Within the first few pages of the novel, Silence, Shūsaku Endō’s throws his readers head on to the cruelty and darkness that the Christians had faced in 17th century feudal Japan. Father Rodrigues, a Jesuit priest sent to covert the Japanese to the Christian faith, he described the “immersion in the hell of boiling water at Unzen.” the five of priests and two women went through to give up their faith. However, with all the tortures methods used and being immersed in the boil water and being in prison, they still didn’t give up. It leaves the reader, such as my shudder and hard to contemplate what I have just read. Although disturbing, the onslaught of Christian persecution has been ongoing for thousands of years. This historical fiction novel follows the journey of three Jesuit priests from Portugal to investigate the actions that led one of their own superiors to abandon his faith and defaced the image of the church while also carrying out the covert Christian missions in the country. However, when they land in Maco, Father Valignano informs them that Inoue, the governor of Chikugo, are persecuting Christians by using various torture methods to apostatizing and killing them when they don’t. According to Endo, the act of apostatizing was to step on the fumi-e, “a bronze portrait of Jesus or Mary mounted on a wooden frame. The Japanese Christians would have to step on every New Year’s in order to be freedom from the persecution.” This didn’t dissuade the three priests who
Aristotle once theorized, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” The book, “The Color of Water” describes the lives of James and Ruth McBride and their journeys to find this happiness. Both of these characters, among other characters in the book struggled for the majority of their lives with the issues of race. They felt as if they were caught between two different worlds; the world of blacks and the world of whites. These struggles left all of the characters feeling forlorn. In McBride’s memoir it is made clear that in order to find happiness, the characters must first be able to confront and then overcome the racial divisions that were so prominent in their lives.
In Out of This Furnace, author Thomas Bell portrays the historic stories of Slovakian immigrants who migrate to the United States with the dream of becoming a millionaire or trying to escape the oppression in their old country (Bell, 1). The novel illustrates the struggles of three generation of Slovakian immigrants in America enduring poverty, discrimination, exploitation by employers, as well as the development of labor unions. As the story progresses, the novel provides a glimpse of diverse sets of perspectives from Kracha, Mike, and finally Dobie. In examining the character Dobie, his participation in civic labor unions, and in search of his own true identity reveals the more liberal and outspoken new generation of immigrants.
The book Black Hearts opened my eyes to how leadership from a single Officer can have a grappling effect on such a wide range of soldiers from the lowest of ranks. One of the best takeaways from Black Hearts is to never do anything: illegal, unethical, or immoral. Although this is a easy statement to repeat, Black Hearts demonstrates the difficulties that lie behind these words. It has also painted a picture of how leadership can topple extremely quickly from a top down view. The Army is portrayed in a bad light throughout the book relentlessly. This is due to the concentration of poor leadership of the 1-502nd Regiment (Referred to as “First Strike”), a battalion of the 101st Airborne Division.
In Asia, European nations, especially those who were Catholic, were interested in spreading Christianity to Asia. Countries, such as Spain were successful in spreading Christianity throughout the Americas. Western Europe was looking for the same success in Asia that they had in the Americas. Many missionaries were sent to Asia to fulfil these hopes. In document 4, Matteo and his lay companion Paul Siu Kwang-k’i, a painting depicting Ricci, left, and Paul Siu, right. Ricci is depicted wearing traditional Chinese attire. The Jesuits, the group for which Ricci was associated with, believed that the best way to convert a civilization, such as China, was to immerse themselves in their culture. Missionaries did not just focus their efforts in China. As document 13 shows, Writing of St. Francis Xavier Letter from Japan - 1551, these missionaries worked to translate the Bible to allow those they were converting to better understand Christianity in their own language. This would allow a significantly higher number of people in Japan to convert, and the missionaries would be considered successful. On the other hand, the document also shows the fears that the Japanese had in regards to converting to Christianity. According to Xavier, the Japanese see the “rightness” of Christianity as opposed to their previous beliefs, but he sites that their princes cause
Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are two remarkably different characters. In the beginning of the novel, they’re known only as the murders of the Clutter family, but Truman Capote tells their life stories in such a way that they become more than that. Even though these two men are basically introduced as murderers, they quickly become relatable and interesting characters. So much is learned about their feelings and lives that one can not help but almost look past their reckless ways. Both of these men have unique character traits that amalgamate in an intriguing way. Throughout In Cold Blood, Capote includes many instances that show how Dick and Perry, when combined, make the perfect murderer.
Julie Otsuka’s novel When the Emperor was Divine leads the reader through the journey of one family that represents many as they are placed in an internment camp for the crime of being Japanese. Otsuka brings to light the persecution of Japanese-Americans through her use of symbols prominent throughout the book. Some of the most important being the symbol of stains, their family dog, and horses. Each has a double-meaning pointing towards the theme of widespread racism. Racism that led many Japanese-Americans into believing that they were guilty.
Throughout the Novel Silence, Shusako Endo depicts the cultural clash between Christianity and Japan. We feel the frustrations that this brings, and are provoked to ask questions such as, why is God silent in the midst of his people’s suffering? But the greater question it begs is what cultural implications have we placed on Christ? Do we expect him to act as a hero in our culture would? He transcends time and culture, but do our expectations and experiences cast a shadow on our impression of God? The theme of the silence of God, suggested by the title is brought to light throughout the novel, and perhaps the reader can see this as one cultural expectation placed on Christ by a particular group of people based on their perceptions or experiences. Their experiences in life cast a shadow on their impression of God, and Jesus is to be a cultural hero in their frame.
