Summary

In a radical departure from earlier fictions, Moore situated this novel in the Quebec province
of Canada in 1635, yet the novel features another portrait of a character struggling with a
lonely passion. The novel centers on Father Laforgue, a young French Jesuit, who approaches
missionary work among the Savages (the European name for the native inhabitants) of
North America with overwhelming zeal.
As in the case of each of Moores historical novels, Laforgue is modeled after an actual
figure, Father Noel Chabanel, though Laforgue becomes a vehicle for Moore to explore longstanding themes and concerns. Perhaps the most crucial of these is the theme of faith. In
Laforgue, Moore paints a portrait of man whose life, his very being, is informed by a deep,
ravishing faith in something beyond himself. In many of his novels, Moore examined the loss
of faith, the sense of vacuousness that comes without any sense of deep and abiding belief.
Laforgue is, in fact, so dedicated and convinced of his beliefs that he longs for martyrdom
and the opportunity for self-sacrifice. Thus, the location of action in the seventeenth century
allows for a revealing counterpoint to the contemporary period in which lives are largely
lived without any larger system of belief.
This is not to suggest, however, that Moores dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church has
suddenly vanished. Father Laforgue is so convinced of his spiritual rectitude that he stands in
judgment of other Europeans in the New World and of the Savages. Intolerance and bigotry
are firmly in place, as colonizersin this case religious imperialistsattempt to impose their
views on a people they blithely regard as inferior. Laforgue regards the Savages as barbaric,
and in converting them, he will bring them into the light of Christianity and enlightenment.
The novel, however, is constructed to challenge these convenient stereotypes without
valorizing one culture or system of belief over the other.
Thus the Savages regard the Jesuits with suspicion and their own sense of superiority. Each
culture, as seen in the eyes of the other, is full of superstition and sorcery, yet each is based on
a dedication to the supernatural and some form of afterlife. The novels most compelling
transformation is Laforgues movement from spiritual complacency to a deep sense of
questioning not only the Savages but also his own comfortable assumptions about people and
his religion.
By the novels conclusion, Laforgues assurance gives way to acceptance of difference.
Where initially he seeks to baptize and save one soul after another, he yields to a ceremony of
mass baptism. In the midst of ritual, he arrives at genuine, individual prayer, asking God to
spare the Savages and questioning if God indeed loves humans. Salvation becomes
Laforgues, but not through traditional and accepted means.

Black Robe Summary (Critical Guide to British Fiction)

print Print

document PDF

list Cite

link Link

Brian Moores Black Robe is a historical novel that focuses not only on the Jesuits of the title
but also on the Indians that they attempted to convert in the North America of the seventeenth
century. Moore emphasizes the conflicts between these two very different cultures. As he
states in the Authors Note: This novel is an attempt to show that each of these beliefs
inspired in the other fear, hostility, and despair, which later would result in the destruction
and abandonment of the Jesuit missions, and the conquest of the Huron people by the
Iroquois, their deadliest enemy. The novel, however, begins with the arrangements for
Father Laforgue to set out on an arduous and dangerous journey to a remote Huron village to
provide relief or aid to the sick or dead Jesuits there. Father Laforgue is inexperienced but
eager to prove himself; he even looks forward to martyrdom on the journey. There is no doubt
about his courage or his dedication; he is completely out of his element in the world of the
Algonkin and Huron, however, and this dislocation challenges his most fervent beliefs and
attitudes.
The picture the reader receives of the Savages on this journey is compelling. In contrast to
the Jesuits, they are perfectly adapted to their environment. They see the land as alive, are
guided by dreams, and live a communal life in which everything is shared. They despise the
French, who hoard their goods rather than share them and have no respect for the land. The
Indians also have a rich and bawdy language that contrasts sharply with the abstractions of
the Jesuits. Father Laforgue is repelled by the Indian way of life, but his helper, Daniel
Davost, is attracted to it and to a young Indian girl, Annuka. This attraction creates the first
conflict of the novel. Laforgue sees him with the girl and fears for his soul, while the
Algonkin believe that Daniel can never really be one of their group. Daniel must make a
choice when the Algonkin decide to abandon Father Laforgue at the rapids, and he chooses
the Algonkin over the Jesuits; this, however, complicates the problem the Algonkin have. If
Daniel joins them, word will get out that they have abandoned the Jesuit. Thus, Chomina,
their elder, argues for a compromise; he, his family, and Daniel will guide Laforgue to the
village.
When Chomina and his small group return to Father Laforgue, they are all captured by the
Iroquois. The Iroquois keep them alive in order to torture them and make them cry out. The
two Frenchmen cry out early, but the Indians refuse, since to do so would mean that their
enemies control their souls. They do manage to escape when Annuka clubs their guard, and
they continue on their journey to the village. There is, however, a conflict when the dying
Chomina refuses to be baptized by Father Laforgue. His reasons are worth noting: He asks
Laforgue if there will be any members of his tribe in the Christian paradise, and when he
finds out that there will not, he refuses. It would not be a paradise to him if he were to be
separated from his people.
When Father Laforgue reaches the end of his journey, he finds one dead Jesuit, another
suffering from a stroke, and a large percentage of the Indians sick from fever. Some of the
Indians believe that the Black Robes have brought on the disease, while others fear their
power as demons or witches. They are about to kill the Jesuits when an eclipse occurs. This
convinces them of the power of the Black Robes god, and they ask to be baptized. Father
Laforgue, however, believes that it would be a mockery unless preceded by some instruction
in the faith. Father Jerome, the missionary whom Laforgue has met at the village, is, in

contrast, interested in the number of Savages converted, and he repeats the common
accusation against the Jesuits as his defense: The means are fair, if the ends are good.
The Jesuits also insist that the Indians must give up their old ways after they are baptized:
One wife, no human flesh, no curing rituals, the dream, all of it. The Indians are very
reluctant to do so, and one elder suggests accepting baptism and going on with the old ways,
but another makes it clear that the vow binds them. It is the beginning of the end for their way
of life. After Father Jerome dies, Father Laforgue must confront his dilemma more directly. It
is obvious that he is not the same man who set out on his journey; he now questions the
purpose of the mission and his own faith in the Church and its teachings. He asks why the
noble Chomina should be cast into the outer darkness while the sophistic Father Jerome
becomes a saint and martyr. He knows that the baptisms are a mockery of everything in
which he believed; they make his earlier ideals look ridiculous. In this moment of spiritual
and personal crisis, one of the Indians confronts him.
Do you love us?Yes.Then baptize us.
He does baptize them, but he now has a prayer for their physical salvation rather than their
spiritual salvation on his lips. Spare them. Spare them, O Lord. He asks himself the
question that the Indian had posed, Do you love us? and responds with the same answer:
Yes. He has moved from attempting to change and convert the Indians to a desire to
preserve them, and from bringing Gods divine love to them to giving his very human love.
Themes

The major theme of the novel is the contrast and conflict of the otherworldly and abstract
culture of the Black Robes to the earthbound and immediate world of the Indians. One can
see the differences in the attitude of Father Laforgue to martyrdom and the emphasis given to
the Christian afterlife of paradise with Chominas description of his world: Look around
you. The sun, the forest, the animals. This is all we have.... The world is a cruel place but it is
the sunlight. And I grieve now, for I am leaving it. The gulf is absolute. One view speaks of
the joys of the afterlife while the other celebrates this world in all of its sensory detail.
The second theme is a historical one. There are many references to the extinction or
subjugation of the Indians, so their fate takes on an aura of inevitability. In addition, the
curious method of colonization of Canada by the French is contrasted with that of the British
and Dutch. It is as if the future of Canada is being enacted for the reader, and the Indians and
the French are doomed to play the role of minorities in the country they once shared.
Characters

