Silence: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

It is summer, and Rodrigues lives in Nagasaki under house arrest, forbidden to leave except when the magistrate gives permission. He spends long hours sitting at the window, and the street children often call him Apostate Paul. The priest knows that news of his apostasy has likely reached his brethren in Portugal, and that he has thus been expelled from the Church and stripped of his rights as a priest. Often he wakes in the night, haunted by his betrayal. One part of him believes that it was ultimately done in love—though how could his superiors at the mission ever understand this? Another part of him wonders if that isn’t just a justification for shameful weakness. Rodrigues can still clearly see the image of the fumie in his mind. This image of Christ’s face was not beautiful, strong, or clear, but “utterly exhausted” and worn down by being trampled constantly.

In spite of his shame, Rodrigues is treated well. Almost daily he is given work to do, most often examining foreign goods making their way into the country to determine if they are secretly Christian or not. He sees Ferreira rarely, only monthly, and they are not allowed to meet on their own. This is just as well, because the two men have come to hate each other, filled by contempt by the mere sight of each other. Rodrigues does not hate his former mentor for orchestrating his downfall, but rather because when he looks at Ferreira he sees his own shame and defeat staring back at him: a sad, defeated former missionary, dressed in Japanese clothing and bowing to the power of the state.