Book Review and Character Analysis in Endo’s Silence

Character Analysis in Endo’s “Silence”
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Pick a character or group of characters from the novel and analyze that character and his/her role in the novel. What literary devices does Endo use to make that character come alive? How does this character develop over the course of the book?
The silence by Endo Shusaku outlines the 17th century religious and cultural practices of the Japanese, time when Tokugawa Shogunate was in power. The practicing Catholics did not have sufficient freedom to practice their freedom and ended up to be called hidden Christians. Their religious rituals were done underground. They also had the metal plate that had the images of Mary and Jesus named as the fumie. The Catholics were required to trample the fumie as a symbol that they had not converted their faith to Buddhism. Therefore, the author uses different elements of writing such as symbolism and imagery to develop the various characters.
The author opens the book by developing the character of Sebastian Rodrigues who travels all the way from Portugal to Japan in order to find out the whereabouts of his mentor Cristobal Ferreira hence revealing his enthusiasm. Rumors had it that Cristobal had defected from the Catholic faith and therefore, Rodriguez saw the need to follow up on him despite the distance between them. The author gives a chronology of the events that Rodrigues go through as a journal of his daily activities. This is also an indication of his enthusiastic nature and willingness to keep track of all the happenings in his life. This enthusiasm helps in building his character to the point whereby he arrives in Japan. Rodrigues goes through many temptations, and he is focused enough to bear all the tortures in order to maintain the Christian faith. Despite all the killings and torture that the Christians are facing, Rodriguez still believes that he should go to Japan. He arrives in a ship from Monaco at a time when the Japanese officials are forcing Christians to denounce their faith and also spit on the religious figures. Rodriguez is aware of all these happenings, but as a result of his strong belief in Christianity, he chooses not to be afraid of the persecution. Therefore, this is a revelation of his enthusiasm towards knowing the whereabouts of Cristóbal.
Rodriguez is also presented as a dedicated character who is ready to go through any difficulties in life in order to save one soul. Christopher did a great job of directing him on how to live according to the Christian's ways of life, and therefore, it was his obligation to bring him back to the faith no matter how much trouble he had to go through. This character is an allegory in today's world whereby Christian teachers help other people learn more about faith. As a result, they end up building up a generation of believers that would be responsible for teaching tomorrows world about Christianity. It will also be their obligation to bring back to faith those that have backslidden. Besides, his character of being dedicated helped a lot in overcoming most of the challenges that he came across. He had a goal that kept him motivated during his journey to Japan.
Also, the various characters help in the creation...