Part Four (Pages 211-221)

In the final part of the book all the characters that no one imagined would ever appear again did. The first ones were the Fellows. They were on a boat on their way to the town were the priest had been killed that same morning. Captain Fellows wonders if he could be the same priest they sheltered but his wife says she doesn't think so. She is very ill and I think she is a little dramatic too. I can tell they are going through a hard time and by what they talk about they are going back to England. The next to reappear is Mr Tench. He was fixing the Jefe's mouth and talking about a letter he had received from his wife. He also had a terrible pain in his stomach, but he considered it indigestion. It was a normal day until he say lots of police men outside his window. The Jefe told him it was an execution. He continued watching and he saw how they killed the priest, that man he once met. Mr Tench was shocked.

The same woman who was reading a bedtime story to her two girls and her son, finishes the story in which the priest is murdered and becomes a martyr. Then they all go to bed and the boy thinks about the priest who was murdered that morning and how he had once stayed in their house. The story and the reality going on in the novel are the same, and this is something very interesting, but I am not sure how to interpret it. Finally a man knocks on the door, the boy opens and it turns out to be a priest.

It is very cool that in the fourth part of the novel all the stories that were once mentioned are conclude and the reader gets to know what happened to the priest in three different ways. The story no longer follows him because he is dead, but it goes with other characters who knew the priest. The only thing I don't like about this ending is that we don't know what happens with the priest's daughter and I would have liked to read her side of her father's death.

Part 3: Chapter 3-4 (Pages 190- 210)

In chapter 3 the lieutenant appears, therefore the priest has no way out. This will probably be his end. They start talking and the reader can notice they might even like each other, but the circumstances force them to be enemies. The first thing the lieutenant asks the priest is why did he return. The priest's answer is one that makes him admirable and good: "Even a coward has a sense of duty" (page 190). Just for the fact that he accepts he has been a coward but he wants to face the world and whatever comes anyways makes me love this priest. How coward is a person who admits he is a coward? I would say he is not a coward at all. Apart from this, he confesses other things. For example he says he has been a bad priest and tells the lieutenant all about his committed sins, for example the conception of a child or the drinking. While I read this chapter I felt it was a confession in which the priest is the sin, and the anti-Catholicism police officer is the priest.

But the priest is not the only one who talks. The lieutenant tells him he is going to use the church money to improve education, so the people won't suffer. The priest's honest answer was very admirable because he contradicted him even though it was obvious that his life was on his hands.

Before leaving the mestizo reappeared and asked the priest for his blessing. I can't believe a person can be so terrible, he first walks him to his death and then says " you think the worst of people" (page 197). How dare he say this after betraying him? I can't believe this man.

When they get to prison the priest asks the lieutenant if he can be confessed before they kill him. He agrees and goes to look for padre Jose. But padre Jose's wife doesn't let him go, so the lieutenant returns. The priest's voice is very sad and he wants to do something about it, he even offers him brandy (even though it is illegal). But then a very crude moment takes place, the priest asks him if the other prisoners who have been killed suffer too much and the lieutenant answers "No, no. a second" (page 207). How can he be so honest and cold after acting as if he cared for the priest?

When the lieutenant leaves, the priest tries to confess. He begins whispering about his fornication with a woman and ends up thinking about his poor child and praying for her. He also remembers everyone he met in his final chapter of life. He prays for everyone of them. He even remembers the dentist (Mr. Tench). He fell asleep very hopeful and had a pleasant dream, but when he woke up He remembered it was his last day. He is facing a horrible situation and I don't think anyone can relate to this.

Part 3: Chapter 2 (Page 182-190)

The priest decides to go back with the mestizo and confess the American, he also proves my judgement completely wrong. Unlike the other chapters of the novel, in this one he demonstrates he is a brave and a good man. When they were leaving the town, he gave his money to a school teacher. He knew the end was near and was brave enough to confront it and do a right thing. Then he walked fast and firm, he stopped to drink, but anyone would do that if they were walking towards death. Life gave the priest a chance to make things right and he takes it and makes up for all his mistakes with one simple act of bravery. When the Mestizo tells him that the American was shot and wanted to confess, the priest knew it was a tramp and that if he went he would never survive. But he decided that listening to the Americans confession was something he couldn't ignore so he went. He is a better person than I thought, he just hadn't been able to act properly because he was facing a very difficult situation.

Part 3: Chapter 1 (Page 161-183)

The whisky priest walks for days and reaches a town where he is finally welcomed. Mr. Lehr and his sister let him stay in their home and treat him very well. The people of this town are very religious and urge to confess, baptise their children and have Mass. The priest demonstrates that he is not an admirable person and charges them even if they say they don't have any money. This scene could mean two things: the first one is that the priest is a horrible person and is abusing of his position. The second is that the Mr. Greene is criticizing the Catholic church. "It was the old priest he had succeeded at Concepcion who had explained to him: 'They will always tell you they are poor, starving, but they will always have a little store of money buried somewhere, in a pot" (page 167). By making his action something learned by an older priest, the author might be indirectly showing us his point of view regarding religion. After the discussion in class I was convinced the priest was a bad person, but after thinking over I believe the priest is just an ordinary man who has a vice and the bad aspect in this novel is religion. He was educated to be this way and that is not his fault. The repression of Catholicism by the Red Shirts had to have a reason. Maybe the priests were becoming very corrupt and the people got tired. They are scared of the current government, but they were probably scared of the Catholic church too. Therefore the priest is not the bad one. He proves this even more when he returns to see the American who had been shot. The mestizo was probably tricking him, but he went anyways.

