11 Endō later clarified he was not writing about God’s silence and this is confirmed when God actually speaks from the fumi-e God’s voice emerges within silence. The silence of God is an overt theme throughout the novel but it has been mistaken by readers as the primary theme. 10 God as the Non-Silent Character of the NovelĮndō later regretted following his publisher’s advice to use the title Silence because this makes the novel more easily misunderstood. The word “fall” is used in conjunction with the word “rise” to illustrate a cycle of rising and falling throughout the novel. 9 Lastly, the word translated as “apostasy” in English is often a Japanese word meaning “fall” without any religious significance. He must renew his apostasy because he commits secret Christian actions like hearing a confession. 8 This “writing a book” is actually a recantation formula against the faith Rodrigues signs. Instead, Christ speaks in a gentle maternal tone sympathizing with Rodrigues as if to say, “It is all right to trample.” 7 Additionally, the English translation states Rodrigues writes several books disavowing the faith in the so called “Appendix” chapter. When the voice of Christ tells Rodrigues to trample, the command is not as abrupt as it appears in English. Silence is hampered by its translation into English. Clarifying the English Translation of Silence The book ends describing Rodrigues’s new life with his Japanese wife, his work to identify secret Christian objects for the authorities to keep Christianity out of Japan, and his continual renunciations of the faith. Rodrigues tramples on the fumie and apostatizes. It was to share men’s pain that I carried my cross (p. Trample! It was to be trampled on by men that I was born into this world. Trample! Trample! I more than anyone know of the pain in your foot. He then hears the voice of Christ in the fumie saying, 6 Throughout the book, Rodrigues questions why God would be silent while His people suffer and the priest is anguished by the tortures the Christians are enduring. Other Japanese Christians are forced to undergo a horrendous torture, tsurushi, unless Rodrigues tramples on the fumi-e and apostatizes. Rodrigues is later betrayed by Kichijiro and captured by the authorities. Kichijiro claims to be a Christian but consistently steps on the fumi-e out of fear for his life and Rodrigues looks upon him with disdain because Kichijiro will not die like other Japanese matyrs. Those who do trample either were not Christians or they are Christians who renounce their faith. 4 Those who refuse to trample reveal their secret identites as Christians and may be executed. To test secret Christians, leaders of the Tokugawa shogunate present a fumi-eto be trampled by Japanese subjects. The Jesuits enter Japan and hide in a village through the aid of a cowardly Japanese man named Kichijiro. Sebastian Rodrigues and Francisco Garrpe, set out to discover the truth. 3 Rumours of esteemed Jesuit Fr. Christovao Ferreira apostatizing under torture have reached Rome and his former pupils, Frs. 2 Summary of SilenceĬhristianity was completely banned in the 1630s resulting in matyrdoms of Japanese Christians and apostasies. 1 Both interpretations are valid for a surface level reading of Silence but there is a depth to the novel missed in many interpretations. The controversial nature of the novel and the film has yielded negative reviews which claim the message of Endō’s work is the justification of apostasy and positive reviews which praise the moral ambiguity inherent in the novel devoid of clear black and white solutions. Shūsaku Endō’s novel, Silence, takes place during the shogunate’s persecution of Christians in the 1640s when many Japanese Christians died for the faith. Today marks the 420th anniversary of the twenty-six Japanese martyrs of Nagasaki in 1597 under the Tokugawa shogunate.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |