Journey to All
We have all had some type of journey in our life whether it’s a good, or a terrible one that
we wish that never happen. This journey however that I am referring to is not about me, but in
fact I am referring to multiple characters of a book that I grew very fond of start to finish. The
book is called Deep River by Shusaku Endo, and at first when I started to read it I just thought it
was going to be about back story about peoples live. That later they would all meet each other
later down in the sorry. To think my surprise when I realized it was more than that. I can
honestly say that this book was something that I found amazing from beginning to end. Through
reading the book there are three main ideas that I could pick up while reading. Each relating to
the characters of the story in every way. Those main ideas are as followed. The first would be
loneliness, next would be contact, and the final one would be transformation.
As I mention each main character had to experience at one point some type of loneliness.
Whether it was just for a moment, or most of their lives each one had experience it once. Let me
start with the character named Isobe, and how he had experience loneliness throughout the book.
Now Isobe he only started to feel lonely right after his wife died from a fatal cancer. From that
point on he was completely alone with no one to be by his side. As stated in Endo, “But it pained
him to have to return home and look at items his wife had used” (Page 21). As we see in this
quote Isobe is now realizing that he is alone. That his wife had left, and was never coming back.
From that day forward Isobe was at his worse days coming home to any empty house with no
one to greet him when he got there. He continued his days alone every day without his wife.
Now Isobe is just one character who felt alone. Another character who always felt alone his
whole life was named Ostu. Ostu was a Japanese person who followed the path of a Catholic,
and because of that he was always an outcast. Everyone just made fun of him, and picked on him
a lot because of the religion he chooses to follow. As stated by Endo, “We’re going to keep
pouring liquor down you until you promise us you’ll forsake him” (Page 41). Because of his
religion everyone at his school treated him different, and thought he was weird to believe in
something like that. Also because of this Ostu was always alone unable to make friends. Another
character who always felt alone a lot if not most of her life was named Mitsuko. Now even
though Mitsuko was considered popular back in college for the things she did. That never
changed the fact she always felt lonely no matter what she did. Then later she got married to her
husband assuming that would fill her loneliness in her life, but neither did that work for her.
Nothing could ever fill her life no matter what she tried. As mention by Endo, “A women in
whom the flames of love have been extinguished” (Page 57). Even this quote shows that Mitsuko
is even lonely in her heart. Not even any one can reach her there, and make her feel not so
