My blog reviews of the IAM Reader's Guild gatherings in 2010. (see previous Readers Guild posts here)
January 2010: Silence
by Shusaku Endo
Endicott, NY chapter of the IAM Readers Guild
Exactly
ten people attended our first gathering of the Endicott Readers Guild. Ten people bringing a wonderful assortment of
snacks and beverages capped by the
thoughtful addition of Japanese-inspired wasabi peas and gummy koi fish.
Although
it is most likely a discussion group taboo, I couldn’t help myself by asking
right at the top of the evening: “Thumbs
up or thumbs down?” The answer was
predominantly, “Thumbs in the middle.” The explanation many of the readers gave was
that they felt the book was written and very readable, but they were
disappointed by the story and feeling weighted down by the subject matter.
This was
an honest response and a perfect way to launch almost two straight hours of
discussion. For starters, most of us
found we did not have a lot of sympathy for Rodrigues or Ferreira, and only a
tiny bit for the decidedly, Gollum-like Kichijoro. Many of the readers wished we could have
spent more time with Garrpe. While most
did not identify with a character so
much as an identification from
our own struggles experiencing the silence of God. We represented a few different faith
backgrounds and there seemed to be a direct correlation between where we had
come from, where we were now and what we believed about the silence of
God. Is He not listening? Not answering? Answering, but saying no? Are we trying to hear Him through religious practices or a
living, breathing relationship?
Several expressed
a sense of sorrow for Rodrigues, thinking that he was missing an understanding
of relationship with the God he was so desperate to hear. Others expressed something like a frustration
that Rodrigues insisted God was silent in the midst of the suffering around
him, when, in fact, there were several descriptions of very clear communication
from Christ. The pinnacle description of
this Voice is written in Chapter 9: “It was this concave face that had looked at
the priest in sorrow. In sorrow it had gazed up at him as the eyes spoke
appealingly: ‘Trample! Trample! It is to be trampled on by you that I am here.’
“
The second
half of the evening we discussed the conflict Rodrigues – and his fellow
Western missionaries – face introducing the God of their religious conviction
to the Eastern values and beliefs of the Japanese people. This discussion included thoughts about the
motivation for the mission: to love and
serve the people or to satisfy their
curiosity about Ferriera’s rumored apostasy.
This line of conversation was related to Mako’s podcast comments about Endo’s
lack of description of the priest’s sense
of call.
We
wondered together if this would have affected the outcome. Had his purpose been to introduce the
suffering Christ he often imagines during his confinement, would the younger
priest been less easily-influenced by the existentialistic judgments of former
mentor priest: “‘They did not believe in
the Christian God.’ Ferreira spoke clearly and with self-confidence,
deliberately emphasizing every word. ‘The Japanese till this day have never had
the concept of God, and they never will.’ “
Toward the
end of our discussion time, we wondered aloud if a differently motivated
Rodrigues would have resulted in a different outcome. Perhaps, he would have been more willing to
resist trampling the fumie if he had
more fully believed the suffering Japanese would become martyrs given over to a
present God. Rather, he seemed to
conclude that God was not listening and that their fate was in his ineffective
hands. He eventually behaved as if he
had no option but to “love” the suffering Christians by performing an act of
apostasy. The fruit of this decision is
that he goes on to live a solitary, self-loathing life, giving paltry aid to
the Japanese magistrate. As our time ran
out, we couldn’t help but talk about the contrast between Garrpe’s response to
coercion and Rodrigues’. Two kinds of
torture, yes, but only one had to go on living with that torment.
Endo
masterfully depicts a stark and silent world -- in the subtle descriptions of
buzzing insects, withering heat and rotten food, dark water and crimson blood
stains on dusty courtyards. His
storytelling had a sobering effect on us all and we were grateful for the
chance to come in from the cold January evening and cheer each other with brisk
conversation, merlot and gummy fish. It was a good evening and we are looking
forward to gathering again.
