Isobe Character Analysis

In Shusaku Endo’s novel, evil is said to be intertwined with the forces of good, contrary to Western Christianity. This is true, that sometimes evil forces can be hidden amongst the good and the inverse to be just as verifiable. To prove this point, evidence can be found in the case of Isobe, from a chapter involving Otsu and Mitsuko, and a quote from the chapter involving Kiguchi. In “the Case of Isobe”, the first chapter of the book, conservative business man Isobe loses the love of his life, who he never showed any affection towards either his wife or their daughter. “If there was some blame to be placed, it was on the taciturn Isobe, who found it difficult to speak kindly... (Endo 11)”. In his life, Isobe found it difficult to express his feelings or speak kindly to those who were close to him. With the death of his wife, Isobe finds that his inability to voice his emotions or show that he cared has been a mistake. Before she passes away however, she references reincarnation and tells Isobe to seek her out in her next life. In the

In a discussion of their past, Tsukada, a soldier along with Kiguchi during the Second World War finds himself recounting a time where starving Kiguchi found himself unable to eat any of the meat that Tsukada had found him. The meat, which later turned out to be another soldier, gave Tsukada the strength to allow them to survive seen in “I reckoned we’d both die there if we didn’t eat it (Endo 97).” In an act of evil, the goodness of survival was found for two soldiers. Good and evil seem to be contradictory in our worldviews, formed by the widespread belief of the separation of the two in Western Christianity. However the nature of reality is much murkier, as good and evil find themselves entwined like conjoined twins. The quotations, interpretations, and relations above are evidence of the difficulty of qualifying