How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The landowner has absolute power over the samurai, and he can kill at kill anyone he does not like and confiscate all his property. (4.10)
Yikes. As you can see, Japan's power structure isn't exactly fair, with lower-class villagers refused even basic human rights. Forgot to pay your taxes? You're executed. Got into a bar fight? Executed. Stepped on a samurai's shoelaces? Believe it or not, you're probably going to get executed.
Quote #5
The black soil of Japan has been filled with the lament of so many Christians [...] and in the face of this terrible and merciless sacrifice offered up to Him, God has remained silent. (4.47)
Japanese Christians have been persecuted physically, psychologically, and emotionally for decades, yet nothing has changed. Despite this, the people haven't lost faith: they still believe that they will be saved from their suffering one day. Rodrigues, on the other hand, is shaken to the core by what he witnesses. How can God turn a blind eye to so much pain and suffering?
Quote #6
They would not die at once, but after two or even three days of utter physical and mental exhaustion they would cease to breathe. (4.71)
This is the pit: the torture chamber that supposedly caused Father Ferreira to renounce his faith. Inoue, the magistrate of Nagasaki, actually invented it himself as a way to make Japanese Christians—and, more importantly, priests—renounce Christianity.