Consequences of Evil - Are they always bad?

Most people would define what the Jan'ata is doing as evil and that it should be stopped. The idea is that if the population is unbalanced, they must kill off offspring to keep a sense of balance. Looking at it strictly in that light, yes it can definitely be considered evil but what if on that planet, what they are doing is actually benefiting the population as a whole?
        Emilio says,

"I am not defending them. I am trying to explain to you what happened and why. But it is their society, and they pay their own price for their way of life... there are no beggars on Rakhat. There is no unemployment. There is no overcrowding. No starvation. No environmental degradation. There is no genetic disease. The elderly do not suffer decline. Those with terminal illness do not linger. They pay a terrible price for this system, but we too pay, Felipe, and the coin we use is the suffering of children. How many kids starved to death to this afternoon, while we sat here? Just because their corpses aren't eaten doesn't make our species any more moral".

         This passage was really powerful but we are so quick to judge what is right or wrong and what is evil and what is good, but the consequences of it all may justify the act, after all. Looking at it from a utilitarian point of view, the consequences are all that matters. If they have to kill off a few offspring to present the greatest good for the greatest number, who are we to judge what is right and what is wrong? Emilio presented a controversial problem because as humans, you don't want to look at your world and think we are the ones doing something wrong. We like to think of ourselves as good and that we moral human beings.

Hunger Games and The Sparrow

Oddly enough that this movie comes out March 23rd but I made a lot of connections from this book (The Hunger Games) to The Sparrow.
The districts can be seen as the Runa in The Sparrow and the capital can be presented as the Jan'ata. The capital controls the districts much like the Jan'ata control the Runa. The capital uses the districts as a form of entertainment at the districts expense and the capital lives in a life of richness as the majority of districts struggle to get by. Although there are a lot more districts then there are members of the capital, the capital seem to remain in power just like the Runa and the Jan'ata. In both books, the evil that those in power demonstrate are examples of banal evil. Their evil has become a normal thing in both societies. The districts follow and obey the capital much like the Runa do. They are both part of a society where the instant someone is born, they are already a mere object that those in power own and use to their own benefit. Much like the Runa did, the districts form some type of a riot against the capital in attempt to overthrow them which resulted in a lot more people getting killed and hurt in the process- this goes for both books. The evil presented in both books from those in power is so ordinary that no one seems to question it or doubt it. Instead, they conform to it and obey whatever they are told to do. The capital 'trains' the districts in a manner where once they are a part of the hunger games, they will be good enough to put on an entertaining show with twists and surprises, in comparison to the Runa being bred just to satisfy the Jan'ata.

Jessica Frias

The Symbol Hands

The symbolism of hands presents itself a few times over the course of the book. One of the prime examples I found was the when the book said Emilio had his hands open to God while others had their hands clenched. I searched in our encyclopedia for the explanation behind open vs clenched hands and found it to be very interesting.
Open hands meant blessing, welcome and protection whereas clenched hands meant aggression and threat. Transferring these meanings to the book, it is saying Emilio was welcoming God where others were seeing God as a threat.

Jessica Frias

An Addition to Hands

There have been many posts about hands on this blog but it is necessary because the symbol of hands is a very important and prominent symbol throughout the book. As described earlier in the blog, hands are considered to be the tools of tools and hands being so important in what make humans unique, taking that away from someone can have them lose their identity as someone of worth or even have them lose their connection to their humanity. Emilio is trying to think of why they would do such a thing to his hands and he knew they did not mean evil intentions because the aliens often did this to their own friends. This shows how different people can have different views on what can be considered evil. For the people on earth, it is seen as evil because it is unknown and they do not understand the reasoning behind it but for the aliens they did not have evil intentions at all. Emilio thinks they did this either because; to them, having long hands is more beautiful to them or for the alien that did this to his hands to show everyone that they can afford to house useless dependents in his household. This is evidence that it is very difficult to classify anything as evil because there are always many motives or points of view to any action.

Another hands connection that can be made is that since hands are said that they may almost be said to speak. Emilio’s hands are destroyed in the beginning, so he speaks as little as possible but when he gets his hand bracers to help him move his hands and function slightly better, he begins to speak more often. By the end of the book when Emilio has the newest bracers that are comfortable on his arms and function well, he is speaking about what happened to him (the most he ever has spoken) and eventually tells John Candotti everything which seemed like it would never happen in the beginning of the book while his hands were rendered useless.

