as but one element of wider cultural practices. WebHow does the novel Elmer Gantry end? Jim observes his defeat from his bed, laid ill with a bug no doubt divinely-sent. Frank finds some shame in being a preacher and longs to prove that he is nevertheless a real man. Not only had he been swathed in theology, but all his experience had been in books instead of the speech of toiling men. As in Babbitt and Arrowsmith, we are made aware that there are sinister forces combining to strike at the very foundations of American liberties. Don Pickens is Frank Shallards roommate at Mizpah Theological Seminary. Contact UA. It is a pity that Lewis did not choose to develop more fully the few exceptions to the prevailing mendacity, including the lightly sketched figure of Reverend Andrew Pengilly. Novels for Students. Sin, sin, sin! Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/film-review-burt-lancaster-s-oscar-winning-elmer-gantry-trylon-theater-monday-and-tu/). Schorer analyzes the novels lack of conflict and dramatic counterpoint; there are no obstacles to Elmers success, since the good characters are weak and play only peripheral roles and there are no competing orders of value, since everything is corrupt. During his career, Gantry contributes to the downfall, physical injury, and even death of key people around him, including a sincere minister, Frank Shallard, who is plagued by doubt. Duke mentioned that he would love to play Puck, []. Fired from the ministry after going drinking rather than contacting his new church, he works for two years as a traveling salesman. In his travels he comes across the traveling revival show of evangelist Sister Sharon Falconer. Required fields are marked *. 99107. Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) is a slick traveling salesman who is a boozer and a dog hound. She appears to Elmer as a saint, arms outstretched, stately, slender and tall, passionate. Photographer Nancy Musinguzis recent photos captured the over 7,000 people []. One such incident (chapter 2, section 3) is when the pious but not very bright Eddie Fislinger is outwitted by Jim Leffertss atheist father for the amusement of Jim and Elmer. British actress Jean Simmons as Sister Sharon, the evangelist Elmer falls for is similarly too airy. Elmer wants to marry her but she says she is too old for marriage (she is thirty-two, three or four years older than Elmer) and she must also remain free to devote herself to her missionary work. An example is the bizarre marriage ceremony which takes place between Elmer and evangelist Sharon Falconer before her grotesque shrine. In 1903, Lewis went to Yale University, where he served as editor of the Yale Literary Magazine. He will begin as a preacher in a small town, will enliven it and lift it.