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Zoe Patterson

Response Essay #2

In the novel, Pocho, Jose Antonio Villarreal uses Richard’s visits to

Confession to depict a tone of hypocrisy and fakeness coming from the

traditions and rules of the church. The role of religion in this novel serves to

illustrate a form of government that people can follow no matter what

country their job relocates their family. The importance of religion to families

is shown in the juxtaposition to the other forms of government described

such as the Unemployed Council, which communicated poorly to people due

to language barriers. This emphasizes the uniformity and tradition religion

brings to its devout followers. The Rubio family, like most Mexican families,

belongs to a Christian church and believed that the laws of the Church are

the most sacred guidelines to abide by. Only by following the rules of the

Church and of Christ, would the Christian be allowed to enter Heaven. Those

who chose a life of heathenism would spend eternity in hell. The Church set

forth answers to the evolutionary questions of mankind that the followers

were supposed to acknowledge and accept without question.

After the first visit to confession, Richard has to go back immediately

because he did not properly confess his sins due to a misunderstanding of

the priest’s questions. After talking to Consuelo and discovering what the

priest had meant by the word “play.” Even after he had realized the priest’s

connotation of the word, he still did not understand why it was a “mortal

sin.” Consuelo was outraged that Richard could have questioned the priest
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and told him he had to go straight to confession again and she said “[you]

better pray that you don’t die tonight!” (pg. 37). After that night, when his

mother became ill and he realized that even though she was sick, that didn’t

have to do with his confession, Richard began to question the Christian

religion and the mysteries he presented.

Also, the way that Richard assumes he can go the next day and

confess again, shows how he doesn’t appreciate the value of the

sacramental rite of Holy Confession and takes for granted his unlimited

supply of absolutions. This is shown again in the text when Richard tells

Mary about the secret Bible he found at the City Dump and how, even

though it is against the laws of the Church for him to read it, he wants to

finish the book before he confesses his sin to the priest. He exclaims “And,

boy, will I get it then!” (pg.74) which conveys a tone of carelessness for the

crime premeditated against the Church because he knows that even though

there will be a punishment, he will always be forgiven and the adventure of

reading the Bible was worth the consequences. Although the church tells its

followers that people who misbehave and turn their back on the word of

Christ are going to go to the most horrible place imaginable, no one seems

to be held responsible for their fowl actions. Richard begins to question what

makes Christianity so powerful if he can cross its boundaries and simply

promise not to do it again.

At Richard’s next confession, he committed another crime against the

Church for his own enjoyment not worrying about the outcome of his
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confession because he wasn’t afraid of what God would do if he didn’t

participate in the Church’s game. “He was never bothered by his religion

which trained him that what he was doing was a sin. In fact, he derived

great pleasure at the confessional these days, and coldly, almost objectively

he went into detail about his evil practice.” (pg. 114) Through this statement,

Jose Antonio Villarreal conveys not only Richard’s lack of acknowledgement

for the laws of the church, but Richard’s need to almost boast to the priest

about his act. This shows the author’s questioning of the church’s existence,

demonstrating that even if Richard antagonizes the priest, he never is shown

to behave differently by a higher power’s execution of the punishment

sentence. Jose Antonio Villarreal conveys the diminishing respect for the

virtues of the church because of the false worshipping and participation

shown by the followers. Richard is used as an example for the general people

when he says, “But, Father, you must know that everyone does things like

that. Don’t they tell you when they confess? I know you can’t tell me that but

if they don’t, then a lot of people aren’t making good confessions.” (pg. 115)

Richard analyzes that although he is a sinner, he is honest about his actions,

and thinks that it isn’t fair he is punished so severely when everyone else

who goes to Confession has committed the same crimes and are too

ashamed to admit to the priest and God what they have done. With the

acknowledgement that everyone lies about their offenses, the reader is able

to see that the people, who attended Confession and lied, were considered a

better Christian because as far as the Priest knows, they haven’t committed
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any horrible sins. On the other hand, those who don’t lie and share with the

priest what they have done, which is the main point of Confession, are

reprimanded and deemed evil.

Through Jose Antonio Villarreal’s descriptions of Richard’s Confessions

in the novel Pocho, the author is able to criticize the Church by showing the

limitations the laws of the Church put on questioning the existence of God

and the hypocrisy of the definition of a “devout follower.”

Works Cited

Villarreal, Jose Antonio. Pocho. Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1970. Print.