Silence essays

Silence essays The novel Silence, written by Shasaku Endo, describes the migration of Christianity into Japan during the 17th century. This movement of a new religion into a foreign country was not very pleasant. Christians were given the option to apostatize or to be put to death by execution or extreme torture. Missionaries were sent out to spread the word of Christ no matter the consequences. The Church at this time was worried about Christianity dying down in Japan so Father Rodrigues and Garrpe made a pilgrimage there. This represents the extent the Church will go to instill its values all around the world. The attempt to westernize Japan was a battle that was to fierce for anyone to over come. Both Christians and the Japanese officials were too bold hearted with supporting what they believe is right. Innocent lives were taken and yet some still would not apostatize because of their dedication to the new religion. The Japanese had strong tradition of believing in Buddhism. This meant that becoming a Christian would be viewed disrespectful to the Japanese officials. The priests had to be secretive with their message of the Lord due to the brutal consequences. They struggled to find their brothers of religion wherever they traveled. Soon the officials heard word of the traveling priests and the samurai ransacked the village. They used three villagers as bait to have the priests come forward. The villagers were killed by the samurai and the priests could not step forward. Eventually, Father Rodrigues is captured and is tortured to the point of exhaustion. Then he is threatened by the samurai that if he does not apostatize, then other prisoners will be killed on his account once again. This time it was a test too great for his faith and was forced to stomp on a picture of the Lord. This symbolized that although a Christian he will have to adapt by keeping his faith to himself. Crea ...