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The Living Dead
The Living Dead
The life of Brother Juniper
By Eric Viets
The death of brother Juniper in Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey is the nail in the coffin in getting across the importance of embracing love during ones life and how that people must realize the importance of love before it is too late. Much like how the characters of the Marquesa de Montemayor, Esteban, and Uncle Pio all realized in time the importance of love in their lives, Brother Juniper came to the same realization. However, like the other characters, the realization came all too late. This love for and of life is a recurring role in not only this story, but other works of Thornton Wilder as well. To take a quote from his Pulitzer prize winning play Our Town "You've got to love life to have life, and you've got to have life to love life… It's what they call a vicious circle." (Wilder, Our Town, 49) The importance of this quote is signified by the realizations that each character comes to in their own time over the course of The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Most importantly, the message is conveyed through the life and death of Brother Juniper. By being unable to realize that fact that love is what makes all people special, and is the most important thing in life, he lives an existence in which he is dead long before he is burned as a heretic. By Juniper being unable to realize the significance of love in life, he apparently goes through the story as a dead man walking.
In the case of the Marquesa, it is not until the very end of her life that she realizes the importance of a mother's love for one's daughter. Throughout the story, she is desperate to receive her daughters approval, and wishes to do all in her power to try and attain some sort of approval from her. Her life begins to revolve around her correspondence with her estranged daughter, however, she never manages to see how important it is for her admit her love for her daughter. It is upon the reading of her stewardess, Pepitta, that the Marquesa finally realizes the importance of embracing love instead of approval (Wilder, San Luis Rey, 38-39). The letter prompts her to write a new letter to her daughter finally admitting her love for her, asking from her daughter the permission to "Let me live now… let me being anew" (42). However, due to the unforeseeable circumstance of the bridge's collapse, the Marquesa is unable to act on her new feelings. It is this idea that the realization of love for life comes too late that Wilder seems to constantly bring up in this story. As seen here, the Marquesa realizes the importance of love, but it is too late for her to act on it, similar to how Brother Juniper has the importance of love revealed to him, but can never act upon it. Though Juniper never quite makes the connection, he is presented will all the information that would allow one to see the importance of love in ones life. When Brother Juniper wishes to publish his research, though, he is locked up and burned at the stake before he can relate his findings to those around him. The most important thing that Brother Juniper could have ever done was to realize the good in all people much like how the Marquesa realized the importance of love for ones family, however, in both cases, it was too late.
In the case of the character of Uncle Pio, the reader is shown a variant version of a parent child relationship through the actions of Uncle Pio and the child he watches over, Camilla. As the reader watches their relationship grow over the years, the two never truly express there devotion for one another (in the non-romantic sense) and by the time that Uncle Pio finally does decide to express his admiration for his absentee daughter, it is too late and too much space has grown between the two. It is not always an action which drives people apart, but more often, it is a lack of action, as Thornton shows. The idea that a lack of action can be equally as detrimental as performing an action is shown through Pio never truly showing his love towards Camilla, as well as in the way that Brother Juniper burns several of his findings from his research. Instead of publishing all his findings and giving a universal message to the world, his act of destruction works it so that he is actually depriving the world of something by not acting. This lack of action for feelings and convictions foreshadows the way in which Brother Juniper finds himself at the end of the book.
Unlike Pio, though, Juniper is complacent to his fate and unwilling to put in the effort to change himself, he simply allows himself to be burned for the greater good. In failing to learn the importance of acting on ones beliefs (in the case of Juniper, protesting to his burning and supporting his findings) he ends up being killed, or to make a metaphor, the fire is representative of how people who fail to act on their feelings end up suffering pain, and getting burned. It is this emotional state of death that people allow themselves to experience that is symbolically represented by Brother Juniper's death.
Another topic which is touched upon by Wilder through several of his characters is the importance of directing ones devotion towards the best possible end. Several of the characters place devotion into things which are for the most part righteous causes, however, in the process, they find that their devotion has deterred them from some of the more important aspects of their own lives. A prime example of this would be the case of Madre Mia del Pilar. The Abbess (Madre Mia) spends her entire life doing what is best for the church and for those around her. As well, she attempts to continue her legacy by pushing her teaching on too Pepitta (31-32). However, it is through this devotion for the greater good of all people that Abbess ends up missing out on the love that Pepitta feels for her, as well as the importance of the love that she feels toward Esteban and Manuel. By putting too much focus on ones work or a specific cause, one ends up losing out on several of the important events of their own life, as is seen through the character of the Abbess.
Similarly, Pepitta's devotion to her job stops her from being able to show her feelings towards the abbess. While working for the Marquesa, she practices and almost blind obedience to the Marquesa's needs, and in return, ends up repressing her wants, needs, and feelings. These sentiments are represented in the letter which she had planned to send to the abbess which stated " I want to do only what you want, but if you could let me come back for a few days to the convent, but not if you do not wish it" (39). To further the ideas that are presented in the letter, Pepitta resolves in the end to not send the letter, not wanting to burden the abbess. All of these lead to the depressed state in which Pepitta lives and once again shows that devotion to ones work, or a great cause, leads one to suppress there own happiness.
