Wednesday, January 28, 2015
The Director's Speech
Towards the end of Chapter 4, we see Stephen being called to meet with the Director and it is so he can be asked if he would like to join priest hood. This would be fine if not for who the Director tries to entice Stephen. His only explanation as to why Stephen should join is for the power it brings. "No king or emperor on this earth has the power of the priest of God." (171). It seems odd that the director would try and appeal to Stephen as a power hungry child. From what we know, Stephen is a soft spoken student who is not outspoken and appears to be a pure child. Why would the Director try and play to his greed if he has no signs of even possessing that trait. It is quite strange that the Director would try and play towards a sin to get Stephen to consider being a priest. "No angel or archangel in heaven, no saint, not even the Blessed Virgin herself has the power of a priest of God..."(171). I am not well educated in Catholicism but isn't this near heretical for the Director to say? The Saint's are considered to be the holiest of people and to proclaim that you are somehow more important does not sit right even for me. I think that this Director should not try and be the one to convince Stephen to join the church. I still think the outcome would have been the same but I felt like somehow the Director was trying to pull Stephen in with an unorthodox method. Then again, maybe the Director is just trying to gauge his reaction.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It's interesting why the director does what he does; is he trying to entice Stephen into the priest life or is he just playing around with the kid and seeing if he's tempted by sin? To me, the evidence seems to lean more towards the former. But it is interesting, and definitely worthwhile, to consider the latter. After all, with Stephen's holy religious devotion, perhaps they're just trying to test to see if it's all an act. Additionally, the way that Stephen goes to the extremes to mortify his senses would definitely raise suspicion if someone were to critically analyze it. It's either pure devotion or some twisted form of redemption and, while we know which one it is, the director does not.
ReplyDeleteI think that would be interesting if the director knew what Stephen was actually up to but as you stated, I find it highly unlikely that the director is just testing Stephen
DeleteI thought the director's behavior was very unusual as well. Maybe it's because while Stephen appears to be a pure child, there's something a little off-putting about him, and the director was trying to appeal to the more off-putting side of Stephen. Or maybe the director was just doing everything he could to try to get Stephen to join the priesthood.I doubt that it was a test, because Stephen already seems relatively pure.
ReplyDeleteThat is kind of what I was thinking. Stephen is at the top of his class so why would the director be testing him. It is much more likely that the director is trying anything he can to bring Stephen into the priesthood
DeleteWhen I read this scene, I saw the Director's use of language as attempting to show Stephen the immense amount of responsibility that he had rather than power. It seemed as if Stephen would most likely recognize the figures mentioned by the Director and he would be able to realize what he was getting himself into and the ways that it would completely change his life.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting idea I hadn't considered. The only thing that makes me doubt this is because of how much the director says power. He is almost like a salesman trying to pitch his product.
Delete