Shusaku Endo Silence Summary

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Shusaku Endo’s novel Silence is truly a magnificent work of art. The author does a fantastic job of describing the plight of Catholic missionaries during the Japanese oppression of Catholics. During this time period the Japanese were insensitive to God, sin, and death. During the 1600s both Catholic Missionaries and Japanese converts were heavily persecuted by Japan. In addition after the recent Shimabara Rebellion (led by Christians), the Japanese government became even more hostile towards priests in Japan.The novel starts out by describing how extremely closed off Japanese society was in this time period. At the same time Endo describes how Japanese Christians kept the faith alive through secret organizations. Silence tells the long journey and story of Sebastion Rodrigues, a Jesuit priest. In 1637, he leaves for Japan alongside two other priests. They plan to go to Japan to do missionary work and to find out the truth about their teacher, Christovao …show more content…

In Japan, the Christians live under heavy persecution and are often tortured into apostasy.
The main issue plaguing society at this time is apostasy according to Endo. Apostasy is literally the abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief. A major question asked throughout the book is should Japanese Christians and Priests commit apostasy. Some characters decide to commit apostasy while others remain loyal. Some like Kichijiro and Father Ferreira commit apostasy. While others such as father Grappe would rather become a martyr than to apostatize. The Catholic religion forms the crux of Silence. Religious devotion is the driving factor for Garrpe and Rodrigues to go halfway around

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