The paths of righteousness

Current book: Death Comes for the Archbishop
Pages read: 103-199

Now that the atmosphere's been properly established, Cather is focusing a little more on the daily events of the New Mexican priests' lives. In addition to Latour, there's also Father Vaillant, his immediate subordinate and good friend. At one point, Latour has to go rescue Vaillant from a measles-ridden village, but in general the two work together and travel together as a team. We've also become acquainted with Martinez, another local priest who is nowhere near as noble as our two gentlemen, but instead is a glutton and sexual predator who eventually kills a local servant and is executed by his parishioners as a result.

Cather is clearly focusing on character and plot a little more here, but to recount all of the vignettes that she discusses would be both difficult and uninteresting. Suffice it to say that the book continues to be beautiful and realistic. She's walking a fine line with the idea of racism against the Native Americans in the area, and seems to be depicting her priests as various points along that continuum. I'll be interested to see how the novel ends and what conclusions she seems to draw with that ending, if any, about the role of the church in America, or in any place in which its largely concerned with converting a native population.