Book-burning is the first thing that is explained about this future based society of Fahrenheit 451. Burning books is the obliteration of the single thought on paper or in one word- censorship. Books are considered evil because they make people question and think. All intellectual curiosity and thirst for knowledge must be quelled for the good of the state — for the good of conformity. Without ideas, everyone conforms, and as a result, everyone should be happy. When books and new ideas are available to people, conflict and unhappiness occur. Some of the many different motifs in the novel Fahrenheit 451 are conveyed through the use of various sardonic lines and connotations planted throughout the book. On the matter of technology and modernization it explains how TV reigns supreme in the future because of the "happiness" it offers. People are content when they don’t have to think, or so the story goes. TV aside, technology is the government’s means of oppression, but also provides the renegade’s opportunity to subvert. Rules and order is another popular topic written into the book. It is stated that “All books can be beaten down with reason.” This was said by Captain Betty, a quote ironically coming from a book itself. Much of the restrictions on the general populous are self-enforced. The government has taken away the citizens’ ability to dissent and marred all dissatisfaction with a cheap version of "happiness," a.k.a. TV. This means
Carl Deuker was born in San Franscisco on August 26, 1950. He was raised in Redwood City, California. He is the son of Jack Deuker and Marie Milligan Deuker. He attended the University of California, Berkeley majoring in English. He describes himself as a classic second-stringer who wasn’t very athletic. Carl is currently teaching junior high English and physical science in Northshore School District outside of Seattle. He is also, the author of Heart of a Champion, Night Hoops, Painting the Black, High Heat, Runner, and Swagger. On the Devil’s Court was a YA book of the year in South Carolina.
Matteo Ricci was a born in Italy in 1552. He became a Jesuit and went a mission to China in 1583. He lived out the rest of his twenty seven years in China, bringing in Western culture and technology, while learning about what China had to offer. In his novel, The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci, Jonathan Spence retells Ricci’s life story, while also adding information about the world at the time. Spence tells Ricci’s story in an interesting way, by assigning Chinese characters and images that he believes Ricci would have used in his memory palace, a fictional tool to remember what that took place during his life. The memory palace works by assigning memories to a character or image, so when you think of the image, you can remember the memories associated with it. Spence then breaks up the chapters separately by each image or character and talks about the history and story from Ricci’s life associated with the image or character. This essay will primarily focus on chapter four of the novel, though a summary of the themes of chapter six is included as well. In chapter four Spence largely discusses the three main religions of the Western world, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, and then draws parallels with the three largest religions in China at the time, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. However, these examples are not the only instances where a trio of three religions and belief systems are present. At the end of the Warring States period in China, around 350 BCE, China was
Anyone who think that boys are the only ones to play baseball, they are exceedingly wrong because a little girl was born to play ball, named Toni Stone.
Dry September is a story where citizens of a Jefferson, Mississippi have heard a rumor that Will Mayes, a black man has raped a white woman named Minnie Cooper. The story explores the reactions of the town’s citizens as this rumor is spread. Individuals begin to make individual conclusions and assumptions drawing hasty ideas based on insufficient or miniscule evidence, even going as far as to make up some of the evidence to draw a conclusion. There is a relationship between racism and violence in the world of the text.
There are many ways authors write their books that can vary from style, experience, setting, and language. One author that I would like to talk about is Walter Dean Myers and the book that I would want to analyze would be Somewhere In the Darkness. This novel speaks about a poor little boy who was adopted at the age of two after his mother died and had to move to Harlem leaving his family behind . He also had a speech impediment and couldn’t speak or write as well as others but that didn't stop him. The book “Somewhere In The Darkness” is about a boy named Jimmy who was adopted by a very kind-hearted lady after his mother had passed away and his father went into prison. In the book his father is finally released and gave a surprise to Jimmy and takes him to Arkansas to settle down but Jimmy does not trust him. Walter Dean Myers usually writes his books from his own experiences which makes them inspirational, thought out, down to earth, and somewhere relatable to the reader!
Everyone believes in something or someone to a certain extent. That extent is revealed when consequences are laid out on the table. In the intriguing novel Silence, by Shusaku Endo, the pathway of the Jesuit priest, Sebastian Rodriguez, is followed as he embarks to Japan during the height of the country's persecution of Christians in the 1600s to perform missionary work. One of his goals for this trip was to find out why one of his old teachers renounced their faith after being captured and tortured. However, as time would tell, Rodrigues found himself in a position of torture where he too had to decide whether or not he would renounce his faith by stepping on the fumie in front of the Japanese men.
Jalapeno bagels is about a boy named Pablo whom cannot decide what to take to school for International Day. He wants to bring something from his parents’ baker. He wants something that represent his heritage but he cannot decide what to bring. His mother who is Mexican baked pan dulce and change bars. His father who is Jewish baked bagels and challah. Both of the bake good were good but while helping his parents with the bakery on Sunday morning, Pablo made a decision on what to bring. He decided to bring jalapeno bagels because they are a mixture both of his parents and just like him too. The multicultural representations in the story line is Mexican and Jewish. The pictures that were drawn in the book, the family has the same color of skin even though the parents are different cultures and the main character is mixed. There were no different skin colors.