Silence Chapter Summary & Analysis | Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten Summary

Chapter Ten is composed of journal entries made by a Dutch clerk, Jonassen, working in the shipping yards of Nagasaki, Japan. The entries detail the coming and going of ships, as well as any suspect items found on board ships entering the port from Macao. Padre Rodrigues and Padre Sawano Chuan are noted to be present at examinations and trials of people found to be in possession of Christian artifacts.

The clerk continues to record the happenings at port but also notes that he is seeking more information on the two apostates: Rodrigues and Chuan, formerly Ferreira. On the fourth of January the fumie exercise is performed. A picture of the Virgin and Child is brought to each household so that each member can reaffirm their allegiance to Japanese doctrine by trampling the image.

Abruptly the story changes from the entries of the Dutch clerk to a third-person point-of-view. A...
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