Good_Conscience

Practical Family and Ideal Religion The Good Conscience by Carlos Fuentes is about an upper class family in Guanajuato, Mexico, who had power and authorities over many workers. The head of the house whole is Jorge Balcárcel who is Jaime Ceballos’s uncle. Even though Jaime’s father, Rodolfo is the direct descendent of the Ceballos, he is not a leader because he is viewed as weak, confused, and indecisive. He is controlled totally by his sister, Asuncion and her husband, Balcárcel who also responsible for the family’s business. Jaime’s mother, Adelina who was from a lower class, is driven away by his aunt, Asunción. Asunción wants Jaime as her son due to the reason that she cannot get pregnant. After giving birth to Jaime, Adelina left and eventually ends up becoming a prostitute. Asunción, who cannot get a child from her impotent husband, clings on to Jaime and exercises a moral control over the boy using religious rituals and the church. Being raised by his aunt and uncle, Jaime is taught to be obedient and a good Christian. Through out the story, Jaime encounters events that change his views about his family, his religion, and the society as a whole. He realizes that his life is not as perfect as he thought it was. The protagonist, Jaime Ceballos, is its only heir and is torn between the practical reality of his family’s world and the idealism of his youth and religion. Growing up, Jaime always thinks that he has an ideal life, which his uncle has laid out for him. His aunt, Asunción, treats Jaime as the only family’s jewel. She always wanted him to “be small, may he never grow up” (Page 26) because she wants to protect him from the hurtful truth. Asunción does not want Jaime to learn about what she did to his mother. Later in the book, Jaime realizes the truth about his mother, Adelina. Asunción had planed to get rid of Adelina since the first time she set foot into the Ceballos family. The fact that Asunción cannot get pregnant contributes to her hatred towards Adelina. Adelina is also pregnant at the time so Asunción wants to keep her baby as her own. She gives Adelina money to help her deal with her family’s crisis so Adelina decides to leave once she gives birth. After Jaime finds out the truth, he begins to realize that maybe his family is not as perfect as he thinks it is. The truth also affects him mentally. The loving aunt that he once knew has now turns into this evil, mischievous person. His father, Rodolfo had already failed playing his roles as a father since Jaime was small. Jaime used to question himself that “Why is his uncle where his father should be' And to which of them should he be more obedient: to stern Uncle Balcárcel, or to fat and drowsy Papa Rodolfo'” (Page 27). This shows the readers that Jaime thinks of his father as a worthless man who does not contribute to their family’s business. As for his uncle, Balcárcel, he is cruel and selfish. He wants Jaime to follow what he set out for him. All Balcárcel cares about are fame and money. He manipulates Jaime into doing what he wants for himself. Since Jaime is respectful towards his uncle, he does not dare to question him. However, Jaime soon realizes that Balcárcel’s plan for him to go to law school is just for Balcárcel’s own benefit. All of these characters have affect Jaime as he transits from a boy to a man. He has finally sees what his family has think of him, “Asunción’s substitute son, the pretext for Balcárcel’s authority, Rodolfo’s link with the past, the child grew surrounded by love that has secret purposes and by standards that were Pharisaical” (Page 26). His ideal family that he knew is just putting on a show in front of him so will obey their authority. Religion also plays an important role in Jaime’s development as a character. At the beginning he follows the religious practice of the society. He is taught by his uncle, aunt, and the priest to be a dedicated Christian. He never misses church and always confesses his sins so he will be forgiven. Every night, he would say his prayers to God talking about his played out life. He would question about his life and the reason why it got this way. After he finds out the secrets that his family members have been hiding from him, he criticize them by saying that “they called themselves Catholics, they ought to behave as Christians; that they should either really practice Christianity or give up naming themselves followers of a faith to which they gave only lip-service'” (Page 89). This shows how he is hurt by what his family did to him. They are hypocrites and sinners. Jaime cannot handle the secrets so he takes it out on himself. Finally he changes his view about his religion. He learns that in the society, there is no pure being out there. Everyone is a sinner because they are selfish and greedy. Therefore Jaime must punish himself by whipping his back until it bleeds. Doing this disturbing act, he believes that he is using himself as a sacrifice to ask God for complete forgiveness for his family and him. The scars that are on his back act as a reminder of the pain that is caused by sinners. In a way, he resembles Jesus because Jesus sacrificed himself for the people's sins. Jaime even states that he “believe that I can imitate Him” (Page 113), meaning that Jesus possesses all the qualities of man or of a typical personal being. Jesus also has scars on his back and hands after being crucified. Therefore Jaime’s pain is insignificant comparing to Jesus. However, he is doing the complete opposite of his religion. According to the Christians’ beliefs and the bible, one must not harm another or thy self. Already doing this, he is going against what God would like him to do. According to God, he wants people to be happy and live their life without pain and sufferings. Nevertheless Jaime thinks that in order to please God, he must use torture as a way to show that he is sharing God’s pain. However what Jaime does is nothing compare to Jesus. Jesus was knocked down by people, and was made fun of just because he was being who he was meant to be. Unlike God, Jaime does not know his purpose in life. He would question about his life and the reason why it got this way. He felt that God was the only one that understands him. In The Good Conscience, Jaime realizes that his whole entire life is a lie. His phony family acts like they are one perfect family. Throughout the story, Jaime finds out what lies beneath all that. Jaime feels betrayed and used after finding out that his most trusted family members deceive him in order to achieve what they want. Jaime is torn by what he discovers and it changes his opinion completely about who God really cares about. Jaime understands that the society is corrupt and full of sinners. He punished himself thinking that his infliction of pain on himself would be a compensation for the sins of others. This is against what people believe back then in his society. From a little boy who does not dare to go against his uncle, Jaime has grown up to be a confused man.