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Ichizo
The one-eyed man is a Japanese Christian whom Rodrigues meets, along with Monica, after he is arrested. The one-eyed man is placed in the same prison as Rodrigues. One afternoon, after refusing to apostatize by stepping on the fumie, a Japanese official casually makes conversation with the one-eyed man before swiftly and unexpectedly decapitating him. After the one-eyed man’s head falls to the ground, separated from his body, Rodrigues is disturbed by the afternoon’s stillness and God’s silence, as if one of his followers had not been struck dead.
The One-Eyed Man Quotes in Silence
The Silence quotes below are all either spoken by The One-Eyed Man or refer to The One-Eyed Man. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 6 Quotes
On the day of my death, too, will the world go relentlessly on its way, indifferent just as now? After I am murdered, will the cicadas sing and the flies whirl their wings inducing sleep? Do I want to be as heroic as that? And yet, am I looking for the true hidden martyrdom or just for a glorious death? Is that I want to be honored, to be prayed to, to be called a saint?
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
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The One-Eyed Man Character Timeline in Silence
The timeline below shows where the character The One-Eyed Man appears in Silence. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
...and a sense of well-being, now that his flight is over. Among them are a one-eyed man and a woman who introduces herself as Monica (her Christian name indicating that she was...
(full context)
Chapter 6
...to labor and allow the priest to visit them. He realizes the prisoners are the one-eyed man and Monica, whom he’d met when he was captured. The guards allow the priest to...
(full context)
...seem unbothered and unsurprised. They herd the prisoners back to their cells, except for the one-eyed man , with whom one of the officials wants to speak.
(full context)
After the one-eyed man speaks amiably with the official for a few minutes, the official draws his sword and...
(full context)
