With a title like Death Comes for the Archbishop, it's probably not surprising that this book features mortality as one of its biggest themes. But what's most interesting about Cather's use of death is the way that she keeps it hovering in the background of her character's lives while they spend most of their time going about their daily business.
This is more or less how our own lives work, too. We all know we're going to die someday, but we don't really act like we do in daily life. Instead, we focus on what's ahead of us and try to do what we can with the time we have. It's not until the very late stages of our lives that we tend to put a lot of thought into what it means to be dead. Luckily for us, the story of Father Latour can give us a bit of guidance on how to approach that moment when it finally comes.
Questions About Mortality
- What was your reaction to Father Latour's death at the end of this book? Were you sad, bored, underwhelmed, or surprised?
- No matter what your reaction was, why do you think you reacted in the specific way you did?
- Why do you think Willa Cather decided to put "Death" in the title of this book? How does it affect your overall reading?
- The culture of New Mexico seems to be a little obsessed with death in this book. Where do you think this obsession comes from and why?
- How do the white colonizers approach the idea of death compared to the Native Americans in this book? Use specific evidence from the text to support your answer.
Chew on This
In Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather shows us that death can mean very different things in different cultures.
In Death Comes for the Archbishop, we find that no matter what culture you're from, death means the same thing to everyone.