38 pages • 1 hour read
Brian MooreBlack Robe
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1985A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary
Laforgue, a Jesuit priest, worriedly waits outside the Commandant’s quarters in a settlement in 17th century Québec. He recognizes a fur trader named Massé; previously, Massé shouted at Laforgue for trying to convert a local girl whom Massé “had been sleeping with” (16). The Commandant meets with “the Savages” (16). A journey to the Ihonatiria mission is three weeks behind schedule; the locals want six muskets as payment for their work as guides. A priest named Bourque translates for the Commandant. Laforgue is set to make the journey with a young man named Daniel who is “not yet twenty” (17), and they may arrive to find the mission burned down. Daniel is an exceptional student who has learned the local languages. Nevertheless, it is a “journey to almost certain death” (18). The Commandant offers the local six muskets and “no more” (18).
Outside, Laforgue waits for news. As the Savages wander away to their camp, Bourque leads Laforgue away to talk. They take their places in a canoe and paddle toward the Jesuit residence. Inside, Daniel is fetched. They attend a meeting with 12 “Savage men and women” (20), all gathered around a clock. When it strikes the hour, they let out “a cry of astonishment and delight” (20), bewitched by what they call Captain Clock, and then they leave. Daniel, who has slept with one of the Savage women, is worried that he is no longer pure and that his journey will be canceled. He considers running away.
Father Bourque finishes a lengthy report to the Order. In a distant region, the local people are convinced that a recent disease is to be blamed on the “Blackrobes” (21), the Jesuits. After a priest named Jerome falls ill, a replacement is needed “to carry on the mission at Ihonatiria” (21). The room fills, and the priests pray. Bourque tells Laforgue and Daniel what they will need to take on this journey: religious paraphernalia, trading goods, and food. After the meeting, Bourque talks to Daniel alone. Bourque knows nothing of Daniel’s sexual exploits; if Daniel survives a year, Bourque promises, then he will be sent back to France to be made a fully-fledged Jesuit.
The Commandant, Samuel de Champlain, instructs the Savages as to the importance of the priests, pointing to Laforgue. The Savages’ leaders accept the mission. The chief clerk, Martin Doumergue, and his assistant, Pierre Tallevant, watch the Commandant and discuss the issues facing the colony and one French man—Jean Mercier—who now lives like the local people. Doumergue states that “we’re not colonizing the Savages. They’re colonizing us” (27). Laforgue is led to the Algonkin camp. He will be one of only a small number of priests who has traveled with such a hunting party. As the people hassle him, he invokes Captain Clock and leaves to visit Daniel. He notes something wrong about the boy. The drunk French fur traders harass the priests; Daniel tries to help a Savage girl, but Laforgue drags him away from the lustful scene. As they head to the canoe, Laforgue notices that Daniel is crying. As they paddle away, Daniel curses the drunk Mercier while Laforgue tells him to focus on their task at hand.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary
Chomina and Neehatin, the leader, watch the priests praying before they depart. The muskets are in the canoes, and the Algonkin will train themselves in how to fire the guns. In five canoes, 26 Algonkin and the two priests journey silently along the river. Laforgue and Daniel travel in different canoes. Laforgue remembers a time before in France, when his mother prayed for him; she believes that Laforgue was chosen by God, just like Joan of Arc. Since then, Laforgue has trained every day for this journey. He has learned the “Algonkian and Huron tongues” (34), and he has prayed for “the honor of some greater danger in a lonely place” (34). Winter is fast approaching. As the sun sets, the canoes pull into land, and the men go out searching for game, Daniel among them. The women build tents. Daniel returns empty-handed but has “braided his long hair in the Algonkian manner” (35). They eat the spoils of the hunt. Neehatin leads Laforgue to a crowded tent where he lays down among the people and tries to sleep.
Neehatin rises early and attempts to determine the meaning of an auspicious dream. Discussing it with his wife, they decide that “it is the Blackrobe who brings us danger” (39). Neehatin resolves to visit a sorcerer during the journey, though it will take them eight days to find the man named Mestigoit. Laforgue wakes, bathes himself, and prays for a good journey and help with an ear infection. As he prays, a great eagle swoops down from above and then rises, carrying off its prey. Laforgue sees this as a sign from God. Neehatin talks with the senior men. Some suggest leaving the Blackrobes behind. They fear the dream more than “these Norman pigs” (41), but they agree to follow Neehatin’s interpretation of his dream. He does not tell them that it is actually his wife’s interpretation and fears that “the river, the forest, the animals they would hunt all knew his lie” (42).
