The Sparrow: Pre-class Reaction

The issue I had with this book, is that I loved the humor and the characters and the relationships they were starting to build (although the marriage between Sofia and Jimmy seemed to convenient and strained to me). But I loved Emilio’s personality and humor, and Anne and George are amazing in their interactions and in how they interacted with others, plus I enjoyed Sofia’s growth and how the rest of the characters all became a family. The problem I had is that early in the book I knew all but one would die, and Emilio ends up mentally and physically damaged. It was in a way depressing, but I guess it serves the book’s purpose.

First, I want to comment on the nature of the deaths, they were mostly accidents or a situation getting out of hand. The thing that gets to me is the point this makes. These people went in good nature with good intentions…and the thing that got most of them was taking a walk and being unaware of danger and planting a garden. It made me think just how powerful some latent effects can be. They were all smart and took a lot of time planning, obviously they didn’t (nor could have) account for everything. I am big on cross cultural communications and understanding, which was exactly their goal. So the lesson I take away from this is how important it is to be careful in such an alien (no pun intended) setting. Their mistake was that they let their guard down and didn’t pay attention to the warnings and they viewed this world too much through their own biased lenses, and it is very hard to get out of that view, or to gain enough knowledge to gain an objectified view on things. But they brought in elements into this alien society without thinking too far down the line (the gardens), I find it ironic that such a seemingly small detailed led to such chaos.

Second, I would like to briefly mention the questioning of faith. As I mentioned in my response to Tim’s post for some reason some religions especially Christianity, Judaism and Islam (Buddhism doesn’t have this affect on me) very easily call up a negative response in me…they just rub me the wrong way. The fact that hopeless devotion seems to have let Emilio and his friends to this end (he even says he was blinded by his love for God and he trusted God so much he let his guard down…he uses the metaphor of nakedness) is “amusing” to me, in a sad ironic kind of way. I don’t find pleasure from their end (as I said I liked these characters) but I find blind devotion scary just for that reason, people become narrow minded and seem to miss so much and just focus on pleasing God. I like what Anne said at one point…I live a good life for myself not because I fear or want to please God. I find that better motivation for good values and actions rather than some belief in an all powerful being directing me in my life. And I also agree with the point she raises…people always make excuses for God, at some point people stop questioning: “It must be God’s will.” And I found it scary that in the end the Father General said that Emilio was closer to God after this experience, the only thing I can do is groan in frustration. Bad things happen in life, and some don’t have a reason or an explanation, the same for good things…and people always try to attribute it to luck or fate or destiny or God…things happen and pitting your life on some unseen force to me seems like a life that can easily be wasted. One shouldn’t try to justify death or suffering as some supreme beings will, it is a part of life, and something everyone needs to learn to cope with. I don’t mean to come across as negative, I am not sure in my views of life, I am 20 years old, there is no way I can be, and I know that there are things that are bigger than me and that I can never grasp or understand, because I am human, but I REALLY can’t understand blind devotion to some “GOD.”