The Sparrow

Summary The Sparrow shifts between two connected narratives. The first narrative is the story of the priest Emilio Sandoz’s return to Earth and the Jesuit leadership’s inquiry into what happened to...

D.W. Yarbrough quotes a Texan saying about coincidence which says that when you see a turtle on a fencepost, "you can be pretty damn sure he didn't get there on his own." This is an adaptation of a...

Russell’s novel The Sparrow, set in the near future, begins with a radio broadcast of music from an unknown alien source near Alpha Centauri. The protagonist , Father Emilio Sandoz, joins the first...

After the death and burial of Alan Pace, it’s left to the surviving members of the expedition to try and make sense of it all. In the wake of Alan’s death, Anne is more convinced than ever in her...

In The Sparrow, the research expedition from Earth to Rakhat changed the planet’s life in numerous ways. Each of the changes had both positive and negative effects, but the author suggests that the...

The expedition to Rakhat, which is supported by a Catholic denomination, leaves for the distant plant without having formulated a clear research project. The expedition’s members speak in general...

The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell, tells the story of a journey to space through the eyes of a priest named Emilio Sandoz. The story begins when an astronomer friend of Sandoz’s picks up a radio...

A major theme of The Sparrow is the relationship between beauty and evil. The voyagers are first attracted to the idea of traveling to Rakhat by the beautiful music that astronomer Jimmy Quinn...

In terms of literary devices, The Sparrow abounds with irony. Irony is when words or circumstances turn out to be the opposite of what is expected. In terms of what initially motivates the...