Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Silence, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Apostasy
Religious Arrogance
Faith
Western Religion vs. Eastern Culture
Persecution
Summary
Analysis
The narrative shifts to be told in the form of letters written by Sebastian Rodrigues. Juan de Santa Marta has fallen ill with malaria, though Rodrigues and Garrpe remain in good health and work at a missionary college in Macao. Valignano still refuses to send missionaries into Japan, even though there are many Japanese Christians who must be lost without priests to guide them. Valignano has heard no word from Ferreira since 1633, and so does not know if he is alive, sick in a cell, or has “won a glorious martyrdom,” though he does not mention the possibility of apostasy. Moreover, this new man Inoue is a “terror of the Christians” and “cunning as a serpent.” He surpasses his predecessors both in savagery and guile, able to break many Christians (who once seemed immune to torture and threats of death) by forcing them to apostatize. Inoue was once a Christian himself, but obviously no longer. The priests memorize his name.
Rodrigues’s refusal to acknowledge that Ferreira, the great teacher leader, and missionary, may have apostatized and renounced the faith suggests once again a strong religious arrogance, both individually and institutionally. In Rodrigues’s mind, such faith as Ferreira’s had should have made him powerful, immune to such a failure. The idea of winning “a glorious martyrdom” also suggests a self-aggrandizing view of suffering for one’s faith, as if it is a badge of honor, a hopeful achievement of all missionaries. Once again, naming Inoue the “terror of the Christians” establishes him as one-dimensional villain in the priests’ minds, rather than a person with complex ideas and motivations.
Themes
After much pleading, Valignano finally relents and lets the priests make their journey “for the conversion of Japan and the glory of God.” While searching for a Chinese ship that might smuggle the priests to Japan, they meet their first Japanese person, a drunk named Kichijiro who is about their age. Garrpe asks Kichijiro if he is Christian, but Kichijiro seems uncomfortable and denies it. He does, however, tell them of what he saw during the insurrection—a local governor tied 24 Christians to poles at the edge of the sea, so that each time the tide came in, they had to struggle to keep their heads above the waves and not drown. Each of them died after a week or so, when their bodies gave out in agony and exhaustion.
Kichijiro is immediately established as a wretched figure and seems, in his weakness, as if he will not play a major role in the story. However, other than Rodrigues, Kichijiro is actually the most present throughout the narrative, remaining alongside Rodrigues until the bitter end. Kichijiro’s character models what an entirely permissive attitude towards apostasy might look like.
Themes
The three priests tell Kichijiro they have money for a ship and crew to go to Japan, and offer return him to his home country (he was found adrift at sea and taken to China by a passing Portuguese vessel) since it will be useful to have a guide once they reach Japan. Valignano arranges a Chinese crew and vessel to take them to Japan, though Santa Marta becomes so ill that he must stay behind.
Santa Marta plays little role other than allowing Rodrigues to make a few statements about God’s providence and his confidence that all things work together in God’s plan. These statements establish an important baseline for Rodrigues’s faith in God, from which it will be challenged and shaped.
Themes
Kichijiro will join them, and as the priests watch the Japanese man work alongside the Chinese crew, they surmise “what a cunning fellow he is. And his cunning comes from weakness of character.” When the Chinese captain is watching, Kichijiro works hard, but when he is not, Kichijiro idles, until the crew beats him and he grovels before them on his knees “in the most ugly way you could imagine.” Kichijiro contrasts with every description Rodrigues and Garrpe have heard of the Japanese thus far as stalwart and noble people. Rodrigues, amused, reflects that Christ, too, entrusted his life to such untrustworthy people.
Kichijiro is depicted as as weak and pitiful as it seems possible for a man to be, even though it is this very weakness which makes him a survivor. Such a shameful characterization is significant, since Rodrigues, though he is arrogant now, will eventually see a parallel between himself and Kichijiro. However, Kichijiro’s apparent weakness currently contrasts with Rodrigues’s arrogance, especially in the manner in which he often equates himself with Christ.
Themes
Get the entire Silence LitChart as a printable PDF.
As Rodrigues waits for preparations to be finished—which takes several weeks—he reflects on Jesus Christ’s face. The Bible pointedly gives no description; early Christians envisioned him as a shepherd; the “eastern Church” depicts him with a long nose and curly black hair, an “oriental Christ”; medieval painters envisioned him as a powerful king. Rodrigues prefers the painting in the Borgo San Sepulchro, where Christ has a crucifix in hand, tomb under foot, and is encouraging his followers to “feed my lambs.” Rodrigues reflects that he is as enamored by that face “jut like a man fascinated by the face of his beloved.” Only a few days out from their final voyage, Rodrigues and Garrpe know that Santa Marta is still too weak to accompany them, but trust that God is “secretly preparing” the path for his own life.
Christ’s face is a repeated symbolic image throughout the story, reflecting the state of Rodrigues’s faith as its own condition changes. To begin, Rodrigues pictures Christ’s face to be as beautiful as a lover’s, reflecting that his faith is strong. He is very much enamored with the Gospel, and the beauty and purity of their mission. Rodrigues’s conviction that despite Santa Marta’s failure to go to Japan, God prepares some other path for him reflects his own strong belief in God’s providence and control, which will also be challenged and changed over the course of the story.
Themes
