In the novel The Lilies of the Field, by William E. Barrett, the two main characters, Mother Maria Marthe and Homer Smith, were similar in many ways, yet different too. One of the similarities they shared was that both Mother Maria and Homer wanted to be in charge. While Homer was constructing the chapel, Mother Maria and he kept getting into arguments about if whether Homer was doing it right or not. Homer and Mother were both very adamant about what they wanted and did give in easily. When Homer was trying to get permission to buy the nuns food, Mother kept saying no.