Exploring Morality and Faith in Brian Moore’s Black Robe
Included within the anthology The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction,1[1] are the works of great Irish authors written from around three hundred years ago, until as recently as the last decade. Since one might expect to find in an anthology such as this only expressions and interpretations of Irish or European places, events or peoples, some included material could be quite surprising in its contrasting content. One such inclusion comes from the novel Black Robe,2[2] by Irish-born author Brian Moore. Leaving Ireland as a young man afforded Moore a chance to see a great deal of the world and in reflection afforded him a great diversity of setting and theme in his writings. And while his Black Robe may express little of Ireland itself, it expresses much of Moore in his exploration into evolving concepts of morality, faith, righteousness and the ever-changing human heart.
The short excerpt from Black Robe included in the anthology comes from the beginning of Chapter 8 of the work. This passage, an approximate midpoint of the novel, serves to articulate the story’s tone, to introduce main characters and their relationships, and to present ideas that play are essential to the whole work’s main themes. The excerpt begins when Father Paul Laforgue, at this point alone, is in hiding from Iroquois who have at this point overtaken his meager camp. The first image Moore here invokes is that of a lynx as at creeps up upon the Savages who have taken custody of Laforgue’s meal as well as his treasured few belongings. The man watches from his hiding place, as the lynx, which Moore names the Father’s “surrogate”(p. 150), unknowingly tests the safety of Laforgue’s current situatio...
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...or Huron. And soon our enemies will know our weakness and wipe us from the face of the earth” (p. 243). Laforgue does not answer to this, because he has no answer. Although a now doubtful, tested, and broken man, Laforgue will keep his faithful vow to baptize, even as he is now uncertain of the merit of this and of his religious life as a whole. Moore writes of Laforgue’s final thoughts in the story, “A prayer came to him, a true prayer at last. Spare them. Spare them, O Lord” (p. 246). But, like Father Laforgue and his beliefs, the Native American’s and their ways of life will forever be changed, and they will not be spared.
Notes:
[1] Toibin, Colm, ed. The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction. New York: Penguin Books, 2001.
[2] All further references to Black Robe will be cited as part of the complete work: Moore, Brian. Black Robe. New York, NY: Plume, 1997.
Irish American Magazine, Aug.-Sept. 2009. Web. The Web. The Web. 06 May 2014.
The Concept of the veil has been a significant symbol of clearly differentiating from the whites, in aspects of political, economical and social prospects. Durkheim explained symbol as “something that stands for something else”(pg. 135). It is a symbol that calls up shared notions and values. In the example of the Blacks in the south, the veil symbolized an “iron curtain” separating the two races, separation and invisibility, of the black and white. The veil had previously been worn because of previous traditions demanding a clear separation of the sexes. The veil is seen as a social barrier to prevent the “others”, black African Americans, from surpassing into the clean and pure white world. Nonetheless Du bois also states, that its possible for one to, lift up the veil when one wishes, and he can also exist in a region on neither side, white nor black, which shows Du bois’ many different meaning and function with the symbol of the veil.
In book one of Heart of Darkness, Conrad describes a mass of black bodies clinging to life in order to show the “horror” of colonialism in Africa. Conrad describes a scene of “black shapes crouched . . clinging to the earth . . . in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair.” Conrad uses the language of “pain, abandonment, and despair” to show the unjustifiable acts committed by the Europeans against the native Africans. The bodies “cling” to life because of the lack of empathy exhibited by the colonists. In addition, Conrad describes a man with a thread around his neck: “it looked startling round his black neck, this bit of white thread from beyond the seas.” The white thread symbolizes the act of white colonialism strangling the resources and life out of Africa. Furthermore, Conrad depicts the body’s “black neck” to emphasize the injustice the natives receive from the Europeans. Additionally, Conrad uses the mass of abandoned bodies to argue against any sympathy for colonialism. Moreover, Conrad uses the criticism of colonialism to explain the European attitude towards native Africans. Conrad uses imagery to describe the natives as animals in order to demonstrate the European perception of Africa. Conrad compares Marlow’s companions as a “hyena.” The animal imagery is used to compare the physical and mental bodies of the native Africans as less than “white people.”
From around the year 2006, many bee farmers in the U.S.A and some parts of Europe started reporting sharp declines in their bee stocks. The reason for this declining numbers was not known and therefore scientists named it colony collapse disorder (CCD). Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is a not a very old phenomena and it became popular when large number of bee colonies started disappearing. The disappearing was mysterious since no dead bees were found in or around the beehives after a colony’s number was reported to have gone down or vanished. This prompted a lot of study and investigations to uncover the mystery and to establish possible remedies. Among the many reasons for the causes of the CCD was the use of harmful and dangerous pesticides. Timbrell (2002) provides a solid foundation on the effects of toxins in the body of animals with an aim of providing a scientific solution towards the problem. This paper focuses its study on these pesticides with an aim of establishing the effects of the toxins found in the insecticides that could be affecting the bees.
Lloyd Webber’s widely regarded masterpiece Phantom Of The Opera uses key motifs and themes throughout the musical to establish its characters and scenes in an effective manner. Throughout the production the motifs, themes and songs all develop to reflect the changes their respective characters undergo. This is particularly evident when analysing The Phantom, his motifs and songs, and how they develop throughout the story.
The new owners of the opera think they should go take a look at box five themselves. They saw something, but couldn’t really make it out. They figure they are hallucinating because they saw different things. Phantom claims war, but calls for an agreement in a letter to the managers. They don’t accept the agreement, but does the opposite of what the Phantom ask.
