Tomorrow we celebrate the Day of the Dead–a ceremonial where a society pays court to those who have passed. and planted their seeds in the lives of others. Our ascendants influence us and the lessons they have passed down throughout coevalss ; nevertheless. non all lessons were the same. All were influenced by their clip period and personal sense of morality. That influence was so conveyed to their child–or whoever was willing to listen. These narratives are what provided us with civilization.
It is obvious that what may be incorrect to me possibly seen as appropriate in the eyes of another. However. we live in a universe where many of us have come to accept people’s differences in civilizations. ethical motives. and political orientations. These differences are what make us a more educated society. Although we may non believe the thoughts of another. we have been taught to esteem others for who they are. Graciela Limon’s Song of a Hummingbird focuses on the thought of morality between two different civilizations. The readers. along with the characters in the novel. are forced to look at the universe of the early Mexicas ; and with this. the determination of morality is left up to the reader.
The cardinal struggle in the novel is Father Benito Lara’s interior battle with his beliefs and his bosom. Father Benito has been assigned as the new confessor to Coyoacan and has been asked by Huitzitzilin to shrive her of her wickednesss. Huitzitzilin is an aged Mexica adult female that has seen the history of her state alteration. She proves to be a great plus to Father Benito as a resource for his history. He listens to her narrative with great fervor–hoping to detect something that no 1 has documented.
As Huitzitzilin tells her narrative. Father Benito makes an attempt to avoid certain rites or information that has been forbidden by the church. He knows that holding cognition of some of that information can do his susceptible to the Inquisition. He is interested in happening out more information for his Chronicle. yet he is worried that by leting Huitzitzilin to lucubrate on certain rites he may unwittingly raise up the Satan himself. He continues with the confessions–each twenty-four hours having a different piece of history and sympathising more for the Mexicas.
However. these narratives end with her confessions–and these confessions are what cause convulsion within his psyche. He did non cognize what to make and was placed in a hard place as a adult male of the fabric. It intensifies throughout the novel. get downing with the undermentioned transition:
Father Benito looked at Huitzitzilin. and his eyes betrayed the agitation that was torturing him. He was torn by repulsive force and fright. every bit good as by an incomprehensible desire to cognize more about the old adult female and her yesteryear. However. he knew that he had transgressed the boundaries of a mere hunt for cognition and information when he volitionally listened to what was forbidden by his ain faith. He felt bitterly blameworthy because it was he who had encouraged her to raise that seamy yesteryear ( 29 ) .
Father Benito is put in a state of affairs where he sometimes sympathizes with the old adult female. yet there are times where he feels he can non forgive her. Huitzitzilin is non penitent of some of her wickednesss. She makes Father Benito aware of the fact that if she could turn back clip she would make them once more. Yet for a confessor to shrive a individual of her wickednesss. the single must atone. His responsibility is divided between his understanding and his religion.
Huitzitzilin is trying to do Father Benito see that the ways of her people were justified. She is defensive in a elusive manner. all while converting Father Benito of the immoralities that his people brought upon her civilization. She wants him to recognize that her wickednesss. in world. were non ever iniquitous due to the context in which they were made. An illustration is her confession of killing her unborn kid. Huitzitzilin rejoinders. “I would make it once more because it meant my life” ( 31 ) . She understands that her manner of life is meant for endurance of the fittest.
At this point in the novel. it appears as if Huitzitzilin is seeking to change over Father Benito–not in a spiritual signifier. but in opening his eyes to the rough world of life. She is a individual that took every twenty-four hours as it came to her and did what was necessary in order for her to last. There was no shame in her seeking to obtain felicity by maintaining her cousin as a lover. nor killing an unborn kid to maintain herself from being punished. She is trying to open the eyes of a naif priest who sees nil but what he has learned from books.
Father Benito has no sense of world and lives in a universe where he believes that everything will be okay. His queasiness and obvious convulsion proves that he does non cognize whether or non she or he people are incorrect. He turns to a senior priest to state of his unrest. but he proves to be of no aid. His forbearance is invariably placed to the trial through Huitzitzilin’s profane narratives and confessions. There were times where “Huitzitzilin had gone excessively far. and the monk’s lips quivered as he struggled with the indignation of listening to the adult female as she maligned what was sacred to him. But despite his resentment. she seemed unmindful to what he had said” ( 103 ) .
He continues to be sucked into Huitzitzilin’s narratives twenty-four hours after twenty-four hours. She. and the ways of her people. fascinates him. He may non understand the grounds for many of their actions. but he is coming to the apprehension of morality among civilizations. What is incorrect for him can be justified in the eyes of another.
At Huitzitzilin’s decease. Father Benito eventually arrives at an understanding with himself. and the old adult female. He is able to divide his bosom from his head and happen compassion for those that were forced to populate another manner of life. At the terminal of the novel. his head becomes clear to the intent of his being chosen to be Huitzitzilin’s confessor.
His head went deeper into his spirit until it became clear to him that it was non absolution or even clemencies that she had expected of him. but understanding of her life. of her people. and of their beliefs. He saw. excessively. that for an unanticipated ground he had been chosen to enter that life. to see it through her eyes in its integrity and non in fragments ( 216-17 ) .
His inner convulsion is eventually resolved when his eyes are opened to truth. The church no longer influences him–he now merely reports to God.
When one is turning up. they are sheltered from the universe by those who care about them. They are non allowed to see the ugliness of the universe for fright that they may one twenty-four hours go a portion of it. Many remain this manner as grownups. Father Benito is one of these people. He was eventually able to larn the truth. and non merely a colored point of position. He has been introduced to a new civilization and has been re-educated. This. if anything. will do him a better priest. He will be able to understand his people better and help in the brotherhood of two really different communities. I think he will assist absorb people. but no longer by force.
Many ne’er see the incorrect in their actions until person points it out for them. However. possibly they were ne’er incorrect. Judging person without understanding their state of affairs and background leads to prejudice and racism. It leads to a more unintegrated community where no one understands another. Father Benito is making brotherhood. He is make fulling the spread of history in his head and within his people. Whether one may be right or incorrect. apprehension is the lone manner that a community can turn.
Looking to past coevalss. we learn to appreciate all that was sacrificed in order to give us the chance we have today. We are forced to confront our witting every twenty-four hours. and many times we do non do the proper choice–in another’s eyes that is. We have been taught to populate a certain manner of life. Previous coevalss set the criterions for our life. and we can either take to populate in it or better it. Either manner we are making good. We no longer hold to be persecuted for our differences. We have come to an apprehension that we make different picks. Regardless of race. colour. or ethnicity. we are all one under the eyes of God. He is the lone individual that can judge us or forgive us. Our ascendants fought so that we may populate as free liquors and for this we must demo our gratitude. Although tomorrow may be Dia de los Muertos. their liquors live in our Black Marias everlastingly. Our witting and heads are clear of struggle. Morality is instilled in each individual–creating a new psyche. Together we are a state.
