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