-Adam Zack 

Evil from Jana’ata

  Throughout the book there are several examples of evil involving the Jana'ata. The Jana'ata use the Runa society as literally as means to an end. The idea of arendt is shown various times. The Jana'ata breed the Runa to satisfy themselves. The Runa have an absence of rights and freedom but do not seem to even notice this due to the Jana'ata manipulating them. Ironically the Jana'ata value honour and justice highly and believe themselves to be stewards and guardians of the Runa. The Jana'ata seem to be all about balance -- coincidentally much like the symbol for justice. They choose when the Runa can breed and how many offspring they can produce and when they may do so. As mentioned before, they do this in order to control population. If too many offspring are produced, the solution is simply to kill the babies to remain 'balanced'. This can be seen as an example of moral evil.
                                                -Jessica Frias

The Symbol Eyes

A quick list of attributes on the symbolic meaning of eyes:
 The Runa and Jana’ata differ from humans in many ways. One of the most frequently mentioned differences is their appearance, and most notably, their eyes. Both the Runa and the Jana’ata have what are described as beautiful eyes with two iris’. Eyes can be symbolic of many things and are attached to many different stories. In The Great Gatsby there is a billboard with eyes on it that watch over the Town as a symbol of God’s omnipresence. I think that the same could be said for The Sparrow. The eyes of the Runa and Jana’ata were so beautiful, but the intentions behind them were never truly understood, just as God’s “intentions” may not be understood. Emilio especially, felt betrayed by God by the end of the novel. He had so many terrible events happen to him that ultimately made him question if he even wanted to believe in the existence of a greater power. I think that ‘eyes’ in this novel symbolize the open-minded and naïve belief that travelling to a new planet and meeting a new species would be a simple task. The saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” rings true for the Jesuits. They assumed that based on appearances, that things were a certain way, when really things weren’t actually as they seemed to be. The Runa were no more than domesticated pets. They were used as food, entertainment, and work slaves. The Jana’ata was a race of beings that worked sort of as typical human beings do. Humans are unethical beings in the sense that we too, eat animals, and kill them brutally without remorse, and yet own pets. We too take advantage of our neighboring countries and are only concerned about our own well being. Within “our own”, we are only concerned for our own race, or our own religion, or our own gender. Every man is for himself. No one cares anymore on Earth than on Rakhat. I think that is what was so complex about the whole voyage. Emilio realized that God is either not present in our affairs, or does not exist at all, but he is always watching.
--Seth White

Focus
Clarity
Vision
Prophesy
Omniscience
Presence
Intelligence
Perception
Observation
Opening
Awareness

Sofia's Life and Its Connection to Metaphysical Evil

Sofia Mendes has had a life that has not been kind to her but it has built her character tremendously. She is an incredibly strong human being and has made it through her life by having the uncanny ability to cut her emotions out of the equations of life and complete any task she sets her mind on. “She maintained a cold neutrality, concentrating on what was, blocking out what might be. She has survived because, by heritage and experience, she knew how to see reality unclouded by emotion.” (Russell 62)

 Sofia was only 13 when her mother was killed by a random mortar shell during the second Kurdish war. In that same year her father went missing after searching for food and never came back. He was presumed dead. All of her family was dead before she reached the age of 14 and was left alone to fend for herself in a war-riddled country. She was always taught to choose life, so instead of dying of pride she sold the only thing she had to survive -- her body. At age 14 in order to feed herself, this bright minded girl needed to sell herself to survive. This is where her ability to remove all emotion and go to another place came in handy. This allowed her to escape so that she did not have to feel anything as the men used her body. She was picked up by a wealthy broker who made a living off of picking up promising young orphans who were far above average intelligence and have them sign a contract that signs over the next 20 years of their lives to him in exchange for a fair wage and getting them out of the terrible situations they are in. Sofia moved from being a slave on the streets to a personal slave of someone else. Her early life is a cruel sad story, yet she perseveres and never quits. She is always working to finish the contract and regain her life. This is an example of metaphysical evil because it shows how the world is far from perfect. This broker makes money off of this metaphysical evil because if the world was perfect, there would be no orphans for him to get to sign contracts that would allow him to own them for a large portion of their lives while he profits.

 The metaphysical evil is prominent again in Sofias life again when she is an adult with her relationship with Emilio. After she meets Emilio and gets to know him, she allows herself to feel emotions towards him and Emilio has strong emotions towards her. In a perfect world they would have been married and loved each other forever, but since metaphysical evil exists and the world isn’t fair, the first person Sofia allows herself to feel emotions towards is forbidden because he is a priest and cannot marry because of the oath he made to his church.

Sofias life is a rollercoaster of metaphysical evil from the death of her parents to her having to sell her body to survive even though she was so gifted intellectually to getting out of prostitution, (but at the cost of her freedom) and then finally not being allowed to marry a man that she loves and allowed herself to express emotions to. 

-Adam Zack

Connection to Evil: D.W.

Throughout most of the novel, D.W. is portrayed as a strong leader with a big personality. He has a Texan drawl and is notably unfortunate looking compared to the average person. His role in The Sparrow is of commander and chief. He leads the Jesuits into Rakhat and takes the responsibility for all of their lives. Not much is known of D.W.’s past or deeper self other than his life as a Jesuit priest. Once he starts to become very ill on Rakhat, we find out that D.W. has been hiding an intricate part of himself all of his life. D.W. goes for a walk with Anne (whom seems to already be aware of his secrets) and comes out as a homosexual to all of the readers. There is also mention about Emilio, and how he has a slight attraction for him. Clearly, D.W. has chosen a life of abstinence since he is a Catholic priest. However, for social and spiritual reasons, he is not open about his sexual preference in any way and keeps that part of himself hidden. This is probably due to the taboo linked with his sexuality versus the Church’s stance on sexuality, but there comes an interesting point addressed by the Runa. When asked why D.W. could possibly be sick, the Runa respond with a different perspective on illness altogether. The Runa say that D.W. is falling ill because he is not dealing with something emotionally harmful, and it has manifested as a physical ailment. I find this to be a very true correlation with sickness in real life. Sometimes, when people become overridden with negativity and stress, they do fall ill because their immune system is not working as it should. If you aren’t emotionally healthy, then you won’t stay physically healthy for as long as you suffer the emotional baggage. As a gay religious man (a priest, nonetheless), D.W.’s character would have lived a life of great hardship. Due to the Church’s stance on homosexuality, he would have likely felt himself to be a dishonest person, and that would have stuck with him for all of his life, even though he was so much more than just gay. I think that the Runa addressing his illness as an issue needing to be overcome was an indicator of how D.W. felt about himself deep-down. He never accepted who he was in a matter of getting over what people thought was “right” or “wrong”. He may have tried to overcompensate himself (his over-confidence, for example) to seem like he wasn’t affected by how the Church viewed a person like him, but he was still ultimately affected. I think that D.W.’s character was anything but evil. He was just torn between two sides of a social and spiritual spectrum. He died a terrible death alongside Anne, and I think that is symbolic of how terrible he likely felt inside.

--Seth White

Dr Anne Edwards

Anne Edwards is a medical doctor, and as such was required to take the Hippocratic Oath upon completion of her education. Halfway through the oath is this passage:

"Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God."
(http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=20909)

I think Anne is immensely aware of her own frailty; her own sense of insecurity in the 'grand scheme' of Earth or Rakhat is seen when she asks Emilio, 'Why does God get all the credit and none of the blame?' (Russell 198). I think if there was a democratically elected position for God, Anne would be on the ballot. She hates politics, but she'd be a great President-- she's so level-headed and practical, I'm certain she could have ruled the world.

She is the token doubting Thomas of the group, always thinking of things rationally and bringing up the important questions when it comes to faith. I think that without her, there would have been an atheist-shaped hole in the story, and all of Emilio and D.W.'s beliefs would have been less believable. I also think that Anne feels guilty about not believing in God. If she did believe, I think she'd feel more involved in some of the things Emilio and D.W. did. And if she believed in God, how would that have changed her reaction to Alan Pace's death? Since Anne is an atheist, she had no one to blame for Alan's inexplicable death, so she blamed herself. If she'd been a believer, it may not have been any easier to cope with, but I think she would have fallen into the same emotional quagmire as Emilio-- if God loves us and wants us to be happy, why would he allow such suffering to occur? Not just with Alan, but for them all.

By Meaghan Duncan

The Symbol of the Sparrow

The Sparrow: (Christian) Lowliness; insignificance. Also lewdness and lechery. (Greek) An attribute of Aphrodite. Identified with Lesbia. (Japanese) Loyalty.

While we would first consider the Christian symbology of the sparrow because of our characters' own religions (Jewish, Jesuit, Catholic), I think the Greek interpretation can lend a different facet to the entire book.

Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of beauty love and sexual rapture (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/aphrodite.html). I think Doyle's story has a lot to do with the duality of love and lechery. Emilio was a prostitute when the second crew found him on Rakhat. While his actions could obviously be seen as lecherous given the connotation prostitution has on earth, one could also make the argument that this was the exact opposite of the celibacy he practiced out of his love for God. He believed God demanded celibacy and loyalty of him, and when he was alone and believed in nothing; he turned his back on God and whatever plan He might have had for Emilio.

Of course, what we must also consider is the sparrow's definition of 'insignificance' when it comes to Emilio's crisis of faith. On Earth and even with the Runa, Emilio Sandoz believed that he and his friends were sent on the mission for the greater glory of God. After everyone had died and he was alone on his physical plane, I think Emilio started to wonder whether he was alone on the spiritual plane as well. His colleagues, his friends, had all met their end at the hand of this new world, whether directly or indirectly. Were their deaths for the greater glory of God? Was Emilio's survival part of His plan, or evidence that He does not exist? With everyone gone and his belief in God waning, it is easy to believe that Emilio was feeling insignificant.

