Wednesday, March 20, 2013

True Colors

The whiskey priest finally reached the end of his rope. Led to destruction by the backstabbing mestizo, the priest perished when freedom had been so close. His choice to serve instead of pursue his personal desires reminds me of the first encounter I had with him, when he chose to tend to the sick woman instead of flee on the departing boat. This time, he went out of his way to help a dying man, who was the centerpiece of the scheme that finally ensnared the whiskey priest for good. In his final moments on this planet, I witnessed the priest display his true character of selflessness and contrition.

The whiskey priest had always shown some degree of high moral standards as I followed him, but he seemed to always end up conflicted and confused shortly after. In the priest's final moments, however, he only portrayed ethical behavior, with no evidence of a relapse into fear and uncertainty. I watched as the priest prayed about his daughter, begging God to spare her and condemn him. He only sought to better the future of his only kin, and cared not about his impending entry into the afterlife. I am sure that this example of immense unselfishness can be used to define the priest's true character overall, as this is how he behaved at the time of his certain doom.

It was unfortunate to see the whiskey priest, who had fought so hard for both himself and his religion, be disposed of in such an untimely manner, but there was a silver lining in that I got to see and record the priest's great courage and selflessness when faced with death. Before this point, it was hard to tell who the priest truly was, but in his final moment, his last chance to prove himself, the whiskey priest overcame all that had been hindering him and finally put true faith and generosity above all else.

2 comments:

  1. Brownie,
    I really liked the way you made the connection with a situation in the beginning of the book. It showed the vast difference in the priest's character from then up until now. It also made for good closure- like, when you finish wrapping a present and tie the bow on top. (Your connection being the bow) Nice nice nice. :)

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  2. Great job Zachary! Like ally said its cool how you tied his character back to the beginning of the story. He has really changed on his long journey to "freedom". You do sound like a reporter finding a great story. It really makes you think that in the end the whiskey priest was really a good man inside after all.

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