Summary

Themes

Characters

Critical Essays

Analysis

Black Robe Characters

Characters Discussed (Great Characters in Literature)

print Print

document PDF

list Cite

link Link

Father Paul Laforgue

Father Paul Laforgue, a Jesuit priest and missionary to the Huron Indians. A slight, pale, thinbearded intellectual, born and educated in France, he dreams of the glory of martyrdom in the
wilderness. Fired by religious fervor, he learns the Algonkian and Huron languages and
prepares meticulously for work among the Savages. Confronted with the realities of life
among the Indians, he accepts his own misery and physical suffering with courage; he is
forgiving of the sins of others but is haunted by guilt for his own human weaknesses. Initially
secure in the correctness of his culture and religion, he comes to respect many of the Indian
ways and to question his religious certitudes. A man of conscience, he refuses to acquiesce in
the religious sophistry of Father Jerome and baptize Indians before they understand and
accept the faith. Because his own faith is not absolute, he comes to see himself as unworthy
of martyrdom. In the midst of his crisis of faith and unsure of Gods will, he dedicates
himself to his work in hope of achieving Gods favor and out of compassion for the Indians
as fellow human beings.
Daniel Davost
Daniel Davost, who accompanies Father Laforgue on his journey to Ihonatiria. Not yet
twenty years old, he has been in New France for one year after having promised to serve God
for two years in a distant land. Intelligent and adaptable, with a talent for languages, he is
thought of highly by the priests. He wants to go with Laforgue not out of religious devotion,
as he claims, but to continue the sexual relationship he has secretly begun with the Algonkin

girl Annuka. Suffering feelings of guilt and convinced of his own damnation, he is critical of
doctrinaire Christianity and is gradually drawn to the Indian way of life. He deserts Laforgue
to follow Annuka and asks to marry the girl, declaring the Indians to be his people. He returns
with Chomina and his family to help Laforgue, but all are captured by the Iroquois. After
their escape, Laforgue agrees to marry Daniel and Annuka. When the couple finally join the
priest at Ihonatiria, Daniel is dressed and painted like the Algonkin he wishes to become.
Annuka
Annuka, a beautiful Algonkin girl who is in love with Daniel Davost. Formerly promiscuous,
she promises to be faithful to Daniel and wants to marry him, despite her fathers objections.
After her fathers death, she goes with Daniel to live among the Hurons at Ihonatiria.
Chomina
Chomina, an Algonkin elder and Annukas father. He acts as a moral conscience for his
people and fears that they are becoming greedy and materialistic like the French. Keeping the
promise he made to help Laforgue on his journey, he is captured by the Iroquois, who kill his
wife and son, torture him and his daughter, and inflict wounds that later prove fatal. He acts
with bravery and explains rather than condemns the brutality of his enemies. The principal
spokesman for Indian beliefs and attitudes toward life, he engages Laforgue in philosophic
debate, rejecting baptism and the Christian belief in a better life after death.
Father Fernand Jerome
Father Fernand Jerome, one of the Jesuit founders of the mission at Ihonatiria and the man
Laforgue is sent to help. At the age of forty-four, he has suffered a series of strokes and has
difficulty moving his tall, bulky frame. He has a heavy gray beard and a pale, half-paralyzed
face with one eye enlarged and discolored. His assistant, Father Duval, has been murdered by
the Indians, and Jerome is drifting in and out of consciousness when Laforgue arrives. With a
final burst of what Laforgue sees as misplaced religious zeal, Jerome uses the Indians
superstitions and fears to convince them that they should be baptized. Before he can reap his
harvest of souls, however, he is murdered by a terrified Indian who blames the
Blackrobes for the fever that is decimating the Hurons.
Neehatin
Neehatin, a powerful and duplicitous Algonkin leader who secretly consults his wife on
decisions and stubbornly pursues an explanation for his dreams.
Characters (Critical British Study Guide)
Father Laforgue changes much from the beginning to the end of the novel. In the beginning,
he does not see the Indians as human beings; they are merely objects or obstacles to the
fulfillment of his fate as a martyr. His physical journey, however, is a journey of
understanding, and he begins to perceive their reality and their attractiveness. He has to agree
with Daniel that the Savages are better Christians than the French since they not only share