Also to consider in looking at Aphrodite is Emilio's struggle when it came to Sophia. Edward Behr said that she was beautiful, and that "A man would have to be a fool not to love someone like that," to which Emilio replies "Yes, a fool, but I didn't think so then." (Russell 285). Even when he could have had something great with Sophia, his love for God held him back. It must have been a blow to realize at the end that he turned away from real love, and yet became "God's whore" in the end(Russell 213).

Something incredible happened when I began to look up 'Lesbia', who is mentioned in the definition. She was not, as I had assumed, one of the lesser known prophets of Greek or Roman mythology, but a nom de plum for Gaius Valerius Catullus, who wrote a poem called Lesbia's Sparrow:

All you Loves and Cupids cry
and all you men of feeling
my girl’s sparrow is dead,
my girl’s beloved sparrow.
She loved him more than herself.
He was sweeter than honey, and he
knew her, as she knows her mother.
He never flew out of her lap,
but, hopping about here and there,
just chirped to his lady, alone.
Now he is flying the dark
no one ever returns from.
Evil to you, evil Shades
of Orcus, destroyers of beauty.
You have stolen the beautiful sparrow from me.
Oh sad day! Oh poor little sparrow!
Because of you my sweet girl’s eyes
are red with weeping, and swollen.

(http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/lesbia-s-sparrow/)
The passage, "Now he is flying the dark no one ever returns from" is obviously referring to death, but it reminded me of when Sophia and Marc flew the lander over the mountains to the Runa village, thereby eliminating their chances of getting back to the Stella Maris, and thus back to Earth.

This poem is obviously about grief; the writer is watching someone grieve, which is a difficult thing to do. When you see someone you know grieving, it is hard to know what to do. The helplessness reminds me of John Candotti's feeling of powerlessness as he watches Emilio recover in Naples. His inability to cope with Sandoz's mood swings, as well as John's uncertainty when it comes to knowing when to comfort and knowing when to push. Like I said, it's hard to know what to do, and sometimes even harder to do what is needed.

Meaghan Duncan

The Theme Guilt

The theme of Guilt is extremely prevalent all through the novel. Emilio Sandoz feels guilty about a lot of things that happened to him and his friends on the planet Rakhat. One event Emilio seems to feel very guilty about is unintentionally giving consent to all the muscles being cut out of not only his hand but Marcs as well. Emilio said,

“Sta’aka was a kind of ivy […] it was very pretty. It would climb on larger, stronger plants,     like our ivies, but it had branches with weeping growth habit, like a willow. […] It was symbolic of something. I knew that, from context. Supaari tried to explain, I think, but it was too abstract. I trusted him, so I gave him my consent. […] I gave consent for Marc, as well. And he died. I blamed Supaari but It was my fault,” (Russell 211).

Emilio had to trust Supaari because that is the only person he had that he could rely on after he was taken from the Runa’s. He would never have thought that Supaari would do that to marc and him, so he consented to whatever Supaari was saying and unfortunately it resulted in Marc’s death. Neither Emilio nor Supaari knew that that would happen to Marc and so it is Banal Evil.

            Even though Emilio could never have known this would happen to Marc he still felt very guilty for what happened. He even said that he could have stopped this from happening because  he said, “I knew everything then that I have just told you [John] now. I just didn’t think,” (Russell 212). However, Sandoz may have known everything he told John except his hands had not been destructed by that point so he probably would not have put all the information together even if he could have gone back. Emilio is facing survivor’s guilt, in which he doesn’t understand why he is the only one who survived and blames himself for a lot of the events that occurred even though he couldn’t have known what was going to happen. 

By Katherine Pellin

Guilt Continued

It is evident that Emilio feels some guilt and remorse for being the only one who survived and made it home safe. Going off of that, Emilio believes in order to maintain a good relationship with God you must keep your end of the relationship and God will be present. This ties into the course material regarding Judaism and how some believe God did not fulfill His end of the covenant or that maybe the Jews themselves did something wrong against God for Him not to step in while the Holocaust was going on.  Emilio could be feeling guilty because he may feel God was not present during his suffering because he may have done something and didn't comply with God's orders.

