Motif in Silence by Shusaku Endo

Shusaku Endo, in his novel Silence, uses the recurring description of God’s silence towards Sebastian Rodrigues in order to portray the feelings of abandonment that the Japanese Priests feel from God, which causes the reader to examine the effect these feelings have on the novel: the ambiance of despair. Throughout the novel, there is an ongoing motif of silence rendered by Endo. More specifically, Rodrigues often feels a sense of silence from God. After entering Japan and secretively becoming a priest for Japanese Christians, during a time in which Christianity was illegal in the country, Rodrigues begins to feel despair in his faith when he is captured. He feels abandoned by God and even asks Him, “[w]hy have you abandoned us so completely?” (96). Rodrigues questions God, asking for an answer to why He doesn’t stop the persecution in Japan despite the prayers to Him about the issue from so many missionaries and Christians. This scene of Rodrigues praying for answers portrays the idea that hope is lost for Japan. These feelings of hopelessness and confusion bring about the loss of faith for Rodrigues in himself: “Will I turn out a failure?” (96). He begins to feel that without God’s reassurance “he could endure no more” (96). The silence from God towards Rodrigues’ prayer is the motif of Endo’s through which he illustrates that there must be something wrong with Japan, for God denies help for the struggling country. Additionally, Endo uses the features of the Japanese crowd in Omura to affirm that Japan is incapable of grasping Christianity. When Rodrigues simply gives blessing to the crowd, it becomes alarmed, almost ashamed. The crowd was not, in any way, welcome to Rodrigues: “Stones from the hands of children skimmed past [Rodrigues’] face” (97). The childrens’ reaction to the priest reflects the attitude of most Japanese during the time when Christianity was a crime. These Japanese, upset or unconcerned with Christianity, unwilling to take in