EXTRAORDINARY NOVEL

What a great novel! Since I started reading it, I always got really inquisitive about what its future events were going to be. I had never read a book in which religion and political power were its most important themes. I really liked how the protagonist played various roles, reflecting different perspectives towards different type of people. At the same time I loved how this novel appears to have many climaxes, since many moments are really exciting making the reader to get more attraction towards it.
Definitely this novel can be a tragic one, where the main protagonist, the priest, plays the role of the tragic hero, where he is always living life to make this tragedy happen.

BARACK OBAMA (PUBLIC SPEAKER)

Is this a good public speaker based on the criteria we established? Why? Why not?

Barack Obama is a good public speaker based on the criteria we established. Since he starts his speech, the audience is in complete silence showing an extreme respect towards this character. Once he begins to when he finishes, there´s always eye contact or body expression from him towards the people. Obama is always moving his eyes and hands making some parts of his speech to be more relevant. At the same time he vocalizes very good in a way his speech becomes clearer. Apart from his excellent physical language, his speech’s content attracts everyone in a way people clap, participate, and respect. He uses rhetoric, pathos, and logos, since he talks about other important figures and uses examples to encourage audience to be convinced. The effect of his speech is all about claps from public, because Obama could emotionally induce each person.

THE PROTAGONIST, A HERO OF THE FAITH

“Whichever way you looked, there wasn’t much merit in either of them”(P.190) I completely disagree with this quote, since the two persons, the criminal and the priest, have lived and experienced completely different things. What I have realized till this moment is that the priest should be valued or recognized because of being a hero of the faith.

Throughout the novel we have been aware about the persistence the protagonist has had while the constant government resistance. At the end we get to know some attitudes of this protagonist, such as humbleness and generosity, which make me reconsider about he being an exemplary; “But I do know this-that if there’s ever been a single man in this state damned, then I’ll be damned too. I wouldn’t want it to be any different. I just want Justice, that’s all”(P.200). His attitude towards life and people reflect a unique figure, since he is thinking more about other individuals than about himself; He is suffering while escaping because he thinks he has to, since others also do.

For me Jesus can be completely identified as a hero of the faith because he died for us exactly the same way as the priest did.
Since this, the following quote absolutely clarifies my personal opinion; “There were no more priests and no more heroes”(P.220).
“He was one of the martyrs of the church”...”He was one of the heroes of the faith”(P.219)

BIZARRE PRIEST´S MOOD REVOLUTION

The Priest has reflected various attitudes towards life and his own reality. In this pages we can get a little bit perplexed with his continuous changes of the importance of money in his life. When he arrives to another village, the priest stays with MrLehr and his sister, Miss Lehr, two German-American Protestants living in Mexico.

Villagers from this town ask him to say mass and baptize many young individuals. At first he starts realizing about his present reality; “Well-two pesos is the usual charge” He thought I must hire two mules and a guide. It will cost me fifty pesos to reach Las Casas. Five pesos for the Mass. that I left forty-five”(P.167). From this passage we can definitely understand his real awareness about money and its importance to continue escaping from persecution. We as audience may understand this analysis from the character, since we don’t still want him to be displaced from the novel.

After the villagers make him consider about their poverty and lack of money to pay for the baptisms, the priest reconsiders his past analysis and decides to charge them less money. Once he leaves town he decides to donate all his money to a schoolmaster ; “He’s not a bad man, he does his best, and I shan´t need money again, shall I?”(P.182).

At first we understand his attentiveness about keeping money for his life, then we agree about he being aware about all villagers poverty, but why would he suddenly ignore his past consciousness towards money? If this protagonist changes his perceptions and meanings without really caring about them, would he suddenly ignore his own reality? Throughout all the book the priest is completely aware about his risks, but with the past analysis about his moods being changed we would now be aware that maybe he will just disregard his permanent escape from government.

PRIEST´S LIFE COMING TO AN END

“Hope is an instinct only the reasoning human mind can kill” (P.140) With this citation we can absolutely understand how the priest’s hope hasn’t been vanished, since he is still aware of being alive. From the beginning we have seen how this character lives his life without wondering what’s wrong or right, although at this time of the novel he is now realizing his true reality. While this character is involved with other individuals, he is still playing a role of a stranger to society, since he is still not identified as the priest. As we could read, he is caught and prejudiced because of having alcohol, but still he is an invisible character for the ones who want to see him as the priest. What this quote tries to make us consider in this chapter is to start realizing that the character’s hope will be killed really soon maybe by him or by another stranger.

After he leaves jail, he finds himself alone without food, a person, nor light; “There was just nothing, nothing at all”( 141) This scene is another clue about the protagonist’s destiny, since his life is also without anything, full of dark holes and fears. Although alcohol has somehow save his life till this moment, an end or a death will come in a short period of time. If this priest would at least keep and defend his religious beliefs, maybe he will have a hope thinking in God, but since he is completely ignoring his beliefs and hiding his own identity, what would then be the reason to continue having hope within his present life?

The (Ignored) Extermination of Iraqi Christians

Despite being ignored by the media, Iraqi Christians face the constant threat of torture, rape, kidnapping, and murder. This video tells their story.
This video can show us how the extermination of the catholic church in Mexico can be!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h503pUkqfoQ

Is the Priest going to assume Judas´ role?

“He was feeling happy” (P.59). For the first time we are conscious about the priest’s feelings towards life, although he is more dead than alive. He knows he is in terrible danger, but he still plans to go from village to village and continue teaching mass, knowing he has to be hidden from the lieutenant. The risk this character chooses to take, makes him continuously disregard his religious role, to the point he can be interpreted as a fraud or a “thief for all the good...”(P.79).

When someone really cares about preserving his/her thoughts, transparency should be the first aspect to be aware of. A priest in that period of time should be the person who cleans all human souls and brings self-assurance and love towards all individuals´ minds and hearts. The priest of this novel, once identified as an stranger by Mr.Tench, can definitely be now a stranger and a traitor to his own religion, since his fear to be caught is making him act in the way an atheist would act. “Nobody came forward to kiss his hand and ask his blessing. It was as if he had descended by means of his sin into the human struggle to learn other things besides despair and love, that a man can be unwelcome even in his own home”( P.62) Even the villagers who once admired all priests, it was now the time to see this priest, who was causing deaths and fear throughout society, as a stranger.

“Happiness was dead again before it had time to breathe”(P.63) At this point he is completely aware about all villagers perspectives about his image, so now he can’t say he is proud and satisfy with his own soul, since “He was a sickness now”(P.64). This priest, who once reflected determination about his religious belief and position, is now leaving it; “I am a poor man”(P.87) He doesn’t want to accept he is a priest neither to a Christian man, while he always accepted his role to all communities.

“He remembered Holy Week in the old days when a stuffed Judas was hanged...”(P.91) With this passage we can clearly perceive his present thoughts about religion... Would he be the next Judas, since he can be a traitor to God because of non-accepting or hiding his religious role?