By Jessica Frias

Guilt Continued

The Sparrow is a novel filled with ups and downs like that of a roller coaster. It seemed as though every time something good would happen for the Jesuits, a greater evil would occur. One of the main themes of this novel was that every action created a sense of remorse for each person. Emilio especially received the worst sense of guilt and pain, because he was the lone survivor. The first thing Emilio likely felt guilty about, was suggesting they make a trip to where the music was coming from in the first place. He initiated the entire voyage, and for that he felt miserable. The second was the death of Alan. Everyone suffered from his death. There would have been questions such as, "what could I have done?"; "why not me?", and "We knew there was a chance this could happen-- why did we do this?". After Alan's death, the mood changed and they met the Runa for the first time. In the beginning, curiosity seems to take precedence over guilt, but curiosity killed the cat. D.W. begins to take ill, and everyone starts to think the worst. After things seem to be looking up, Anne and D.W. are randomly taken down as prey of a wild Jana'ata hunter. Again, everyone asks the aforementioned questions. Soon after, Sofia has a baby with Jimmy, but they die no sooner, and George goes fighting beside them. Emilio and Marc are left alone. They are left with the knowledge that all of their friends have died terrible deaths, and that they are partially responsible. Soon after, Marc dies. In part, the guilt was too much for him to take the traditional Jana'ata procedure of destroying hands. Emilio is then left alone, and is sent to a brothel where he is sold as a prostitute against his will. He loses everything and only gains guilt in the end. He even feels guilty for trusting God to "take care" of them all. When he is finally located and sent back to Earth, he is a different man. Crushed, with mangled hands, he has nothing but his guilt for all of the things that went wrong.

By Seth White

The Symbol Door

Door- Hope; opportunity; passage from one state or world to another; entrance to new life; initiation; sheltering aspect of the great mother.

The symbol of the door seems to mean a change in one’s life that brings new opportunities. Sandoz in the book really struggles with doors. Because his hands have been hurt, the simple task of opening a door can be one of the hardest things for him to deal with. In one instance the other priests forget to leave the door open for him. It says that Sandoz,

“felt the volcanic anger well up as he struggled with his hands but forced himself to beat the rage down, to concentrate on the simple tasks of opening the door and then leaving it open a hand’s breadth behind him, the horror of being caged now only barely stronger then the urge to kick it shut,” (Russell 50).

Sandoz is afraid of being stuck in his room because it is so hard for him to open the door. I think the door symbolizes Sandoz struggle to pass from one state to another. It represents the internal struggle for him to forgive himself and move on. On the new planet he faced many evils that are hard for a single person to cope with, these being the loss of all his close friends, unintentionally killing a new friend (and that friend being a child), being raped by multiple people, and losing his faith in God, some of these things in which he feels responsible for. Since Sandoz was rescued from the planet and brought back to earth he is given the opportunity to share his experiences and forgive himself for what happened.

Therefore, I think Sandoz’s struggles with the door represent how hard it is for him to keep that door of opportunity open. He constantly tries to keep all the information and struggles that he has had bottled up inside. He wants to shut down and be left alone by the priests. But in order for him to heal he must talk about what happened and then move on and so he struggles with this.

By Katherine Pellin

Emilio Sandoz and Evil

          Emilio Sandoz was surrounded by evil in many parts of the book. The first evil in the novel to occur to him was the destruction of his hands. At first, one might think that the action was more evil than it was because any human would have an idea of the pain that would be caused by cutting all the muscle out of someone’s hand. However, the Jana’ata does not go through the same pain and this is not used to hurt someone. Sandoz said he is unsure of why they do this but it is possibly a sign of beauty. Although one may be quick to judge an action such as this as moral evil it is important to remember that the intentions behind the action may be different then they seem.

     An evil that is really hard for Emilio to deal with in his life is the death of all of his friends. They all die from many different causes and most of the deaths were fairly harsh. Some died from natural evil, while others died from moral evil caused by different species on the planet.

     Natural evil is destruction cause by natural causes, such as earth quakes and tornadoes. An example of this in the book is when Alan died from an unknown cause but he died peaceful. I would consider this natural evil because this is an evil that happens in nature all the time. People die and it is normal to die from sickness and poor health.

     The VaHaptaa hunter who killed Anne and D.W. caused moral evil because he knew he would be causing harm to Anne and D.W. although he probably did not realize the effect it would have on all of their friends. Moral evil is when another human inflicts pain and suffering on to another human intentionally. And so we can see this in D.W. and Annes death as well as Sofia, Jimmy and Georges death. The Jana’ata in this even slaughtered all the Runa and humans, except Mark and Emilio out of fear that the Runa would rise up and fight them. However, this occurred after the Runa’s babies were also slaughtered by the Jana’ata.

     All of these evils Emilio had to witness and then deal with afterwards. There effects had a huge impact on his faith in God. But the moral evil that got to him the most was being caged nude and then being raped by many people. This act may or may not have been considered evil by the Jana’ata, however, in our society this is an evil act. The Jana’ata seem to have a different perspective on sex and rape in terms of evil. The Jana’ata probably could have been able to tell that Sandoz did not want to be there and did not want to be a part of these acts. And so in the way they were forcing Sandoz to do something he didn’t want to do. That is moral evil because they knew they were causing him to suffer.