everything they have with others but also forgive offenses against them that the French never
would. After escaping from the Iroquois, he discovers that he has lost his breviary and cannot
say his daily office. The reader thus sees him move symbolically away from the Jesuits and
closer to the Indians. It is also at this time that he begins to question the extent and power of
Gods mercy to the Savages. By the time he enters the village of Father Jerome, he knows
that he is unworthy to be a martyr and his feelings toward the Indians have changed from
hate to love.
Daniel Davost begins the novel not with assurance but conflict and doubt. The immediacy of
his sexual experience with Annuka and the freedom of the Indian life lead him to reject his
earlier training; he spits in the face of Jesus and defends the ways of the Indians. His
moment of choice comes when he must either follow Father Laforgue or join the Algonkin;
his choice of the Indians makes his allegiance clear, and by the time the novel ends, Annuka
declares, you have killed the Norman in you. He has become an Algonkin.
Chomina is not the chief of the Algonkin, but he is singled out from the others by his clearsightedness. For example, he is the only one who sees that the trade with the French will
inevitably work against the Indians interests. He believes that in that trade, the Indians have
become greedy like the French, and it will be their undoing and their ending. He is
similar to the other Indian elders in his belief in dreams, his love of his family and his tribe,
and his close contact with nature.
-

Critical Context

Brian Moore is the author of more than a dozen novels, but none, perhaps, has had as
favorable a reception as Black Robe. For example, James Carrol in The New York Times
Book Review called it an extraordinary novel with an almost mythic purity. Grace
Ingoldby in the New Statesman spoke of it as being remarkable with an utterly
compelling story. Even the Jesuit magazine America gave the book a highly favorable
review. The one exception to this chorus of praise is the review of M. T. Kelley in Books
in Canada. Kelley found no sense of wonder in the book and thought that the
compelling mythic material was diminished rather than exalted. Carrols remark that
each culture is seen whole, with intelligence and sympathy is more representative of
the reception of Black Robe.
-

Analysis

Black Robe (Critical Survey of Contemporary Fiction)

BLACK ROBE was inspired by actual accounts of Jesuit priests working among the North
American Indians in the 1600s. The storys central figure is Father Laforgue, who is chosen
to replace an ailing priest heading a mission in a remote Indian village. Laforgue sets forth on
a river journey in the company of an Algonkin tribe traveling to its winter hunting grounds.
His assistant, Daniel, is young French boy who has volunteered to accompany the priest in
order to remain near Annuka, the Indian girl he secretly loves. Unbeknown to Laforgue,
Daniel plans to leave the priest and remain among the Indians when the two part company. As

a dismayed Laforgue sees his young change rapidly adopting the customs of the Algonkin,
his own safety is threatened when the tribal chief dreams that the priests presence is a danger
to his people.
Although Laforgue and his journey provide the central thread for the novels narrative
structure, Moore balances its point of view between the Jesuits, who refer to the Indians as
the Savages, a term that accurately describes the French view of tribal life, and the
Algonkin themselves, who regard the Jesuits, or Black-robes, as unnatural witches,
ignorant of the powerful spirits which the Indians see at work in the natural world. This
shifting perspective extends to the characters themselves, permitting glimpses into the
thoughts and feelings of several of the novels major figures as well as insights into their
perceptions of one another.
If the book is, on its surface, the story of a physical trek--one that will encompass
deprivation, torture, courage, betrayal, and death before its close--it is also a spiritual journey
as well. Several of Moores earlier books, including CATHOLICS and COLD HEAVEN,
have taken Catholicism as a central theme, and in Father Laforgue the author presents a man
whose faith is shaken by his experiences in a society radically different from his own.
BLACK ROBE combines cultural and historical observations, carefully drawn characters,
and an absorbing story line in a challenging examination of the introduction of Christianity to
the New World.

Summary

Themes

Characters

Critical Essays

Analysis

Black Robe Analysis

Black Robe (Critical Survey of Contemporary Fiction)

