Analysis Of Doubt In Faith In Silence By Shusaku Endo

Doubt in Faith
To my knowledge we all have something we believe in, whether our faith is in God, Buddha or some other religion, the choice is ours. It is also up to us to have complete trust in the idol, hence not having any doubt towards that idol. Shusaku Endo covers the topic about faith and betrayal in Silence. In the novel the Japanese officials test the faith of priests and want them to apostatize since they feel that Christianity is not suited for Japan. One priest in particular, Sebastian Rodrigues seems to question his own faith even before apostatizing. Although Rodrigues professes to be a man of God and relates himself to Christ, I claim that he betrays his own faith throughout the novel before renouncing his faith because of his …show more content…
He knows Father Ferreira has renounced his faith and that Christianity is banned in all of Japan. Although he wants to save the Japanese Christians who worship in secret, the outcome results are opposite of what he intends. Instead, more Japanese Christians are killed and tortured because of him. For example, he does tell them to trample on the fume when the time comes so that they can live, but that is unnecessary if he turns himself in to the officials. He has a chance to do so when the officials order the Japanese Christians in Tomogi to turn in a few hostages. Instead he lets the men turn themselves in to risk of their lives. Rodrigues resembles himself to Christ a few times throughout the novel, but what he neglects to remember from the very beginning of his journey, is that Jesus died on the Cross so that everyone else can live. I believe Rodrigues has a sense of selfishness for letting all those people die in his name. By doing so, he considers his loyalty to his faith higher than the lives of the Japanese Christians. Rodrigues seems to mainly be concerned in pursuing the Japanese to believe in his faith, which he himself is not so sure of, thus putting faith over their