     The priests seem to use Sandoz as a scapegoat, they are constantly assuming that Sandoz caused most of the evil that happened on the new planet. They blame him for killing the child without even knowing the circumstances and accused him of willingly becoming a prostitute. Throughout most of the book they give the impression that Emilio caused most of the evil that occurred on Rakhat. On the contrary, we find out the Emilio was caged and raped for money and that he killed the child because he thought that she was going to be the next one to rape him.

     Lastly, Emilio faces survivor’s guilt all throughout the novel. Survivor’s guilt is when a person feels guilty about surviving a horrific event when all of his family or in this case, his close friends did not survive. Because his friends faced such horrible deaths and deaths that he had to watch, Emilio had a hard time letting go and wished that he had died along with them. At one point in the novel Emilio finds out that he consented to having the muscles in his hands removed and that he also consented for Marc to have his done. At this point Emilio felt he had caused Marks death and made him feel very guilty. Therefore, Emilio went through a lot of suffering in his life. He lost his friends, some in horrific ways, and also lost his faith and love in God. Now Emilio is at a point in his life where he must learn to forgive himself for evils that he had no control over.




By Katherine Pellin

A Media Link

During our meeting at the library on Wednesday, we discussed the way that the Runa, while seen by the Jesuit team as beautiful and exotic creatures, are used as domesticated pets by the other races on Rakhat (Russell 330). This reminded me of a race called the Unas on Stargate: SG1.

The Unas are an ancient race of greenish reptile-like creatures who have their own language and society, even art. 

One of the main characters, archaeologist Daniel Jackson, is kidnapped by an Unas called Chaka. While imprisoned, he acts as anthropologist, trying to figure out the Unas' customs, language and lifestyle. He succeeds enough to befriend Chaka (episode 4x08, 'The First Ones').

In a later episode, (5x07, 'Beast of Burden') Chaka is taken by a group of Unas traders who use one of the oldest races in the galaxy as slaves and endentured servants.

The following is a transcript from 'Beast of Burden', since I couldn't find a suitable video link:

[The Stargate on the planet kawooshes, and SG-1 come through.]

CARTER
The UAV shows the nearest of the surrounding towns to be three clicks in that direction. Evidence of a substantial population, lots of cultivated fields.

DANIEL
Farmers?

O'NEILL
Farmers with staff weapons.

[SG-1 reach a vantage point from where they can see a village. Daniel looks through his binoculars, and sees an Unas pulling a log. A man follows the Unas, with a whip.]

DANIEL
Domestication.

O'NEILL
Yeah.
(To Carter)
We'll check things out down there. Carter, you and Teal'c hang back, cover us in case these folks don't like visitors.
(To Daniel)
Any ideas?

DANIEL
Well, let's see how far honesty gets us.

O'NEILL
Okay.

...

[An auction is in progress.]

BURROCK
This animal comes from an excellent bloodline. He can press grain at the stone mill from first light to day's end. He can haul any cart with any load, any distance.

[A man strikes the Unas, who growls.]

BURROCK
And he has spirit.

[The Unas is hit again. He growls more loudly.]

MALE VILLAGER #1
He’s probably inbred.

http://www.stargate-sg1-solutions.com/wiki/5.07_%22Beast_Of_Burden%22_Transcript

We know that the Runa were bred quite a lot by the Jana'ata and at one point Emilio is even forced to eat some Runa flesh, which suggests it is either used as a punishment due to its taste, or that it is a normal staple of the Rakhat diet, much as Earthlings view cows. The only difference between cows and the Runa or the Unas is that cows don't (as far as we know) have any language, nor do they have a self-sufficient lifestyle.

On the other hand, cows are seen as stupid creatures, which is the way the Runa are viewed by just about everyone. The Unas, similarly, are viewed as beasts of burden because of their ability to work hard, and because of their growling language. Here is a clip of the Unas' who are held prisoner in 'Beast of Burden' communicating with Chaka, planning their escape.

By Meaghan Duncan

The Sparrow: Movie Cast Photos

Sophia Mendes: Eva Mendes

Anne Edwards: Helen Mirren

Jimmy Quinn- Daniel Cudmore



Emilio Sandoz- Benicio del Toro

                                                   

D.W. Yarbrough - Richard Kiel



Casting Characters for "The Sparrow"

While we were discussing the book in our last class we were told about a possible movie in the works and thought it would be interesting if we gave our recommendations on what actors should play some of our favourite characters in the novel.

Emilio Sandoz- Benicio del Toro
I think that Benicio del Toro would be a great choice for Emilio Sandoz because he is in his forties and is Spanish and Pureto Rican. He has acted in the movies: Sin City, The Unusual Suspects, Licence to Kill and many more. He has also acted in the television series Miami Vice, Private Eye, Drug wars, Tales from the Crypt, Fallen Angels and Todos Contra Juan. He is a great actor who won an Oscar in 2001.

