38 pages • 1 hour read
Brian MooreBlack Robe
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1985A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Father Laforgue
Laforgue is the protagonist of the novel. During his journey from Québec to Ihonatiria, Laforgue begins to question his faith. His interactions with local people, as well as Daniel, lead him to question whether he is worthy of becoming the martyr he had always hoped to become.
The audience is introduced to Laforgue in Québec. He appears to be a staunch Jesuit, if slightly withdrawn and introverted. Laforgue is given the task of traveling along a river, far away from the European settlements, to replace a priest who may have died in the distant town of Ihonatiria. As the consummate Jesuit, a man who has studied the Bible, the local languages, and what it means to be a missionary, this is Laforgue’s dream. From a young age, he has been funneled into the life of a martyr. His own mother conflates his existence with that of Joan of Arc, and she hopes that one day he will be a saint. Laforgue’s best chances of sainthood are to be found in preaching the gospel in dangerous lands. Laforgue has been searching for “the glorious end I once desired with all my heart and all my soul” (151).
The further Laforgue travels from “civilization,” the more he is forced to confront his relationship with God. He loses contact with the institutional support that the church provides, and he begins to see things that bring him to question his beliefs. Though he is not swayed by the locals’ belief systems and their sorcerers, he questions whether he and the Europeans are worthy missionaries to this land. He stops praying and begins to make moral compromises, such as lying to Daniel and Annuka.
In Ihonatiria, a sickness has wiped out most of the local people, who have killed one of the two priests in the village. Additionally, Father Jerome has suffered a stroke and does not have long left to live. Laforgue is presented with a choice: hurriedly baptize many of the Huron people (even though they have not been instructed in the Christian faith) in order to achieve his goal, or be true to what he believes and insist that they learn more first (which may result in him being killed). Laforgue’s crisis of faith means that he no longer believes himself to be worthy of baptizing the people or becoming a martyr. He admits that “God did not choose me to be a martyr […] I am unworthy of that fate” (151); his entire life’s purpose now seems hollow and unsatisfying. The ultimate irony of Laforgue is that he gets everything he ever wanted but, on achieving his goals, he finds that he has changed so much as to make his accomplishments unsatisfying.
Daniel Davost
If Laforgue is the consummate Jesuit, whose journey is fraught with self-doubt and questions of faith, then his young assistant Daniel seems to be the perfect modern European. Daniel is studious and dreams of being a Jesuit priest. He studies the Algonkin and the Huron, just like Laforgue, but does not depend solely on book learning. He goes to every length to understand and appreciate the culture, living among the people and trying to live exactly as they do. He mimics their behaviors and their culture, to the point where he begins to fall in love with Annuka, an Algonkin girl.
Just like Laforgue, Daniel finds himself beset by a piercing irony. Though he has tried everything possible to become exactly like the people with whom he is living, there is nothing that he can do to actually become a member of their society. For all his efforts to speak the language and mirror their affectations, Daniel is shot through with a European core that he does not even notice. When Annuka explains her people’s beliefs to him, for instance, he is mocking. Though he talks, acts, and even dresses like a member of the Algonkin people, he remains a Christian on a fundamental level. For all his efforts to ingratiate himself into the local culture, he is as much an outsider as Laforgue.
This tension manifests in the final chapters of the text. In order to enter the Huron village, Annuka dresses Daniel as one of her people. She paints his face, cuts his hair, and makes him wear certain clothes. Even to Laforgue, Daniel appears to be a member of the Algonkin, but these are only aesthetic changes. In the closing pages of the novel, as Laforgue desperately begins to baptize the Huron people, he calls out to Daniel. Despite appearances, Daniel has no hesitation about stepping to his friend’s side. He assists in the ceremony, relying on muscle memory and cultural familiarity to help baptize the sick Huron people. In that moment, Daniel reveals why he will never truly be able to escape his past. He does not necessarily still believe in God, but he believes in Laforgue. In this moment, he is compelled to help his friend and fellow Christian. Without thinking, he abandons his new culture for his old one. Now, however, he is out of place in both. Daniel will forever remain caught between two cultural spheres; he will never be adopted by his new culture and never truly able to leave his old culture behind.
Neehatin
Neehatin is the leader of the Algonkin people and one of the most morally complex characters in the novel. He is the conduit through which the audience learns about many of the cultural practices of the Algonkin people. His forced laughter, for example, shows how the Algonkin diffuse anger or accusations while talking to one another. He is careful in what he says and knows how to balance the internal political struggles of his people, ensuring that all sides are heard and that a fair outcome is reached. Though he seems ready to betray Laforgue and Daniel at several points in the narrative, he retains the audience’s sympathies. By placing the survival of his people above all else, he shows himself to be a magnanimous and caring leader.
Neehatin’s motivations are complicated. At the beginning of the story, he seems motivated by material possessions. The items promised to him by the Commandant are not all that valuable—six muskets—but Neehatin accepts the dangerous mission anyway. However, the reason soon becomes clear. He does not only want the muskets for their usefulness, but because they will help his people learn how to shoot (and, thus, how to modernize). The guns become a symbol of Neehatin’s pragmatism. He is willing to accept the job in order to further the knowledge and the survival skills of his people, as well as to form bonds with powerful Europeans. As the audience learns, the price Neehatin accepts has a low material value but a high political one.
Despite this, however, Neehatin does seem willing to betray the protagonists of the novel. The further the Algonkin travel with Laforgue and Daniel, the less willing his is to continue. He is worried about putting his people in danger and places a great deal of importance in his dreams. In order to evaluate these dreams, he consults with his wife and a sorcerer, as well as his council. In doing so, Neehatin reveals that he is not an authoritarian. He considers others’ viewpoints and offers his own interpretations. Thus, he shows that the betrayal is not for selfish or material reasons. Rather, it is about ensuring that the Algonkin are kept out of harm’s way. Neehatin’s actions are neither praiseworthy or contemptible. In a rapidly changing world, one fraught with danger, Neehatin’s pragmatism and his consideration for his people ensure that he remains one of the most complicated—though ultimately sympathetic—people in the novel.
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