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Book 9: Chapter 6
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Death Comes for the Archbishop, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Spirituality vs. the Material World
Friendship and Compromise
Humanity’s Relationship with Nature
Colonialism, Industry, and Loss
Memory, Death, and Afterlives
Summary
Analysis
The middle of Latour’s time in Santa Fé had been defined by the widespread violence against the Navajos, as white settlers tried to expel them from their native lands. Hundreds of Navajos were forced off their land, killed by bayonets or by starvation. Though Latour had always viewed this as a terrible injustice, the final blow to the tribe had come from the “misguided” Kit Carson himself. Though the Navajos hid in Canyon de Chelly, their most sacred location, Carson “laid waste” to even this most precious place, killing many and devastating many others.
Tonally, the narrative has mostly been defined by optimism—Latour celebrates his growing diocese, his increasingly peaceful city, and his generous new friends like Kit Carson. But now, the story zooms out, making it clear that all this prosperity is built on violence; characters like Carson, who seemed like heroes, are in fact perpetrators of a horrible crime. Yet even as Latour acknowledges his friends’ complicity—and, by implication, his own complicity—he still stops short of full condemnation, painting Carson as “misguided” rather than acknowledging the true extent of his destruction.
Themes
Still, the Navajo chief Manuelito remained safe and out of the reaches of American soldiers. At Eusabio’s urging, Latour agrees to meet with Manuelito, who implores the priest to make the Navajos’ case in Washington, D.C. Manuelito was especially firm that the Navajos’ native landscape was “more sacred to them than churches, more sacred than any place is to the white man.” For that reason, Manuelito explained, the Navajos could never leave their lands.
By introducing Manuelito’s perspective so late in the novel, Cather leaves her readers with an open question: how much of what came before in the novel is trustworthy, and how much pain and desecration did Latour and Vaillant’s perspectives leave out? Manuelito, another real historical figure, also crucially points out the hypocrisy of Latour’s work: even as Latour strives to serve God, he is destroying the very places that are most “sacred” to the people around him.
Themes
When Latour explained that a Catholic priest could not interfere with the government of a Protestant country, Manuelito switched tactics. Knowing of Latour’s friendship with “Cristobal” (Kit Carson), Manuelito sends a message: though Carson has forced the Navajo across the Rio Grande, Manuelito will never cross the river. And indeed, he never does—five years later, when the U.S. government admitted their mistake, Manuelito was still hiding out in New Mexico, his location unknown to all.
With everyone from Jacinto to Zeb Orchard, Latour has reflected on the fact that Catholicism will never truly claim a monopoly in the Southwest; there is already so much history, religion, and culture here, none of which can be erased. But while Latour often views the indigenous rejection of Catholicism as passive, Manuelito’s words demonstrate that indigenous resistance is active and successful—just kept secret from Latour.
Themes
As death draws closer, Latour thinks back to his recent visit to Canyon de Chelly; the plants had started to grow again, and the animals had returned, making it look like “an Indian Garden of Eden.” Latour hopes that indigenous peoples will survive the American onslaught, aided by God’s protection.
For the last time, Latour associates the landscapes of New Mexico with biblical antiquity, and particularly with the Garden of Eden. But this time, Latour acknowledges that these vistas might not belong to him, even as white settlers take more and more land. Latour’s final reflection here, in addition to recontextualizing so much of what he has earlier lauded as progress, also blends hope with fear; he knows that even if the plants in Canyon de Chelly are growing back, the setter-colonial threat is growing, too.
Themes
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