and at the end of Michener's novel begins a new novel in which he will try to honestly portray the people in his world in a more up-to-date way: "I no longer want to write about my colorful Dutch as they used to be, but the way they are now. How a chain of wrong choices and obstinate behavior can lead to murder" (Michener 435).
It would be stretching matters to claim that Yoder has had one of Maslow's "peak experiences" and that it is that experience which has led him to be more creative. Yoder---and his maker Michener himself---are both mainstream plodders, journeymen writers who get the job done in a straightforward and competent way. Yoder may have been moved by the murder of Timothy, but by book's end he seems to be the same journeyman we met on the first page of the novel. He is Michener's fictional ego, perhaps, which we are invited to conclude from a number of pieces of evidence. For example, when Jane hears on the radio that a writer has been killed and that the writer is referred to as "one of America's highly regarded writers," she immediately concludes that it can't be Yoder because he would have been referred to as "one of America's best-selling writers" (Michener 382). As one of Yoder's biggest fans, Jane must be seen as being sarcastic in making this comment. There may be some bitterness in Michener---and identification with Yoder---with respect to the difference between selling books and being critically perceived as a fine artist. Michener and Yoder sell many
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