Dom Casmurro by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, and Chronicle of A Deat

Dom Casmurro by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, and Chronicle of A last Foretold by Gabriel Garca MrquezWorks Cited Not IncludedReligion is supremacy, perfection and spirituality. A typical LatinAmerican religious community heavily relies on religious belief to provide amoral framework to guide and protect its citizens. However, projectingreligion in the light of perfection is superficial. In actuality, itoften contains flaws underneath its towering teachings. Theinadequacy in maintaining the idealistic doctrines is deeply rooted insociety. Such notion is reflected and commented upon in the novels DomCasmurro by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis and Chronicle of A DeathForetold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. In both novels, the authorseffectively criticize religion through their satiric portrayal ofreligious politics and other characters attitudes towardsreligion.The two novels reveal the pragmatic result of religion in a criticallight. The ideal doctrine of religion adjusts itself to the imperfectworld in ways that some times do not command respect. The actualpractice of the doctrine allows flexibility, which is often abused. InDom Casmurro, Bento and Jose Dias imagine that a journey to see thePope will undo Dona Glorias bid to God. Eventually they settlethe matter much more conveniently by resorting to the local church. Asshown in Escobars speech, the characters are constantly manipulatingwith the power of the religious authorities Consult the protonotaryabout it and if he hesitates, well speak to the bishop (171). Thisimplies that the people often seek and take advantages of the plotholes in religion.The concept of religion as an obligation becomes apparent through... ...o to mirror the Churchs failure to deal high moral standards and use their authority effectively andseriously.Through the subtle and detailed portrayals of the characters in thenovels Chronicle of A Death Foretold and Dom Casmurro shed acriticizing light on the hypocritical Church present i n the community.Bentos repulsion to be religiously devoted bluntly reveals theblemishes in the functional result of religion hidden underneathseemingly deep devotion. The tragedy of Santiago Nasar explores theother defects of religion, one that is present in the Church itself,and how failure to uphold moral standards in Church upsets thecommunity. Of course the authors do not write solely to condemnreligion, they also bring forth the concept that people moldiness adjusttheir attitudes toward religion and then irrational, old values set bythe past Church.