How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Too often in these moments of listening he [Father Arguedas] had felt his soul fill with a kind of rapture, a feeling he could not name but was disquieted by—longing? Love? Early in his seminary training he had set his mind to giving up opera as other young men had set their minds to giving up women. He thought there must be a darkness in such passion, especially for a priest. Lacking any real or interesting sins to confess, he offered up the imagined sin of opera one Wednesday afternoon as his greatest sacrifice to Christ. (2.106)
Okay, so most people don't think opera is a sin (unless maybe your parents dragged you to one when you were planning to see the latest Mission Impossible movie). But maybe Father Arguedas fears that passion for opera could rival his deep passion for God. That's how intense his experience of awe is when he listens to opera. Father Arguedas is just one example of the many people in the book who are astonished by art. Luckily, the guy he's confessing to tells him opera is okay for priests after all.
Quote #5
But after Messner brought the box [of sheet music for Roxane] into the house everything changed. The terrorists continued to block the doors and carry guns, but now Roxane Coss was in charge. She started the morning at six o'clock because she woke up when the light came in through her window and when she woke up she wanted to work. (6.3)
An opera star bossing terrorists around? Sounds like a bit of a stretch. But maybe Patchett is telling us that no one is immune to the awe and wonder art can cause. Art is almost like a superpower in Bel Canto—something that changes the game for good.
Quote #6
There had been no girls like Carmen at university. There had never been a girl like Carmen. What a sense of humor one would need to believe that the woman you love is not in Tokyo or Paris or New York or Athens. The woman you love is a girl who dresses as a boy and she lives in a village in a jungle, the name of which you are not allowed to know, not that knowing the name would be particularly helpful in trying to find it. (7.17)
When Gen thinks this, it really means something. Since he's a translator, Gen has seen a lot of the world, and he could easily live in Tokyo, Paris, New York, or Athens. So it's especially intriguing that he falls for Carmen, a woman whose first language he can't even understand. Gen's love, like Roxane's art, seems to involve a wonder that goes beyond the boundaries of language.