🍎 This recurring phrase serves as Larch’s nightly blessing to the orphans. It is a reminder of their inherent dignity, regardless of their status as "unwanted" children.

Dr. Wilbur Larch is a man of dualities. By day, he delivers babies for women who want them; by night, he performs "The Lord’s Work"—illegal abortions for women who don't. He views himself as a "saint of the unloved," providing a necessary mercy in a world governed by rigid, often cruel, laws.

Irving refuses to provide easy answers, forcing characters to break their own rules to do what is "right." Legacy and Adaptation

of reproductive rights in the mid-20th century. Irving's specific prose style and use of foreshadowing. Which of these would help you most?

St. Cloud’s redefines family as a bond of shared history rather than blood.

The rules were written by people who don't live in the cider house.