The Bystanders pg 45 - 58

In chapter four, we read about Mr Tench writing a letter to his wife, and the way he can´t express himself, telling her how he felt. While he was writing the letter he was interrupted by a person knocking on the door who said "con amistad." Pg 47 Padre Jose also walks through a graveyard, where there was a merchant family, who had owened the only hotel in the capital, where buring their little girl. They ask him if he could say a prayer for them, but he denies. He feels fear, beacuse all of the persecution against priest. He thinks he can´t trust anyone. "But that was the problem, he could´nt trust anyone." Pg 48 But the family insisted, they where really expecting the priest to say a prayer. "Padre Jose he said, there is no one else... He looked as if he was asking for a miracle. An enourmous temptation came to Padre Jose to take the risk and say the prayer over the grave." Pg 49

In this chater what I most realized, was the fear of all these people, who belived in God, and specially Padre Jose´s fear of speaking, and the fear of trusting anyone. He felt he could´nt trust anyone, because they could betray him, and he might get caugh.

Something else I was intrested in during this chapter, was the resentment the leuteunant felt against religion, and agianst the feeling of believing in God, due to experiences he had suffered during his childhood. A boy threw him a rock, and the boy said he was playing to throw a bomb to a "gringo", the leuteunant felt happy and prowed, and suddenlly showed his gun to the little boy. This gives us a hint of the anger the leuteunant represses and feels inside.