Yet another prime example of a person thinking that the end justifies the means is Uncle Pio. Uncle Pio's three joy's in life of "passion for overseeing the life of others, (his) worship of beautiful women, and his admiration for the treasures of Spanish literature." (82) lead to his taking control of the multi-talented Camilla. Through the character of Camilla, he is able to bring these three things together and attempt to give a gift to all mankind, the perfect representation of Spanish literature on stage. However, in his grooming of Camilla, Uncle Pio misses out on any chance of love that might occur between the two. It is not until he has nearly achieved his vision that he finally manages to step back from himself and question whether it was all worth it… whether or not the amazing theatrical productions were worth the love he sacrificed. Through his wanting to take the son of Camilla on a journey (p 105-106) that we discover he realizes he placed his devotion in the wrong area and wishes to make amends.
Similarly, Brother Juniper is found to put all his efforts into trying to explain the occurrence of the bridges collapse and fails at any attempt to try and come to his own conclusion on the situation. Unlike the other characters, however, Brother Juniper is not used as an example of a person devoting all their time to a cause and missing out on love, but more so, as a warning. By neglecting his own ideas and findings and not noticing the people around him whose lives he has effected during his research, he is forced to face the metaphorical death that Wilder seems to believe all people who devote themselves too whole heartedly to a cause experience. By shutting off his feelings and working on blind faith alone, Brother Juniper dies all alone although people are willing to show him love and compassion, as noted when he looks out on the crowd at his burning. Though Juniper is "much loved" (116), he fails to recognize this love from "the delegation from the village of Puerto and Nina" (116). It is this failure to recognize the love around him that is what truly has killed Juniper.
Unlike several other cases in the story, the death of brother Juniper suggests that it is impossible for a person to change once they've set themselves on a certain course. Through his research and strict devotion to God, his demise eludes to the idea that there is a sense of fate being acted upon him, and that by failing to acknowledge the truth (that all people are equally deserving of life and the importance of love) he is doomed. This works in strict contrast to the change of heart in all the main characters of the story (Esteban, Uncle Pio, the Marquesa) as well as the supporting cast (the abyss, Camilla, Dona Clara) who all eventually realize the importance of love in their life and attempt to change because of it. When Brother Juniper decides to not embrace the love around him, he not only causes his own death, but he ends up alienating himself from God as well when in his final moments "Not daring to call upon a greater name… he called twice upon St. Francis." (116). This best exemplifies the idea that by not embracing the love of the world, a person ends up losing everything they hold dear.
The death of Brother Juniper keeps with the tone of The Bridge of San Luis Rey in both its physical and metaphorical representation. His death is reflective of the events which led to the demise of all the other characters of the story, accept in the fact that he does not wish to accept the truth he is presented with, and in the end, this ends up killing him, something in sharp contrast to the idea that one must live their life to the fullest because they can not know when death will take them. Through the actions of those who die on the bridge (with the possible exception of Jaime), the reader is shown how that one must live their life to the fullest embracing love because they never know when it will be too late. In the case of Brother Juniper, however, he is used to show that those who do not wish to embrace life and love are in fact killing themselves and have already consented to their own lonely demise, as exemplified by the final prayer to St. Francis instead of God.
By this point, Thornton Wilder has shown through metaphorical and fictional examples the notion that love is the most important aspect of human life. Whether it be the case of the Marquesa and the giving up of oneself for another through acts of devotion, or to try and make amends of wounds of the past as was the case of Uncle Pio, love is the one true thing in this world that all people must rely upon. Given this idea, it is questionable why Thornton would choose to kill off the character of Brother Juniper instead of have him attempt to make himself a better person by living the ideals which he has studied. Perhaps Wilder wished to show that though it is not impossible for all people to embrace love and a knowledge thereof, people sometimes choose to ignore it, not aware of the livelihood they lose in the process. In this way, the death of Brother Juniper becomes even more essential for the lesson that it teaches. With his death, Wilder is able to show the three important lessons of love that most people in the world fail to see. People must embrace love, putting no less emphasis on it then anything else in ones life. Secondly, it is never too late to embrace love. Through the acts of redemption that the characters take, Wilder shows how no matter what may occur between people during their lives, the bond of love can never truly be broken, and all attempts should be make to mend any damage done to it. Finally, to those who would ignore the lessons of life and love, there is no hope, though they may not be aware of it, they are living the life of the living dead. As such, the life and love of those who fell from the bridge of San Luis Rey shows the validation and meaning of their lives, while the death of Brother Juniper makes their lives and love seem all the more important.
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