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As a young priest, Rodrigues still had a fresh memory about becoming a good priest as Jesus did in the previous time. In the Seminary, Rodrigues character
seemingly rose from himself, to make connection with people and being presence in the center of faithful life. The presence of a priest, can bring the dynamic
energy and lift the spirits to those who need encouragement.
5. Undetermined
At the end of this novel, Rodrigues‟ character can be interpreted as undetermined man. The persecution and temptation that Rodrigues faced made
him felt unsure about his life. As a priest, the capability to hear God‟s voice become the important roles to make a movement or disposition. In the novel,
Kichijiro‟s treachery made Rodrigues questioned about his faith.
Men are born into two categories: the strong and the weak, the saints and the commonplace, the heroes and those who respect them. In time of
persecution the strong are burnt in the flames and drowned in the sea; but the weak, like Kichijiro, lead a vagabond life in the mountains. As for you
I now spoke to myself which category do you belong to? Were it not for consciousness of your priesthood and your pride, perhaps you like
Kichijiro would trample on the fumie. pp.77-78
The quotation above is Rodrigues‟ thoughts about Kichijiro. It is analyzed
using Murphy‟s theory 1972, derived from thoughts. Rodrigues compares Kichijiro as Judas that betray Jesus in the Gethsemane garden. By kissing Jesus,
Judas sells Jesus to the Jews. The examination of Kichijiro leads Rodrigues to wonder whether apostate his faith, by trampling the icon of Christ fumie, or
keep his faith and be a martyr, like the other Christian martyrs that lived in the past.
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In the end of the novel when Rodrigues was arrested in the prison, he compares himself compare to the traitor, Kichijiro. There is no different between
him and Kichijiro, both of them chose to apostate their faith. Allport 1970 says “cultural ways, social situation, and individual‟s role within social systems plays
role in in dividual‟s development personality” p. 194. The situation in Japan at
that time was difficult to the missionary activity, especially to the Christians. Because of that, Rodrigues chose to save his life and the other Christians, although
he must apostatize the Catholic faith.
B. The meaning of Father Sebastian Rodrigues’ decision
In this part, the meaning of Sebastian Rodrigues is divided into two parts. First part is about literal meaning or the surface meaning of the Rodrigues‟
decision to convert to Buddhism. The literal meaning can be found after the researcher elaborates the events that happened in Rodrigues` journey. Second part
is the deeper meaning that the researcher found after reading the whole of the novel. The researcher interprets the deeper meaning by using the theory of
psychoanalysis by Freud.
1. Literal Meaning of Sebastian Rodrigues’ Decision Ego
In this part, the literal meaning of Sebastian Rodrigues‟ decision to convert to Buddhism can be found explicitly in the novel. To analyze this part,
the researcher used Freud psychological approach theory 1958. Freud 1958 states that personality has three parts, namely the id, the ego, and the superego.
These three component parts of the mind resulted in human behavior. The id is PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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the basic instinct that needs to be fulfilled by human without considering the reality. While the ego helps human fulfill his or her needs through the reality and
it op erates according to the reality principles. In Rodrigues‟ case, the ego
works well because the ego works through the environment and reality that happened in the Rodrigues‟ life. He wants to save Christians from persecution
and from punishment, by making himself as a traitor of faith.
How his foot aches And then the Christ in bronze speaks to the priest: „Trample Trample I more than anyone know of the pain in your foot.
Trample It was to be trampled on by men that I was born into this world. It was to share men‟s pain that I carried my cross‟p.98
Rodrigues knew that as a religious leader he must give a good example for the people. This makes sense for him because he must face the reality and
the idealism of faith. Rodrigues plays himself as Jesus, what Jesus will do if He faces the event like him. In the other hand, Rodrigues remembers about
hundreds of Christian martyrs who sacrifice their life to keep the faith. Rodrigues, as a young priest has a good perception about his mission.
He is very sure that his trip will be blessed by God, and that God will protect them from any difficulties. Rodrigues‟ thought that martyrdom is a kind of
privilege for those who want to be a warrior for Catholic faith. Actually, in the seminary Rodrigues also had taught about this how glorious to be a martyr by
his teacher, Ferreira. Unfortunately, Rodrigues also disappointed because Ferreiara had apostate his faith.
Adair 2006 states that motivation creates the reasons of why an individual reacts, neither negatively nor positively. Rodrigues starts to question
