"Silence" by Shusaku Endo *****

> Originally published in 1966
> Part of a year long LT Group Read of Shusaku Endo...my first of his
> Historical fiction

>Setting: Japan during the 1600s, during period of intense effort on the part of Japanese to eradicate Catholicism in their country, torture used to force apostasy

>Basic plot: group of Portuguese priests go to Japan to continue the effort to bring the faith to the people of Japan and also to determine if their colleague and revered teacher has apostatized as has been reported

> Structure is a series of letters from Sebastian Rodrigues, one of the Portuguese priests, to his superiors

> Silence: my thoughts are that silence comes in three forms....total peace....total fear.....death

> the fourth silence is that of God, which causes Rodrigues to question the meaning of his life

> p.49..."It was the human kindness and charity of the fathers that touched their hearts".

> p.59..."It is easy enough to die for the good and beautiful; the hard thing is to die for the miserable and corrupt--this is the realization that came home to me acutely at that time."...when being betrayed

> p.72..."The wisdom of peasants shows itself in their ability to pretend that they are fools."

> social hierarchy in Japan at this time: landowner > samurai > peasants

> Silence...p.93..."Behind the depressing silence of this sea, the silence of God....the feeling that while men raise their voices in anguish God remains with folded arms, silent."

> concept of "hidden Christians"

> Kichijiro is a fascinating character...a Judas, or just weak...or is it the same thing? In the end, Rodrigues finds he is no different....just human

> Inoue, the samurai who questions the priest.....

> Obvious parallels to Christ's last days

> p.209..."In the grove behind the prison the owl and the turtle dove answer each other singing in the night. Above the grove the moon, completely round, is bathed n an eerie red color as it comes out from the dark clouds and then is hidden again. The old men whisper ominously that this coming year may bring something untoward."

> p.232..."The Christianity that they believe in is like the skeleton of a butterfly
caught in a spider's web ; it contains only the external form...". - Ferreira's explanation of what happens to Catholicism in Japan

> p232...."How could anyone sacrifice himself for a false faith?"

> p.259 The priest hears Christ just as he is about to apostatize by "trampling a picture of Christ"......he hears "Trample...Trample! I more than anyone know the pain in your foot. Trample! It was to be trampled on by men that I was born into this world. It was to share men's pain that I carried my cross."


> p.203..."He had come to this country to lay down his life for other men, but instead of that the Japanese were laying down their lives one by one for him"

> LibraryThing Review: This piece of historical fiction was written n 1967 by Shusaku Endo. It is deceptively simple in terms of the writing. In fact, it raises profound questions of faith, of culture, and of the meaning of silence. A priest from Portugal journeys to Japan in the 1600s during a period of Japanese persecution of Christians, primarily Catholic missionaries. Father Rodrigues hopes to further the spread of his faith and to also determine if his revered teacher has indeed apostatized, renouncing his faith, as has been reported. As I began the book I thought of three meanings of silence: death, perfect peace, and total fear. Let's just say that Father Rodrigues discovered and struggled with the fourth, the silence of God n the face of suffering. I will not reveal his resolution, but it is worth reading to find out. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.