Ronsley, Joseph, ed., Myth and Reality in Irish Literature, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Canada, 1977
A collection of short stories published in 1907, Dubliners, by James Joyce, revolves around the everyday lives of ordinary citizens in Dublin, Ireland (Freidrich 166). According to Joyce himself, his intention was to "write a chapter of the moral history of [his] country and [he] chose Dublin for the scene because the city seemed to [b]e the centre of paralysis" (Friedrich 166). True to his goal, each of the fifteen stories are tales of disappointment, darkness, captivity, frustration, and flaw. The book is divided into four sections: childhood, adolescence, maturity, and public life (Levin 159). The structure of the book shows that gradually, citizens become trapped in Dublin society (Stone 140). The stories portray Joyce's feeling that Dublin is the epitome of paralysis and all of the citizens are victims (Levin 159). Although each story from Dubliners is a unique and separate depiction, they all have similarities with each other. In addition, because the first three stories -- The Sisters, An Encounter, and Araby parallel each other in many ways, they can be seen as a set in and of themselves. The purpose of this essay is to explore one particular similarity in order to prove that the childhood stories can be seen as specific section of Dubliners. By examining the characters of Father Flynn in The Sisters, Father Butler in An Encounter, and Mangan's sister in Araby, I will demonstrate that the idea of being held captive by religion is felt by the protagonist of each story. In this paper, I argue that because religion played such a significant role in the lives of the middle class, it was something that many citizens felt was suffocating and from which it was impossible to get away. Each of the three childhood stories uses religion to keep the protagonist captive. In The Sisters, Father Flynn plays an important role in making the narrator feel like a prisoner. Mr. Cotter's comment that "… a young lad [should] run about and play with young lads of his own age…" suggests that the narrator has spent a great deal of time with the priest. Even in death, the boy can not free himself from the presence of Father Flynn (Stone 169) as is illustrated in the following passage: "But the grey face still followed me. It murmured; and I understood that it desired to confess something.
Reimagining classic pieces of theatre may seem silly and unnecessary. However, with changing times and evolving tolerance, it might be crucial. The Phantom of the Opera is an example of a beloved classic that could benefit from some restructuring, as well as a redefinition of it’s production goals. In such a revamped show, the production team can contemplate varying casting ideas, character alterations as well as highlighting certain themes over others and redefining some all together. I will be discussing this revamped production, in addition to specific casting concepts and deviations to the text and character list.
In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Charles Marlow relates to his listeners aboard the Nellie the story of his service with a European company operating in the African Congo. Arriving in this European country to interview for employment, Marlow recalls, "I arrived in a city that always makes me think of a white sepulchre. Prejudice no doubt" (73). But whose prejudice is he speaking of: his or that of the citizens of that commercial center? Either way, his image is prophetic. The white sepulchre contains the remains of the countless Africans slaughtered by these colonizers--not in the form of corpses, but in the wealth that has been stolen from the African continent. The significance of the sepulchre's whiteness (and that of the longed-for ivory) lies in the contrasting images of a piece of white worsted and the starched white collars that Marlow comes upon in the jungles of the Congo. While the collars represent the violence, oppression, and hatred that dominate the European's treatment of the African, the white worsted is an attempt by ...
... of stories Dubliners, James Joyce leads the reader to the conclusion that the Catholic Church took the role of a governing body, and that modernist movement was inhibited by the outdated ideas of the Catholic Church. The story “The Boarding House” provides the reader with excellent examples of a priest who overextended his role in society, and it has been shown that such an occurrence has negative effects of the society as a whole. The Catholic church as a burdensome entity is very well shown in Joyce’s’ the “The sisters”. The story also provides us with a good explanation of the social connotations of religion within the modernist movement. In the stories of Dubliners the legal system is replaced by the institute of religion, and it is the presence and social context of the Catholic Church which prevents the Irish community from advancement.
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Hall-25 Anniversary Celebration was filmed for the 25th anniversary for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s critically acclaimed Phantom of the Opera. The script was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The show is based off of the book Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux. The show opens in Paris 1905 at an auction of old theater props from L’Opera Populaire. As they are auctioning off old props of the theater they come up to an old music box with a monkey on top of it. An elderly man buys it and the auctioneer soon moves on to what he calls “ chandelier in pieces” and coincides with the mysterious Phantom of the Opera. The cloth over the chandelier comes off and the it comes to life with light and we are transported back to 1881. The show follows Christine, a young vocalist with great beauty, and an Opera House Phantom who yearns to be closer and love her. The Phantom, who has a deformed face hides it from the world behind his mask try to lure Christine to his heart by teaching her the ways of music and vocals only for her to fall in love with her childhood friend Raoul. The Phantom, who has been alone for all this time, does
“String of dusty niggers with splay feet arrived and departed; a stream of manufactured goods rubbishy cottons, beads, and brass-wire set into the depths of darkness, and in return came a precious ivory,” ( ). There is in depth imagery of what is seen. Darkness is shown through the niggers and how they looks. They perceive the essence of the human nature of filth, anger, and property. This is constantly displayed though the natives because they are seen as savages. However, it is ones own malcontent that leads to sharp contrast between light and dark. The natives have more than they need and yet the greed of humans makes the white mean take advantage of
McCann et al. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1994, 95-109).
In the early 1800’s, a mathematics professor named Charles Babbage designed an automatic calculation machine. It was steam powered and could store up to 1000 50-digit numbers.