The priest's drinking problem is highlighted in this chapter. "I only ordered three bottles this time. They will be the last I´ll ever drink, I won't need drink there- he knew he lied" (page 171). He becomes more conscious than ever that he has a problem and realizes that the rest of the people recognize him because of this, "the whisky priest". This vice is what makes him think he is a bad person, but I think a vice is human and it definitely doesn't make you good or bad. How you deal with the vice and if you affect others is what determines what kind of a person you are, and the priest hasn't hurt others because of his drinking problem yet. He could, and he might, but he hasn't.

Rhetoric: Forensic, Demostrative, and Deliberate

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/arts/dance/03fall.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

"Where Fans are Encouraged To Dance With The Dancers" is a New York Time article by Julie Bloom that talks about a Argentinian Tango group who danced with anybody who passed by before their performance in Manhattan. This people decided to teach tango in a public passageway to anyone who went by.
The article contains the three type of rhetoric: forensic, demonstrative, and deliberate.
In the second paragraph we can clearly see demonstrative rhetoric.It talks about the lessons that are being offered by the Lounge FFD. The first thing that proves this is demonstrative is that it is written in present tense. It also bonds the reader with the event because it provides information and describes how fun it is.
The third paragraph includes deliberate rhetoric. This paragraph talks about how promising the dance festival is going to be this year and gives arguments of how good organized it is. Apart from this, it is written in future tense.
The fourth paragraph includes both forensic and deliberate rhetoric. Here Bloom compares how the festival used to be in past years with how good it is going to be now. " In years past the lounge area was uninspired, with overpriced drinks and furniture borrowed or assembled at the last minute". In this sentence we can definitely see forensic.
The rest of the paragraphs include opinions from the audience. Most of this are written in a deliberate or a demonstrative form. For example: " We all want to take tap lessons now.” This comment tells us how the bonding between the great presentation and the audience went.

Part 2: Chapter 1 (Page 80-102)

When the priest was leaving, his daughter stopped him and said everybody had a father except her. "Pedro says you aren't a man. You aren't any good for women" (page 81). He could feel how abandoned she was and wished he could save her soul. But it was too late now. He left to another town he had once lived in, Carmen. On his way there he met a mestizo who realized he was the priest. The man went to Carmen with him. The priest didn't trust him, he knew he was worth money and the man would try to hand him to the police. They stopped to sleep in a hut and the mestizo got a fever. The priest tried to leave him. I was very confused in this part of a section with the goodness or lack of it the priest had. I thought he would risk himself to help the man, and even though he finally send him with the mule to Carmen and went to another place, he chose himself over the man. It was very probable that the man was going to betray him, but a priest is supposed to trust or at least give him the benefit of the doubt. He didn't bother to do this, his heart is absolutely locked and that is very sad. This priest no longer has a place where he belongs. He is not a martyr because he is not willing to risk himself for anybody else, and he is not a regular man because he is not welcome in any town, so he can't start again. The only thing welcoming him in this point is death, but he is a coward and doesn't dare to accept it. I believe that your true self appears in difficult moments like the one the priest is going through. He realized he is not that good person that acts in the name of God, he thought he was. He is just another selfish being that was able to fulfil the simple tasks of his job because they didn't really ask any sacrifice. At the beginning of the novel, I thought he was a wonderful person even though he drank. But now I can even relate him to the Stranger, men who only act for themselves, and lead a superficial life. None of them analysed their daily lives until and difficult moment forced them to.

Part 2: Chapter 1 (Page 59-80)

After six years, the priest returns to his hometown. He is not warmly welcome as he thought he would be, but they accept him anyways. Seven years ago he had an affair with Maria, and they had a daughter, Brigitta. "They had spent no love in her conception: just fear and despair and half a bottle of brandy and a sense of loneliness had driven him to an act which horrified him- and this scared shame-face overpowering love was the result" (page 66). She was the result of a sin and he became aware of this when he looked her in the eye.

Maria received him and gave him a bed to sleep in and some brandy. He offered to confess the town people and give Mass. They agreed, but deep inside they didn't want it. First, they were scared of what would happen to them if they got caught, and second, their faith in religion was no longer the same. We begin to see how the Red Shirts are winning the war against religion. It is no longer as important, plus they are being brain washed by the government. "He said with conviction, 'This child is worth more than the Pope in Rome" (page 74-75). The lieutenant felt such an immense resentment against the Catholic church that he is willing to say anything in order to capture the priest.

As he prayed, the priest realized the people wanted it to be over as soon as possible. Then when the lieutenant arrived and took Miguel as a hostage "He could feel all round him the beginning of hate" (page 77). He tried to switch the boy's place, but the lieutenant rejected him. The people didn't want him there anymore, he wasn't worth risking another life. Maria is the only one who says it to his face, "You're no good anymore to anyone" (page 78).