Sofia Mendes- Eva Mendes
I thought Eva Mendes would be an excellent choice for this character because she has the look of Sofia, being only 5'6" she is short like Sofia and has slight draker skin and looks exotic like I pictured Sofia. She is also a good actor and will be able to do justice for the amazing character Sofia is.

D.W. Yarbrough-Richard Kiel
I chose Richard Kiel as the best fit actor to portray D.W.'s character. Just as described, Kiel is a big man (tall and stocky) and is very, very unfortunate looking. I tried to find someone with unsymbetrical eyes, and even though his aren't, they are still not at all nice to look at...

Anne Edwards- Helen Mirren

I definitely think that Helen Mirren would be a good choice to play Anne Edwards in a movie verion of The Sparrow. Dame Helen is incredibly talented and adventurous in the projects she undertakes (i.e. The Queen, The Debt, The Temptress), and so she wouldn't be daunted by a very involved script and a complicated cast of characters. She's also got chemistry with just about everything and everyone, which would make it easy to cast George.

Jimmy Quinn- Daniel Cudmore
I think Daniel Cudmore has very good potential to play Jimmy Quinn well. He has the size, being 6'6" and he also has been in big movies before such as 2 of the X-men movies and 2 twilight movies which proves that he is a good (and marketable) actor as well. 

Raped by God

When thinking about the ending to "The Sparrow" the one theme that will always be in the forefront of my thoughts is being raped by God. Throughout the novel I had the notion that figuratively Emilio had been raped by God because he had given his entire teenage and adult life to following God and spreading his word and what he got in return from him was having all of his friends dead and having completely mangled hands. Now that seems like he got pretty screwed by someone he literally gave everything to. What makes this theme pop so much when I think about "The Sparrow" is the fact that Emilio said “I am in God’s hands. Whatever happens now to me is God’s will.” Only a few moments after he says that he is literally raped. Emilio put his entire trust into God to guide him and God led him to extreme emotional and physical pain. In the present time in the novel, Emilio has a war raging inside his own mind about if God exists or does not exist. This battle is so tough for Emilio because if he comes to the conclusion that God doesn't exist then he has nothing to blame but himself for all that has happened to him and also wasting his life devoted to something that does not exist. On the other hand if he comes to the conclusion that God does exits then he thinks God hates him or that God is an evil being or a monster for allowing one of his devoted followers to be destroyed in every sense of his life. This battle will rage for a long time in Emilios head because after being devoted to something your entire life and loving what it has done for you, to have it end in the rape of his body and mind he will have to wrestle with how he feels about the existence of God for the rest of his life.

By: Adam Zack

The Runa "Domesticated Pets"

        In the end of Chapter 28 we find out that the Runa are "not unintelligent and some are marvelously talented, but they are essentially domesticated animals. The Jana'ata breed them, as we breed dogs," (Russell 330). This statement was very shocking for me. I didn't even consider the Runa's could be thought out as domesticated animals. I was curious why they did not have many babies but it never even occurred to me that the Jana'ata were breeding them.
        It seems quite disturbing to me, not just the fact that they are "domesticated pets" but because they Jana'ata will use them for sex because it is a form of birth control for the 3rd born's. I assume that sex on that planet may be viewed very differently than on our planet. This may tie in with the fact that evil is based on a person perspective. So maybe for the Runa and Jana'ata this is quite normal and not an evil thing for them at all.

By Katherine Pellin

Sandoz and his commitment to God

          As mentioned in the last post I am still interested to find out what changed Emilio’s love for God. In this section of the book Emilio meets the Runa and it says Emilio was, “Smiling and in love with all God’s work,” (Russell 228). It seems as though Emilio has never been closer to God and that he is finally finding his way as a priest.

            Later Emilio struggles with the idea of having a family with Sofia because Jimmy seems to take an interest in her. He starts to feel as though he is mourning something and finds out that it is the loss of opportunity to be with Sofia if a relationship sparks with her and Jimmy. Sandoz seems to be fighting with his commitment to God and his love for Sofia and need to have children.

In the future, when Emilio is talking to Edward he makes it seem as if he chose to be with Sofia. He says to Edward, “have you ever wondered about the story of Cain, Ed? He made his sacrifice in good faith. Why did God refuse it?,” (Russell 285). In the story of Cain and Abel, they are both asked to make a sacrifice of a sheep for God. Abel gives God his best sheep but Cain, however, thinks that God would be fine with one of his crops that he has plenty of. God, on the contrary, appears to prefer Abel’s sacrifice and rejects Cain’s. In Emilio’s situation it would seem he is trying to say that he chose to be with Sofia and thought that God would accept this. He may have even had good reason to be with her but in the end God did not like what happened.

