wrote this paper a while back, while a wee college frosh. I didn’t consider myself a nihilist back then, I didn’t even have a very coherent idea of what a nihilist was, but this story has a nihilistic theme and I can sincerely say that this was the only story I truly enjoyed from my Spanish literature class. The nihilistic theme is an attempt to escape the horrors of nihilism through distraction and the calling to make sure others never come into contact with nihilism. Though this paper is pretty much only a book report, it still gives a bit of the nihilist perspective. I think this paper also marks my first break from the traditional five-paragraph essay, sweet memories. One more thing, since writing this paper I’ve also learned that Unamuno is quite an authority in the domain of existentialism. The Heretical Martyr Starting in the small Spanish town of Valverde de Lucerna, the story of one Don Emmanuel began to spread. He was tall, proud, strong in voice, with deep blue eyes, and had an odor of sancity that compelled the townspeople into respect and submission. The people had no need to deal with heretics in the town because no blasphemer could overcome the conviction of Don Emmanuel. Religious leaders came to persuade Don Emmanuel to fulfill his potential in larger cities, and with every rejection, the town felt more proud to have him than before. To the townspeople, he became as constant in the city as their beautiful lake and mountain. Seemingly becoming more holy everyday, Don Emmanuel soon became known as Saint Emmanuel, and eventually, he was known as Saint Emmanuel the good martyr. Throughout his generations of service to the town, only a couple of townsmen were fortunate (unfortunate?) enough to see his latent self. Here lied the depressing truth that it was not faith that motivated him, but rather an obsession to suicide. Nobody would have imagined that their Saint was suicidal; after all, he was always so cheerfully busy. With the church, he would save marriages, calm rebellious sons, reconcile disputing parties, console the weak in heart, and put peace into the minds of the dying. These activities are normal for a parish priest; the real work came afterwards. He spent his spare time chopping firewood, making sure his villagers were nicely clothed, acting as drummer boy for town dances, and making balls and toys for the children. Once, during a horrible snowstorm, he came across a young man who had been commanded by his father to find their stray calf. The Saint told the son to go home and warm himself while he sought the calf; the father met the Saint on the way back and was thoroughly ashamed of his behavior. Do these sound like the actions of a suicidal man? This is where the curious, restlessness of the young Angela Carballino comes into play. Angela's father had died when she was young, leaving her to see the Saint as a father figure. The only possessions Angela had of her fathers, was a pile of old books which he had left. She dreamily read these stories, and her curiosity was thus kindled. She was then sent to a Catholic school in Renada for a couple of years and proceeded to arrive back in Valverde de Lucerna with the fire blazing. She began having chats with the Saint and asked about the contradictions she had noticed within religion. He responded by saying that her questions where whispered to her by the devil and to ignore them. Another time, she noticed that the Saint would speak all day about the wonders of heaven, while not once mentioning hell. Upon inquiring, she realized that he did not even believe in hell! She became somewhat confused about what to think about this great Saint, neither the right time nor the right person were present in order for her to tell her secret. Angela had a brother named Lazarus who was living in America. He had been prosperous in the New World and was the person who paid for Angela's tuition in Renada, saying he didn't want her to become another ignorant villager. The time finally came when Lazarus came back to Valverde de Lucerna. He arrived intent on taking Angela and her mother to the more intellectual climate of Madrid, exclaiming that village life was stupefied, feudal, medieval, with a government of obscurantist theocracy. Angela and her mother declined to leave, saying they could not leave their lake, mountain, and especially Saint Emmanuel. Consequently, Lazarus began to resent the Saint's strangle-hold on the town. Lazarus began his warpath of propaganda against the Saint and his religion, but he soon found that reason was no match for faith in Valverde de Lucerna. The dichotomy between faith and reason was now symbolized in the Saint and in Lazarus. The town, of course, expected the war to be won by Emmanuel, and ended with the conversion of Lazarus; their hopes were later affirmed. The first battle was won on the field that turned out to be Lazarus's mother's deathbed. The Saint knew her last wish was to see her son converted, and when he persuaded Lazarus to pray for her mother after her death, her wish was fulfilled. Seeing his mother die in true peace forced Lazarus to deeply respect the Saint. They began taking longs walks together, and eventually Lazarus started coming to church to listen to the Saint. Soon after, the entire village rejoiced when the day of Lazarus's communion arrived. He was finally a part of the town again, but in the process he had learned the Saint's terrible secret. After the communion, Lazarus knew it was time to tell his sister what he knew. He told her that he had only taken the communion in order to make the town happy, and that the Saint had persuaded him to do this. As it turned out, the great Saint Emmanuel had about as little faith in religion as Lazarus did! Since the Saint had no faith in religion, he concluded that there was no meaning to life; that humans were born to merely to die: "The truth? The truth, Lazarus, is perhaps something so unbearable, so terrible, something so deadly, that simple people could not live with it!" So why did he become the parish priest of Valverde de Lucerna? The answer is that he wanted to make others happy, and not to see the emptiness that he had seen and to become obsessed with suicide as he was now. Looking back, Angela could finally put all the pieces together. She realized why the Saint had fled from idleness, why God would not let him go to a monastery, because he couldn't stand the thoughts that this would lead to. Once when some villagers were speaking about the nature of the death of a child, a woman commented that, "little angels belong in heaven." Emmanuel replied that this was blasphemy because a child dying was like a child committing suicide, and since his entire life was a fight against suicide, he didn't want any of the villagers to fight thoughts of suicide as well. Another time, a young male village actually did commit suicide. The father asked if the boy could still be buried in the consecrated grounds. The Saint replied that he could since the boy must have repented before his death; he must have felt a connection with the boy as well. The Saint felt that if he remained idle he would follow in the steps of the boy. The only time the Saint was ever in solitude was on his walks by the lake, which is very symbolic in this story. It was stated that there were two Valverde de Lucerna's in the lake, one at the bottom and the one reflected off it. The townspeople saw the reflected sky on the lake as their town, thanks to Emmanuel who didn't want anyone to see his town at the bottom of the lake. When Lazarus would go to the lake, he would look harder than tradition prescribed, and the drowned city was found. Consequently, he joined with the Saint on his mission not to let anyone else see the bottom. Since the lake was a symbol of emptiness for Saint Emmanuel, it also became a symbol of suicide for him. By the lake was a constant reminder, seen in the place where the Cistercian father and captain had flagellated himself to death. This symbol is also seen when Angela describes Lazarus's story of the faked communion as "drowning her into a lake of sorrow." Also, the suicidal Saint's own eyes are described as blue eyes like a deep lake. Saint Emmanuel is also described as the mountain, since he is holy and considered close to heaven. He feels he needs to keep this symbol alive because his people need to keep looking up instead of looking at reality. The Saint states, "snow dies on the lake, while it remains a hood on the mountain." (245) So his mission is clear, to keep his town happy and full of faith. He replies to Marx's claim that religion is the opium of the masses quite uniquely, saying that opium is good! It helps the people sleep and dream and forget about reality. He makes a similar claim about alcohol, wishing he could turn water into wine to make his people not so much intoxicated, but joyfully drunk all the time. His basic philosophy is that, "to be satisfied with life is of first importance." (220) He willfully died for his philosophy and is will thus forever be known as a martyr.