Life Before Man: Novel Summary and Research Plot Summary A) As Margaret Atwood's Life Before Man begins, the reader is introduced to the initial characters Elizabeth, her husband Nate and their children Janet and Nancy. ... Elizabeth, now free of adulterous complication, returns to the loving mother she once was. ... Atwood employs many of the familiar streets, sights and sounds of Toronto in bringing the book to life and places the chaotic Schoenhof household on Yonge Street. ...

• Word Count: 881
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The book was also Pulitzer Prize nominated book. ... It was published in the United States in 1976 and nominated for a National Book Award in 1977 (Claude Grimal, 1995). ... After controlling his drinking problem in the late 1970s, he taught for several years at the University of Texas at El Paso and at Syracuse University, and in 1983 he won a literary award whose generous annual stipend freed him to again focus on his writing full-time (Encyclopedia Britannica). ... Plot Summary The narrator's wife used to work for a blind man called Robert whose wife has recently died, and he's co...

• Word Count: 3978
• Approx Pages: 16
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

This volume was very well-received by critics and readers alike, receiving nominations for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. ... The book marked a shift in Carver's fiction away from the bare minimalist prose of his earlier work toward a fuller, more detailed style. Critics hailed the book as a transition in Carver's work, singling out several stories, including the title story, "Cathedral," for praise. ... Plot Summary "Cathedral" opens with the narrator telling the reader in a conversational tone that a blind friend of his wife's is coming to ...

• Word Count: 11148
• Approx Pages: 45
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School