Dean Harstad Character Analysis

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Dean Nils Harstad is the prime example of a character who takes harmful shortcuts as his interactions with Marly were pre-planned to have a specific outcome, one completely unrelated to the love he claimed to have for her. Dean Harstad’s true passion in life was to spread Christianity after the, “fall of Godless Communism in Europe” and Marly was simply a means to an end (Smiley 214). Dean Harstad’s belief that the spread of Christianity was God’s mission for him suggests one of two options; Dean Harstad experienced a religious awakening the likes of which have not been seen since St. Paul or, the more likely of the two, Harstad is simply using religion as a shield to achieve his goals by any means necessary without having to explain himself.

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