Faith Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Faith - Essay Example During that time, Christians who were caught and refused to commit fumie were imprisoned and subject a painful death known as â€Å"Anazuri† ( hung and bled to death over a pit ). It is through the harrowing experience of Rodriguez during his stay in Japan that he discovers the trials that his mentor has undergone. Unfortunately, even his own mentor was swallowed by pessimism. He was bitter in the end, swallowed by his own shame and guilt. In the end, he was betrayed by Kichiji-ro and Rodriguez commits the act of fumie. Being a historical fiction, the novel also relates the ties between Japan and the west because it recalls how the shoguns converted the people into Buddhism and launched a drive to expel missionaries. Apparently, the west had already begun its missions through St. Francis Xavier in 1549. The author always portrayed Rodriguez as Christ-like. His struggles of being the only Japanese in the university made him a reject, he was neither a Japanese nor French. He also contracted tuberculosis that resulted to one of his lungs removed that seemed to warn him how difficult it would be to pursue the search of his faith (Reinseima 2004 ) This was his main crisis in faith was only resolved when he met his former mentor in prison. Although it seems that every turn of his life was a block to his faith, it was only in the end that he recognized that these were not blocks at all. In fact, those struggles strengthened Rodriguez character and illuminated him in finding his faith . Moreover, his struggles like rejection, incarceration, persecution are the real mani- festations of having solid faith because despite the tribulations, Rodriguez searched for Christ. It was this unsettling silence of God that deeply troubled the main character Even at the beginning of the story, Rodriguez is already fascinated by the face of Christ. He would always wonder how Christ would look like in many situations such as kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane. He