French missionaries - Essay Example

Some people held the notion that the missionaries had a smooth time in their missions simply because they were Christians. On reading this article, they must have changed their thinking. Reading about the hardships faced by the missionaries, people agree that their work, though considered in good faith, must have taken them a lot of tolerance and determination. The narrator chooses to give the narration in two faces; one where their leader Father Paul advised them on how to behave with the Savages and the events that happened in Oumamis and Machkoutench in India.

In his astounding speech to the missionaries, Father Paul issued stern and stick rules to the yet to depart missionaries. Since human is to error, he made it clear that misconduct was intolerable. Their character was supposed to depict them as the astute Christians they were, by maintaining good morals and having a clear mission and vision. While some of them could be tempted to socialize, in his speech, he made it clear that were to stick to their mission. Not only was this advice a warning to them, but also a sign of the seriousness of the assignments they were to handle in India.

The mission to Oumamis and Machkoutench had a number of challenges, but yet very successful. In his narration, the narrator reveals the naivety these people had in their reasoning that missionaries could solve their issues. For instance, when the Savages met them, they gave them tobacco to smoke, as a sign of appreciation and their welcome. No sooner had they started smoking than one of them started addressing their issues, begging for mercy. Problems and real issues clobbered the Village, as this man reveals.

They were dying of hunger, their land produced no yields, and neither did the waters harbor any fish. In their appeal, they wanted the missionaries to reverse these misfortunes, and make their land yield, diseases stop taking away their children among other problems facing them. The narrator had to correct them that they were not indeed the true God, but servants on a mission to spread his gospel. Thus, he managed to convince them that missionaries would pray to the living God to reverse the situation.

The tone used in the narration gives the article a formal and serious appeal. Even as he narrates the incidence with the Savages, though sarcastically the villagers thought of them as God, he maintains that the serious narration of the story. Not at one point does he use casual and light wording, rather, he maintains the tone established as he gave Father Paul’s advice to them before their departure. Evidently, he proves of the difficulties they faced, right before their departure. Father Paul spared none of them, when issuing the code of conduct to them.

He warned them of making the savages wait for them, cautioned them of being ceremonious with the savages, they were to provide the savages with mirrors or a tinder box or both to light their smoking pipes, they were supposed not start something unless they were sure they would accomplish and eat anything provided to them by the savages. On their arrival at the Village, the Savages invited them, where they offered them tobacco to smoke. Immediately, they started confessing of their problems, leaving none.

Following the strict advice given by Father Paul, the narrator offered his services to the people in different capacities. After reading the article, it is hard to believe of the hardships the missionaries had to contend with in their