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Both Friar Tom Griffin and Sheriff Wally Shannon violate what many people would consider their sacred vow or oath. They clearly have their reasons for doing so, and there is more to their stories. What did you think of their choices? Did their actions change what you thought about them?
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I was okay with what Friar Tom did. It wasn’t legal in a whole lot of ways but his instinct to protect Paul and Wanda Manydeeds is honourable, realistic (given the prejudice she’d face), and, ultimately, I think justified. I guess I wasn’t overly surprised at what he did because WKK hinted that Friar Tom had endured prison and possible torture in Central America for his political activism. I’m looking forward to finding out more about his past. Also, by the time I learned whodunnit, I didn’t have too much sympathy for the judge. As for the Sheriff, his choice to take a bribe to help pay for the care for his wife…well it’s a heartbreaking, emotional reason for doing it but not justified. The temptation is understandable, but as Cork says later in the book, “What I know is that we can fool ourselves into believing almost anything,” and I think the Sheriff fooled himself into thinking it wouldn’t do any harm.
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Well, I think both the friar and sheriff make murky morally grey choices but both do it out of love and care for others. They want to help the people they love. Friar Griffin’s choice is less ethically bad in that 1) he didn’t do the actual killing 2) the Judge was going to die of cancer very soon 3) he knew that Wanda didn’t premeditate murdering the judge and she most certainly would not get a fair trial. I can forgive him. I think having Mary thrown in jail and taken from her young children and as a healer to her community would have done far more harm than the death of the old murderous, blackmailing judge who no one would miss!
Wally, sweet husband Wally. I don’t know what I would do in his shoes because I will always want to give my family the best care if they get sick. He comes across as a man who cares for his community and his wife but isn’t maybe the brightest when it comes to seeing the possible negative outcomes of falling into the judge’s debt.
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This is not to endorse an intimate sexual relationship for a priest or a side, lucrative consultancy for the county sheriff but I found these choices by Fr. Tom, AKA St. Kawasaki, and Wally Schanno made them more believable, human and multi-dimensional characters rather than caricatures of the activist Catholic priest and the no smoking, drinking or gambling, devout, Bible reading Lutheran small town sheriff. Wally is driven by a desire to ensure he can care for his beloved wife with progressing dementia. When he is confronted by Cork with his actions and the degree to which they have or may compromise his duty as sheriff including failing to thoroughly investigate Joe John’s death, Wally struggles to accept that but ultimately does. After Molly’s death, he asks Cork if it is also connected with the series of deaths in Tamarack County knowing that if Cork says it is, he will open the entire set of investigations and likely reveal his own mistakes and abuse of the public trust. Cork dismisses rumors about Wanda Manydeeds and the priest who he regards as “guides” for their respective spiritual traditions. Lytton’s lens catches them in an intimate moment. For some, that might disqualify them as believable or worthy guides. Or, they may be more empathic and compassionate ones. That is what I see in Fr. Tom’s interactions with Cork, both when Cork seeks out the priest and when he rebuffs his overtures. Finally, Fr. Tom is a priest willing to cover up murder to protect those he loves and, ultimately, to see his definition of justice prevail. His experiences in the church in Central America during a period of bloody civil war no doubt inform his conscience here. These actions by Fr. Tom represent a bit of a struggle but having seen the effects of that violence in El Salvador and knowing some people who lived it, I would say even this behavior is of a piece of who Fr. Tom is.
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Such good insights. I hadn’t noted Wally’s question to Cork would likely implicate himself but that earns him a bit more respect in my eyes.
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