print Print

document PDF

list Cite

link Link

BLACK ROBE was inspired by actual accounts of Jesuit priests working among the North
American Indians in the 1600s. The storys central figure is Father Laforgue, who is chosen
to replace an ailing priest heading a mission in a remote Indian village. Laforgue sets forth on
a river journey in the company of an Algonkin tribe traveling to its winter hunting grounds.
His assistant, Daniel, is young French boy who has volunteered to accompany the priest in
order to remain near Annuka, the Indian girl he secretly loves. Unbeknown to Laforgue,
Daniel plans to leave the priest and remain among the Indians when the two part company. As
a dismayed Laforgue sees his young change rapidly adopting the customs of the Algonkin,
his own safety is threatened when the tribal chief dreams that the priests presence is a danger
to his people.
Although Laforgue and his journey provide the central thread for the novels narrative
structure, Moore balances its point of view between the Jesuits, who refer to the Indians as
the Savages, a term that accurately describes the French view of tribal life, and the
Algonkin themselves, who regard the Jesuits, or Black-robes, as unnatural witches,
ignorant of the powerful spirits which the Indians see at work in the natural world. This
shifting perspective extends to the characters themselves, permitting glimpses into the
thoughts and feelings of several of the novels major figures as well as insights into their
perceptions of one another.
If the book is, on its surface, the story of a physical trek--one that will encompass
deprivation, torture, courage, betrayal, and death before its close--it is also a spiritual journey
as well. Several of Moores earlier books, including CATHOLICS and COLD HEAVEN,
have taken Catholicism as a central theme, and in Father Laforgue the author presents a man
whose faith is shaken by his experiences in a society radically different from his own.
BLACK ROBE combines cultural and historical observations, carefully drawn characters,
and an absorbing story line in a challenging examination of the introduction of Christianity to
the New World.
Black Robe (Literary Masterpieces, Volume 10)
Frequently in his career as a novelist, Brian Moore has taken Catholicism and the demands of
religious faith as a central theme. In Black Robe, he gives this theme a historical background,
setting his story in the seventeenth century Canadian wilderness as he explores the attempts
of the French Jesuits to convert the North American Indians to Christianity. The story is also
of two parallel journeysone physical and one spiritualundertaken by a priest who has
come to the New World seeking martyrdom through his service to God. As Moores story
progresses, the clash between the priest and the Indians he hopes to convert becomes a

microcosm of the larger conflict between the European and Indian cultures that marked the
white mans arrival in North America.
Moores objective throughout the novel is to present each society in its own words, and he
accomplishes this through the use of multiple points of view. Although the narrative remains
in the third person, the viewpoint from which the action is perceived shifts from scene to
scene. In the first chapter alone, Moore incorporates four points of view, including that of the
famed French explorer, Samuel de Champlain, who heads the Quebec settlement. Later
chapters are told from the viewpoint of several of the Indians, thus presenting their own
interpretations of the Jesuits actions and their tribal beliefs in spirits of the natural world.
This device allows Moore to balance his portrayals of the two cultures, as well as revealing
the thoughts and feelings of several of the novels primary and secondary characters.
Although the story offers multiple points of view, the principal figure in Moores tale is
Father Paul Laforgue, a French Jesuit who is chosen to travel to the remote Huron village of
Ihonatiria, where one of the two resident priests is rumored to be ill or dead. For Laforgue,
the assignment offers the possibility of martyrdom, or even sainthood, at the hands of the
people the French call the Savages, and he embraces the journeys dangers with a mixture of
fear and joy. Yet, his feeling for his Algonkin companions and guides on the trip is initially
one of revulsion. The vulgarity of their language, their easy, open sexuality, and their
seemingly barbaric habits all horrify the ascetic Laforgue, particularly when he sees the
French fur trappers in the colony adopting the Savages dress and customs.
Laforgue sets out on his journey firm in his devotion to God and unrelenting in his view of
the Savages (Moores terminologyborrowed from the Frenchthroughout the book) as
little more than potential souls to be saved. He will finish it, however, a profoundly changed
man, his faith shaken to its foundations by his growing understanding of his companions. As
the tribesmen become not simply the Savages but individuals in the priests mind, he finds
himself doubting basic teachings of the Church that he had hitherto accepted as inviolable.
This crisis of faith is precipitated by the events of the journey itself, a canoe trip upriver from
Quebec to the shores of Lake Huron, which will encompass illness, hunger, betrayal,
abandonment, and terrible torture at the hands of a tribe of Iroquois before its conclusion. For
Laforgue, the trek becomes a personal temptation in the wilderness, but unlike Christ, he
finds that his faith cannot sustain him.
Accompanying the priest on his missionand counterpointing his experiences among the
Savagesis Daniel Davost, a young French boy who, unbeknown to Laforgue, has fallen in
love with Annuka, an Algonkin girl, and plans to remain with the tribe rather than continue on
with the priest. As the arduous trip upriver commences, Laforgue attempts to accustom
himself to the Savages habits, but it is experience, rather than an act of will, which brings
about his gradual understanding. Initially sickened by the greasy, half-cooked meat that
constitutes the tribes evening meal, he finds, to his surprise, that this same meal tastes
delicious after several days of cornmeal and unsuccessful hunting. Gone, too, after several
days is his disgust at the smell and heat of the sleeping bodies in the shelter at night. Ill with a
fever and unable to concentrate on his prayers, he discovers that he now longs for the
moment when he can lie down among his companions and sleep. Even the Savages open
sexuality begins to affect him when he stumbles upon Daniel and Annuka making love and

