Victimization of Minor Characters in Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate and Shusaku Endo's Silence

In a novel, minor characters are never the focus of the plot. Minor characters are present in a novel to affect the major characters and help the character development of the major characters. Minor characters influence the major characters in many ways. One of these ways of supporting the major characters, is the victimization of the minor characters. Two excellent examples of minor characters that impact the major characters of the novels due to the minor characters being victimized is Nacha in Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and Monica in Silence by Shusaku Endo.

Father Rodrigues met Monica for the first time shortly after he has been betrayed by Kichijiro. From the first time that Father Rodrigues encountered Monica, she was already being victimized. She was captured by the Japanese government, her wrists in manacles, reeking of fish, and dressed in rags. Although she was in the worst of situations, she still retained hope, dreaming of martyrdom and heaven. Father Rodrigues can not fathom how Monica was so calm, knowing that she would die soon. Rodrigues asked, ??But you are all at ease????Don?t you realize that we are all going to die in the same way??? and Monica responded, ??I don?t know???Brother Ishida used to say that when we go to Heaven we will find there everlasting peace and happiness?? (Endo 82). Father Rodrigues was barely able to contain himself from screaming at Monica that Heaven was not the place she thought it would be. Already Monica has had an impact upon Father Rodrigues, creating an image of all the Japanese Christians. She has slowly started to put the idea in his head that the Japanese concept of Christianity is not the same concept as Father Rodrigues?s.

Another impact Monica had on Fa...

... middle of paper ...

...ta everything she knew about the kitchen. Nacha was victimized by Mama Elena, never being allowed to marry and forced to spend her life watching other people?s wedding, instead of her own. She provided the care for Tita that Mama Elena never gave Tita.

Although minor characters are not focused upon in a novel, they can be portrayed as the true heroes of the tale. Minor characters provide the support and supply the confidence in the major characters to continue through major character?s struggle. Without the minor characters, the major characters would have no influence and the plot of many novels would be dry and bland. Nacha in Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, and Monica in Silence by Shusaku Endo, truly exemplify how the minor characters in a novel can selflessly devote their lives to helping the major characters overcome the conflicts of a narrative.