V.V. (15) The "Bad" Priest

[Samuel Moyer]

> From: JBFRAME at aol.com

>
> I'm not certain that the Bad Priest actually "advises" Elena to abort,
> though I might have forgotten this. She certainly makes Elena feel the
> weight of her sin, as if her pregnancy out of wedlock is a disease
(313-4),
> and so there could be a type of psychological suggestion going on. But is
> there anything more definite re. an abortion?
>

Yes... still it is Fausto's Apologia...but he wrote in his journal,
"...until finally she cried, 'Oh the child.  I should have done what he told
me...' ... The Bad Priest told me not to have the child..." (341).

If we take his word for it, Elena had decided that night to have an
abortion, but she met, by accident, Father Avalanche.

Does anyone have doubts about the narrative of Fausto?  He seems to rely
heavily on his perceptions based on different versions of his own person...
then trying to retrace events through a diary where "The argument isn't
recorded in any detail." (341)  The fragment I quoted above was remembered
in the diary... maybe because it was a moment of intense emotion?  So did
she say what she thought he wanted to hear?  Did he hear what he wanted to
hear?

Sam