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary
For four days, they paddle “from dawn to dusk” (43), not even stopping “to eat or even to relieve themselves” (43). Laforgue is disgusted. He does not shirk his turn to paddle, even when his arms ache. If he did so, the Algonkin would despise him. On landing, Neehatin notes their swift progress and asks Laforgue for a gift as a reward. Laforgue refuses to give all the tobacco, and Daniel notes that Neehatin “is offended” (44). Laforgue relents. The Algonkin share the tobacco that had been intended to be used for trading with the Allumette people. Daniel notes that “something is wrong” (45) but does not know what.
Laforgue wakes to find Daniel missing from the tent. He stumbles out into the fresh air and overhears people talking. Creeping forward, he finds two people having sex. Laforgue recognizes Daniel and one of the Algonkin girls. As he watches, Laforgue cannot help but “fumble with the buttons of his cassock […] until his semen spurted” (47). Laforgue runs away, back to the camp. When he is alone, he begins to cry. He cuts branches from a tree and flagellates himself as the sun rises. In the morning, Daniel and Neehatin search for Laforgue. When he appears, Daniel spots the girl and cannot focus on anything else. In Algonkin custom, “a suitor must pretend no interest in the girl” (48). He struggles with the thought of her and Mercier together. He knows that the Algonkin will “only accept [Daniel] if [he] became as they are” (50). He no longer prays.
On the sixth day, it turns cold. The Algonkin paddle even harder. Laforgue is conflicted, unsure what to do about Daniel. When the canoes stop for the night, they share an awkward conversation. Daniel talks more about the mysterious urgency of the journey. Laforgue ventures in the forest alone and prays. The winter tents are crowded and unbearable. Late in the night, Daniel is missing once again. After a brief search, Laforgue returns to the tent.
Part 1, Chapters 1-3 Analysis
The opening chapters of the book establish the motivations of the characters and demonstrate how their own innate beliefs will confound them. Laforgue and Daniel possess two different motivations for venturing into the unknown. For Laforgue, there is the possibility of dying a heroic death and being made into a martyr, a death that will ensure that he is remembered forever by the church. His faith is all important, to the point where he values contributions to the church more than he does his own life. Daniel, not yet a fully-fledged member of the Jesuit order, is promised this honor if he successfully accompanies Laforgue for a set amount of time. It will allow Daniel to return home to France and pursue his career.
However, there is a secondary motive for Daniel. He is deeply interested in the local culture, to the point of refining his language skills beyond the necessary and diving headfirst into the community. Whereas Laforgue has learned about the Algonkin from books and reports from other priests, Daniel prefers to talk to the people themselves. This provides him with a better understanding of the local customs and cultures, though also leaves him smitten with one of the women. As the chapters progress, Daniel’s interest in the journey becomes less motivated by the church and his duty and more motivated by his desires for the woman with whom he sneaks out of the tent each night.
As such, Daniel and his actions become the vehicle through which one of the most important themes is introduced: the interplay between sex and shame. The cultural comprehension of sex among the Algonkin is markedly different from that among the Jesuits. While the priests are celibate and deplore such immoral thoughts, the Algonkin have a much less inhibited view of sexuality. Daniel finds himself won over by such notions, sneaking out of the tent each night to be with a woman. Even though he is certain that he loves this woman, he knows that his behavior is not right. He laments that he has stopped praying and worries that, if he died at any moment, he would not be permitted to enter heaven. Laforgue experiences the shame by proxy: He follows Daniel into the woods one night and masturbates while watching the couple. His shame is all consuming: Taking a branch from a tree, he whips himself until he bleeds, hoping his pain will atone for his sins. Added to this, he prays for forgiveness and plots on how he can save Daniel’s soul. Both men are weak; they experience shame when presented with sexual situations. As they travel further along the river, their shame will gradually begin to consume them.
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