The Brothers K - Book Report/Review Example

 The Brothers K The Brothers K is a fiction book about one American family. The story is uniquely told by Kinkaid, the fourth of six children. Kinkaid is the narrator of the story but not necessarily the protagonist of the entire story. Interestingly, though he is just one of many characters in the story and not so concerned with main scenes deeply, his job is the most critical part. Duncan, the author of the book, reflects himself on Kinkaid, and then injects his own thoughts about controversial questions. He further legitimizes his own opinions by having them spoken by Kinkaid. Much of the questions posed in this book are centered upon religion. There both direct and indirect connotations to be drawn. For example, many conversations between characters are very often religious directly. However, the book is replete with heavy sarcasm towards religious ideology. There are several different characters that Duncan selects as interpreters of his view of religion. By getting to know the characters, we can see that indeed, Duncan himself faces some serious religious conflicts. Laura is the one who Duncan used at most times to portray his bitter perspective towards Christianity. In the book, she was given many direct moments to reveal her bitterness towards Christian faith. According to Duncan Laura’s faith was nothing more than a reckless belief in Christ. She had willingly forsaken her duty of care to her children, including but not limited to Kinkaid when they refused to attend the Church any longer. This part of the story is really Kinkaid telling the audience or the reader how he felt about his own mother abandoning him. Naming the child in the story Duncan is truthfully a thin shroud. Sadly, Laura’s conduct towards her children is the polar opposite of what Christianity expects of women. In fact, Laura ultimately drove her children away. Everett joined a hippie commune. Peter became a bit of a hermit leading a monks life. Laura is difficult to figure out. She is a bit of an enigma and she is rather sad. It was difficult for me to reconcile a Christian thinking woman with the monster who drove away her children. I questioned where her stubbornness came from, and what made her so behave in such a way. While she clearly understood the tenets of Christianity, she was absolutely terrible in practicing it. What she failed to recognize is that Christ wants us to believe in him and to share him with others most especially our children. Laura’s failure to practice her religion results in Duncan’s bitterness and irrational conclusions about it. Later in the story, Elder Joon, who was one of the group of advocates seeking to release Irwin out of the mental hospital questioned whether God really answers prayers. Additionally, when Kinkaid prayed for the fighting to stop between Laura and papa, I could not help but wonder if God could even hear that young boy’s pathetic voice? Not surprisingly, Duncan felt that the voice of Kinkaid (who is really Duncan) was ignored. Personally, I think salvation is the most important part of our belief in God. Without our belief in the future, there is no salvation. It is our salvation that keeps our life here on earth true and honest. It is our future in salvation, that answers our prayers here on earth. If there is no visible answer at all in daily life, people become dubious and begin to question the fundamentals of our faith. Indeed we question “Does God really exist?” Against that backdrop, we look at Kinkaid’s grandmother. She was mostly depicted as an old-stubborn-anthropologist. Despite the first view of her being pigheaded and possessing a nonflexible personality, she handed money to papa when he was desperate, and the scene of her death in the middle of the book was very sublime and lofty. As I saw, that was the real death that we had to care about, not an illusion of Christ. However, there was one character whom proved that atheism does not leave you better off in this world. Irwin was a totally counter to whom Duncan described to state abuse of religion even though he was truly Adventist like as others. I would say he got something that deserves to be called, “enlightenment.” The point is that he was not only faithful, but also was in the real doctrine that Christ advocated. For example, when he was forced into retirement form what could have been a fantastic and lucrative athletic career. Rather than place blame or play the part of the victim, he merely accepted his circumstances as God’s fate. Even when he was drafted for the Vietnam War, he imagined compatriots suffereing from daily pressure amongst flying bullets which might penetrate their heads while caring for his father and for sudden leaving of his child. Think about when he was distracted from mental hospital with no emotion, but he finally overcame his misery, and then adopted orphan who had nowhere to go. What an example of Christ he himself is! He had undergone several catastrophic miseries during his lifetime, but never complained about his life circumstances. What religion contributed to him was the legitimacy to be happy with present circumstances and satisfied with it. In a sense, I think Christ is very fortunate for being held in high esteem two thousand years after he died! People always have fear for the future to some extent. What they fear about is uncertainty which might harm them with no anticipation. No human being is perfect and free for uncertainty, because even science cannot match or deceive fate or God’s will. Therefore, when we pull truth amongst the uncertainty, we need something to lean on even though it is also unsolvable within the scientific method. That’s where religion should be placed on, I think. We might be living in a bitter world much the way Irwin in this book did. However, we are not allowed to use our religion to oppress others who have different faiths. I conclude this essay with saying, “God is God, but one who deals with God’s sake is human.” Read More