finds himself, to his shame and horror, aroused by the sight of the naked girl. Although he
fights this last revelation with scourging and prayer, it increases his understanding of the
boys attraction to Annuka.
Unlike Laforgue, Daniel adapts easily to the Algonkin way of life, happily eating from the
communal cooking pot and sleeping in the communal shelter while Laforgue struggles
against his revulsion. Yet, the irony in Daniels willing embrace of the Savages life-style lies
in their refusal to accept him as a worthy member of their tribe, for just as the Europeans
regard the Indians as primitive savages, so the Indians themselves hold the French in
contempt, with Annukas father, Chomina, telling the girl that no white man can ever be a fit
husband for her.
The mutual suspicion with which the two groups regard each other across a gulf of cultural
differences so wide as to appear unbridgeable forms the crux of the books conflict. To the
Savages, the priestsor Blackrobes, as they term themare unnatural witches who abstain
from sex, cast spells while they pray, practice water sorcery (baptism), and live only for a life
in paradise after death, ignoring the pleasures and mysteries of the natural world. For the
Indians, sex and intermittent gluttony are among the few joys in a life of unremitting hardship
and frequent deprivation, and to forego these pleasures for the Jesuits promises of happiness
in a life hereafter seems to them an absurd proposition. The Savages themselves believe that
the spirits of the dead rise and walk at night, and they rely on interpretations of dreams to
guide their actions. The world around them is the source of their spirituality, and in return for
the respect with which they treat it, nature speaks to them clearly, offering advice. The
Blackrobes, they scoff, believe that true illumination comes only after death because they are
deaf and blind to the spirits of this world. For the Savages, the world of the dead is a world of
darkness. The Jesuits demand that they abandon these beliefs strikes at the heart of their
culture, and those among them who oppose the priests most strongly do so out of a fear that
the practice of Christianity will weaken the tribe by destroying its traditions.
Although the scope of the novel is limited to a depiction of the initial inroads of Christianity
into the Indian way of life, Moore set his story in the 1630s in the full knowledge that, as he
notes in his foreword, the Savages fears soon would prove true. During the 1640s, the
Huron tribe, already weakened by diseases contracted from the French and by internal strife
brought on by the introduction of Catholicism into its ancient culture, was conquered by its
traditional enemy, the Iroquois. This defeat is foreshadowed in two sections of the book, one
depicting life among the Iroquois and the otherthe novels brief Part IIdepicting the
Huron village of Ihonatiria, already decimated by disease and split into factions over the
demands of the resident Jesuits.
The harrowing scene among the Iroquois is preceded by the Algonkins abandonment
following a dream by their chiefof Laforgue and Daniel on the banks of the river. Daniel
leaves the priest and follows the tribe, determined to remain near Annuka; her father, who had
objected to the decision to desert the two Frenchmen, decides to return the boy personally to
the priest and guide them to the Huron village. Accompanied by Annuka, his wife, and their
young son, Chomina returns with Daniel to the riverbank and Laforgue, where all six are
immediately captured by the Iroquois. What follows is the books most horrifying scene, as
the prisoners are cruelly tortured by their captors according to tribal traditions. In an attempt