            I wonder if this is the point in time in which God and Emilio drifted apart and where he lost his deep love for Jesus. He said that he prayed to God about the situation, but “God was silent on the matter,” (Russell 307). This may have been a sign that God did not want Emilio to be with Sofia but maybe Emilio ignored this sign.

            In the Jewish tradition people are punished for their sins and rewarded for obedience. I would appear that if Sandoz chose to be with Sofia maybe he was punished for his actions which lead him to lose sight of God. Maybe it was because he was a priest that made his sin even more dishonorable and was punished more severely for his actions.   

By Katherine Pellin

God and Evil as well as a continuation of Moral Evil

        “They were taking refuge in the concrete. Anne realized that. Faced with death, people look for reasons, to protect themselves from its arbitrariness and stupidity,” (Russell 197). When something evil happens, people need a way to understand it so that they can move on. In this case they needed a reason as to why Alan had died and were looking to Anne for the answer. When Anne said she could not find anything they had a hard time accepting that. As with anything “evil” in the world we need to know why/how it happened. When the Holocaust occurred people needed to know how so many people could have let that happen. Leaving the reasons for something like this unknown makes it harder for people to cope with the situation.

         Another issue Anne brought up was God and how he can let evil things happen. She asked the priests, “Why is it that God gets all the credit for the good stuff, but it’s the doctors fault when shit happens,” (Russell 198). This issue is very hard for people to wrap their heads around. People already have a hard time understanding why God lets bad things happen and that is why they resort to blaming people or things. Later on in the book the priests try to comfort her by saying that “God Himself, in Scripture, tells us, ‘My ways are not your ways and My thoughts are not your thoughts,” (Russell 201). They try to explain the Gods ways are unknown to us and he does have a plan for people. Maybe God took Alan’s life because there was something worse that could have happened to him on this new planet. They will never know why He did what He did but they need to stop trying to figure it out because they never will know.

         In the previous post I asked why the new beings would hurt Sandoz’s hands and also said that although they seemed evil maybe it was just the way they were portrayed in the novel. In this section of the novel we learn that the new beings did this to most of their species and it was not meant to be torture. Sandoz, however, was not completely sure why, he thought maybe it was a way to show beauty. So although at first the beings seemed evil to the reader, truly, in this act, they were not.


        At the end of this section Sandoz brings up something very surprising, he says, “I am God’s whore, and ruined,” (Russell 213). He compares himself to a mistress and claims he is God’s mistress. Sandoz, after the trip is defiantly struggling with his belief in God, which seems shocking because at the beginning of the trip Sandoz, it seems, is finally finding God and God is filling what is missing in his life. I am curious to see what changed in the following section.

By Katherine Pellin

Sandoz's Hands and Moral Evil

     In the novel The Sparrow the one evil that really stands out to me is what happened to Sandoz’s hands. John Candotti said, “All the muscles had been carefully cut from the bones, doubling the length of the fingers, and Sandoz’s hands reminded John of childhood Halloween skeletons,” (Russell 26-27). Sandoz’s hands are a big issue in the book and cause him a lot of hard ships; little things like opening and closing the door become a huge task. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols says that, “According to Aristotle the hand is ‘the tool of tools.’ Quintilian says the hand may almost be said to speak. Do we not use them to demand, promise, summon, dismiss, threaten [etc.][…] Hands signify power; strength, providence; blessing,” ( Cooper 78).

            By taking Sandoz’s hands away these beings have essentially caused him great pain not only physically but also emotionally. I wonder the same thing that Candotti does; why did they do this to his hands? Before the mission trip all of Sandoz’s friends and himself are so excited to find a new planet and really want to go meet these new beings. It seems like such a happy time but when he returns he is by himself and not in good health physically or mentally.

            The only thing the reader knows about the new beings is what Candotti saw from the picture Sandoz drew. The beings were said to be very handsome and said to have, “extraordinary eyes,” ( Russell 9). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols says that eyes represent the, “sun gods and their life-giving power of fertilization by the sun,” (Cooper 62). Based on what these being have done they seem powerful but not life-giving.

            By this point in the book it would appear that the new beings have committed moral evil. They knowingly and deliberately inflicted pain on Sandoz by cutting out his palms and leaving only the bone. The reader is left almost angry at these new beings for hurting Sandoz and whatever other moral evils they have committed. However, we do not know the whole story; Sandoz may have had a dangerous encounter with chemicals in the new planet where he lost all his flesh and muscles; where the new beings had no intention of harming him. Therefore, we cannot judge the new beings as evil unless we know exactly what happened and not just parts.

            I hope to find out more about these new beings within the next quarter of the book. I want to know what has happened to Sandoz’s friends and why the beings have hurt them, if they did. So far I have really enjoyed the novel; it is very suspenseful only giving you small bits of information at a time; almost like a puzzle. 

By Katherine Pellin