A theme prominent in all four novels, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, Silence by Shusaku Endo and most importantly, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, is loss and death. Each novel allowed me to understand different meanings of death and the importance of the value of life. Starting with Things Fall Apart, Okwonko lives his life cowardly in anger and tries his entire life to be the opposite of his father who was gentle, resulting in his suicide. In Silence, a missionary treks across Japan and experiences many Christians put to death because they didn’t renounce their faith. In All the Pretty Horses, John Grady experiences death throughout the novel ending with him having to kill. In Catch-22, Yossarian
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Taking place in Japan during the persecution of Christians, much death occurs of Father Sebastien Rodrigues' fellow priests, followers, and believers of Christianity. Father Garrpe, one of Father Rodrigues' closest priests, refuses to renounce his faith to the Japanese officials resulting in his death, causing Rodrigues with many internal issues. Rodrigues met Mokichi and Ichizo, devout Christians, who were eventually martyred for their faith. Rodrigues is completely inspired of Mokichi's devotion to Christianity and ashamed he can't do the same, causing more internal issues after their deaths. The deaths regarding Father Rodrigues allows him to revalue his life and bring him closer to …show more content…
The theme of loss and death affects both John Grady and the background characters profoundly. In the beginning of the book, John is at the funeral of his grandfather that just passed, resulting in his mother selling the unprofitable ranch, where John and his ancestors have lived since 1866, affecting his life completely. Later in the book, Blevin, imprisoned for shooting a pursuer, is executed by the caption and the charro. John Grady, after being imprisoned in the Saltillo prison, has to kill an assassin who was trying to kill him in the mess hall, something he never wanted to do. Although Catch-22 doesn’t show death in a violent way, both humor and irony are used to bring about death. Yossarian does everything in his power to stall the time he has away from war. As soldiers continue to complete their combat missions and get closer to the number needed to be released, Colonel Cathcart increases the number needed. This shows no compassion for human life and increases the chance that the soldiers will die. This is why Yossarian continues to create reasons to stay with the medics, showing how Yossarian values his
Taking place in Japan during the persecution of Christians, much death occurs of Father Sebastien Rodrigues' fellow priests, followers, and believers of Christianity. Father Garrpe, one of Father Rodrigues' closest priests, refuses to renounce his faith to the Japanese officials resulting in his death, causing Rodrigues with many internal issues. Rodrigues met Mokichi and Ichizo, devout Christians, who were eventually martyred for their faith. Rodrigues is completely inspired of Mokichi's devotion to Christianity and ashamed he can't do the same, causing more internal issues after their deaths. The deaths regarding Father Rodrigues allows him to revalue his life and bring him closer to …show more content…
The theme of loss and death affects both John Grady and the background characters profoundly. In the beginning of the book, John is at the funeral of his grandfather that just passed, resulting in his mother selling the unprofitable ranch, where John and his ancestors have lived since 1866, affecting his life completely. Later in the book, Blevin, imprisoned for shooting a pursuer, is executed by the caption and the charro. John Grady, after being imprisoned in the Saltillo prison, has to kill an assassin who was trying to kill him in the mess hall, something he never wanted to do. Although Catch-22 doesn’t show death in a violent way, both humor and irony are used to bring about death. Yossarian does everything in his power to stall the time he has away from war. As soldiers continue to complete their combat missions and get closer to the number needed to be released, Colonel Cathcart increases the number needed. This shows no compassion for human life and increases the chance that the soldiers will die. This is why Yossarian continues to create reasons to stay with the medics, showing how Yossarian values his