to break their spirits and thus steal their souls, the Iroquois caress their captives with
burning coals, pierce them with sharp sticks, saw off one of Laforgues fingers, and finally
kill Chominas son and eat him as his family watches. The nearly unbearable savagery of
these moments, however, serves a very specific purpose within the structure of the story. As
Chomina reminds his daughter, these are rites practiced to some degree by their own tribe,
and it is their very cruelty and horror that keeps each tribe feared by its enemies and
unwaveringly strong in its own defense.
By contrast, the state of the Huron village when Laforgue finally reaches his destination is
one of chaos. Many of the Indians are either dead or dying of a fever, and one of the Jesuits
has been murdered out of a belief that the sickness is a Blackrobe spell. The village leaders
are divided over whether to accept baptism on the chance that it will cure the fever, and
Laforgue finds the remaining priest, Father Jerome, near death after a series of strokes. The
gradual disintegration of the Hurons has clearly begun, and they are already no match for the
fierceness of the Iroquois. Asked by the Jesuits to give up their customs, and more important,
their belief in the power of dreams, the Hurons are weakened in solidarity as a tribe, just as
their way of life will be weakened by the introduction of a new religion that has no relevance
to the necessities of life in the wilderness. As one of the older warriors warns Father Jerome,
If we do these things and if we give up our belief in the dream, then the Huron life, the way
we have always known, will end for us. Told by the priest that acceptance of God will win
for them life in paradise, another Huron responds, Why do you not respect that we serve
different gods and that we cannot live as you do?
For Father Jerome, this question carries no repercussions, so strong is his faith in the doctrine
of the Church. Father Laforgue, however, is tormented by such questions, and the contrasting
attitudes of the Iroquois and Huron tribes also serve to trigger doubts in him that would
previously have been unthinkable. When he sees Chominas tremendous courage and strength
in the face of his suffering and realizes that the deaths of Annukas mother and brother and,
eventually, Chomina himself have all resulted from Chominas decision to honor the
agreement to guide the priest to the Huron village, he is devastated by the thought that God
has allowed them to suffer and then die without salvation, rewarding a life of tribulation with
an eternity in Hell. These thoughts plague the priest, and he finds that he can no longer pray,
the horror of the events he has witnessed cutting him adrift in a sea of moral uncertainty.
It is in this state of mind that Laforgue arrives in Ihonatiria, uncertain of his own faith yet
under instructions to convince the Huron people of the power of Christianity. In the ailing
Father Jerome, Laforgue sees the unwavering belief that he himself once possessed, and he
envies the old priest the purity of faith that will allow him to become a religious martyr when
he is subsequently murdered by one of the villagers. Yet, in Father Jeromes actions prior to
his death, Laforgue also finds new reasons for doubt. Earlier, Daniel had defied Laforgue,
telling the priest that his uncle had said that the Jesuits lie for the greater glory of God and
believe that the end justifies the means. In Father Jerome, he sees the uncles claim brought to
life as the older priest tells the Hurons that the fever is Gods punishment for rejecting Him,
and their baptism may secure His goodwill and save them. Although Laforgue feels uneasy at
the thought of baptizing the Savages without prior religious instructionwinning converts
through fear rather than faithhe defers to Father Jerome, who tells him, The means are
fair, if the end is good!

The novels conclusion finds Father Jerome dead and Laforgue wrestling with his conscience
regarding the baptism of the tribe. Unwilling to gain converts through trickery, he finds his
words of prayer empty and Gods voice in his heart silent. Only the dawning knowledge that
he has come to love the Savages seems real to him, and he begins a mass baptism almost by
rote, uncertain whether the ritual is Gods will or a hollow mockery of a sacred rite. The
prayer that comes to him as he worksthe first he has uttered sincerely in many days
reveals the new focus of the priest who only recently had hoped for martyrdom at the
Savages hands: Spare them. Spare them, O Lord.
The difficult route that Father Laforgue has traveled has taken him not only from Quebec to a
remote Huron village but also from a realm of cold religious fervor to a deep concern for the
Savages themselves as well as their immortal souls. Moore illustrates the priests anguished
evolution with a vivid portrait of two cultures locked in a conflict that will have longreaching repercussions. As both a compelling example of storytelling and an absorbing
exploration of one mans personal crisis of faith, Black Robe offers a thought-provoking look
at a crucial period in the European colonization of the New World.