Monsignor Quixote Book

First Impression: An interesting novel.

The Reason:

It is about belief and doubt. "Doubt and belief are two halves of the same hinge, neither is defined without the other." - Miguel de Unamuno. This quote was apparently in the first draft of Greene's Monsignor Quixote. Later when he revised it, he removed it. I doubt that it would make the theme of the book blatantly very explicit.

There are two important characters in the novel: Monsignor Quixote, a Catholic priest recently elevated to the rank of Monsignor and deposed from his parish at El Tobaso and Enrique Zancas alias Sancho, the deposed Communist mayor of El Tobaso. The entire novel can be considered a dialogue between a Communist and a Catholic priest. The main issues discussed are Faith and Doubt.

Faith is essential for a Catholic. But what about a Communist? Here is an excerpt form the novel:

Monsignor: "The Church depends on written authority as your Party depends on Marx and Lenin."

Sancho: "But you believe your books are the word of God."

Monsignor: "Be fair, Sancho. Do you not think that Marx and Lenin are as infallible as - well, Matthew and Mark?"

Monsignor says in unequivocal terms that a Communist also has Faith in the great future when Communism in its true nature will rule the whole world. Without faith no one can be on this earth. The element of mystery has to be present for the life to be interesting in this world. Monsignor asks the following two questions to Sancho for which Sancho gave no answer. 1. "Can a man live without faith?" 2. "Would you want to live in a wholly rational world? What a dull world that would be."

They both have faith. That is alright. But then, their faith is in totally opposite realities. So what brings them together as friends? The answer: They both struggle with doubts regarding their own respective faiths.

"It's human to doubt....sharing a sense of doubt can bring men together perhaps even more than sharing a faith. The believer will fight another believer over a shade f difference: the doubter fights only with himself."

I think that is what this novel is about. It encourages the believer not to fear doubts. In that sense, this novel is a great service to the faith life of a person.

Additional Information:

The dialogues are funny and witty. There are sharp criticisms on few principles in Moral Theology, the doctrine of Hell and Purgatory, Catholic practices and the dogma of Marxism.

Two Samples for the dialogue:

Example 1:

Monsignor: "All our good actions are acts of God, just as all our ill actions are acts of the Devil."

Mayor: "In that case you must forgive our poor Stalin, for perhaps only the Devil was responsible."

Example 2:

The Monsignor and Sancho have stopped over by an abandoned building to have their lunch. The wall of the building contains the painting of a hammer and sickle. The dialogue now.

Monsignor: "I would have preferred a cross to eat under."

Sancho: "What does it matter? The taste of the cheese will not be affected by cross or hammer. Besides, is there much difference between the two? They are both protests against injustice."

Monsignor: "But the results were a little different. One created tyranny, the other charity."

Last Word: If you have read Don Quixote, you will appreciate this work even more. Unfortunately I had not done so. But that was not a big handicap. I HOPE SO.......