Themes in "The Bridge of San Luis Rey and The Crucible" (Essay Sample)

The Bridge of San Luis Rey and The Crucible Name: Institution affiliation: Department: Date: Essay 1 The Bridge of San Luis Rey Theme Redeeming power of love In the entire life stream, every human beings have been in constant search and pursuit of love in their dear lives. Be it parental, social, fraternal, romantic and agape love, it matters much to one’s connection to the other. The novel explores and depicts various love scenes and incidences as showcased by the characters diligently chosen by Wilder, the author. In quest of some scenarios and incidences such as natural phenomenon like earthquakes, inexplicable cure of the sick, eclipse of the sun bears all the evidence of God’s existence. Here in, Brother Juniper unshakable believer doing some of his missionary work in Peru believes the collapse of the bridge is a great sign of divine intervention from God into human affairs. He goes ahead to conduct his research as to why the bridge had to collapse at that particular time killing five innocent people (Part I, p 5-7). This clearly shows the love he had to his "sheep”, believers, and close people, though they were not of his native country. This is unconditional love, keeping in mind the length of time he took to satisfy the quest and attempts that the collapse was indeed God’s plan and not an accident (Part I, p.7-8). Dona Maria who is desperate for love from her mother and the husband she’s married to gives birth to Clara who she possessively loves with intent to reciprocate the love back to her. She does this so Clara can realize she got a responsibility and obligation to love her back, but that doesn’t seem to work as Clara recoils away from her mother and marries a Spanish man with whom they move to Spain. Disheartened, Maria begins taking alcohol and exhibiting eccentric behavior taking Pepita, a surrogate child on a companion. Meanwhile, she writes letters to Clara, her daughter, conveying the same oppressive and affectionate love in her. In return, Clara remains insensitive and cool even about her mother’s frequent letters even when she came to check on her in Spain. Later Clara demonstrates selflessness making Dona Maria realize that her love was not genuine but selfish. On her subsequent letters she looks transformed towards her daughter as she successfully communicates her true and genuine love for Clara without unctuous flattery, showing unconditional and redeeming love in her true self. The theme of redeeming love is annexed through Uncle Pio who demonstrates this kind of love when he persuades his way to get Camila in her villa after she contracts small pox and withdrawing from the world (Part IV, p.94).He constantly persuades for Don Jaime, her son so that he can take care of him, cater for his education as well as provide and smooth him with love while Camilla tirelessly refuses to leave her refuge. The two were illegitimate but the uncle opts to give her a chance in life .Uncle Pio asks no favor in return instead he requested for a chance to love the Don Jaime unconditionally which can be interpreted as divine love at work (Part IV, p.78). This theme is showcased by the two twin brothers, Esteban and Manuel through symbolism are the exact image of the other as they reason and develop their own hidden language and even interestingly, exchanging telepathic messages. "Love itself is not sufficient enough to vividly describe the tacit," says the narrator (Part III, p.47). Even when Camila Perichole comes as the center of attraction in Manuel’s life, the two feels desperate and more so Estaban feels alienated and isolates himself making his brother realize the jeopardy to the love and untimely stops writing letters for her. Later on, Manuel became sick and Estaban did not hesitate nor neglect his brother but just stayed around him, helping with food and water and even nursing the gash on his knee (Part III, p.47-52). In the later pages when the plot advances, Manuel dies leaving Estaban all by himself without a word to say. "The language was the fundamental symbol of their identity, for just as resignation was a word not sufficient enough to describe the spiritual change in Marquesa de Montemayor, so mere love is an inadequate term to describe the tacit almost ashamed of togetherness of these brothers." (Part III, p.47-50).So shaken he was that he could not attend his brothers funeral, he wondered several weeks in the countryside unable to hold any job and unwilling to share and speak with anyone. After taking the job of copyist at the University of Cuzco Abbess heard of his situation and requested Captain Alvarado who used to dispatch Dona Maria’s letters to bring him along during his next voyage. On meeting Estaban, he didn’t deny but asked to return to Lima first with intent of using his pennies to buy a present for Abbess and Manuel. Unfortunately, they died at the Bridge on their way to Lima. This bond of redeemable love made Estaban wonder and never to find peace of mind at all. In part V of the novel, Brother Juniper’s findings do with love it’s clearly stated that we will die and only a few will talk about us and after some time they will forget us. But the only discerning thing is love that was made to and coming back to those who made it. "There is a great land of the living and those who are dead but the only bridge is love" (Abbess, Part V, p.123). Essay 2 Brother Juniper as an objective researcher Brother juniper was an objective researcher as depicted by various scenes in the play "The Bridge of San Luis Rey." It is clearly showcased through the following; First, Brother Juniper goes his own way to prove that indeed the bridge collapse was according to God`s will. He interviewed anyone who knew about the victims and after a period of six years he came out with a huge compilation of reports showing their lives from the start to the end of the five victims who perished at the bridge. Through his research in Part II of the play, he introduces us to Dona Maria, an ugly child and a daughter to a merchant who sells cloths who found herself in a marriage that was not arranged. She had a daughter of whom she loved so much. Despite the maternal love, Clara became different from her mother and decided to be married by a Spanish man and moved across the ocean to Spain. By his research findings, we are able to tell clearly that Dona Maria was a prolific writer through her tireless letter writing to her daughter Clara expressing love. In return, Clara does not seem to appreciate her mother’s concern and this makes the mother adopts Santa Saria Rosa de Las Rosa. Both died after the bridge collapse and without the efforts of brother juniper less could have been known. In addition to his research, we are able to know Esteban who also dies when the bridge of San Luis collapsed. Their story of being abandoned together with his twin brother Manuel and the uniqueness in them because it was difficult to be identified easily as they were identical twins is made available through the research. A Good Samaritan called Abbes took care of the two until later when they became skilled scribes and reputations in transcribing various documents. Estaban and Manuel lived a stressful life of teasing simply because they could be recognized from one another, coming up with their own language made them bonded to each other until they could tell instinctively what the other was doing even if they tried their best not to be seen together in public. Additionally, the objective research makes all the readers to know about affectionate love of Manuel to Camila Perichole that made Estaban hurt by what he saw in the way the related. Manuela sensing unhappiness in her brother decided to never associate with Perichole once again. Later, Manuela dies after nursing a wound on the knee as a result of a cut from a piece of metal. The outcome of Part IV of the research tells us about Uncle Pio and Young Jaime who perished with the other three when the bridge collapsed. Uncle Pio was considered by Don Maria an excellent companion together with Camila Perichole. He ran away at the age of ten from his home and lived in Madrid and when life became complicated he fled to Peru. He finds Michaela Villegas and provided training and protection. In conclusion, he is a good researcher because after the plague struck the abandoned village, he listed the qualities of those that died and those that survived and concluded by giving a scale of one to ten, those that were dead could be awarded five times more worth saving than those who were alive. The narrator through his works explains the pain of losing the beloved as one of the painful experienced on earth. Essay 3 Disillusionment with old ideas and ideals Disillusionment: freeing from false belief or illusions The works of disillusionment are eminently seen in part one when the Bridge ropes cuts, causing death of five innocent individuals. The bridge and its ropes seemed as something substantial and strong that could last forever; so unimaginable it was that one day it will break" (Part I. p.5).This belief itself is of illusion type as how dare everyone believes that something made of a sisal, mere rope, will never snap. Everybody including the community as well as the missionaries had this strong faith that it will never cut nor cause death. "At a moment the twanging sound was felt all over the surrounding as of a string when a strong and tight string of some musical instrument snaps suddenly, he saw the bridge divide into two flinging five gesticulating individuals into the gorge." (Part I, P.7). This was still unimaginable and unbelievable to Brother Juniper as he was the only horse watching the whole incident happen. Interestingly, people were...