Character Clues

Character Analysis

Direct Characterization

All things considered, the characters in this book lead fairly quiet lives, so you're not always going to see their true selves coming out in high-pressure situations. Instead, Willa Cather tends to tell us what people are like just as much as she shows us. We never feel like Cather is hitting us over the head or talking down to us, though, because she writes such beautiful sentences.

Food

Apart from his ugliness, Father Vaillant is practically defined by his love of food. He loves food so much that he won't even let other people cook for him half the time, even if they are his hosts or servants. This is a pretty big statement about Vaillant, who likes to do things himself in order to get them done right. And on top of his love of cooking, he is also an expert gardener who constantly mourns the fact that he can't plant certain vegetables from France in the harsh New Mexico soil.

Location

Location is probably the biggest marker of character in this book: Father Latour and Father Vaillant are willing to travel into the uncharted land of New Mexico in order to spread the Catholic faith. Later in the book, Father Vaillant makes another move in order to go to Colorado and bring the rough pioneers of that area into the church. Latour stays in New Mexico.

This is hugely character-building, because it shows how, while both of these dudes are pretty much up for anything, Vaillant is a little more down than Latour is. No surprise there: Latour is also more bookish and reserved than Vaillant, so it makes sense that he'd be all, "Nope. I'm staying in New Mexico now. I've had enough."

But it's not like Latour is a homebody. In order to show how significant location is, Willa Cather gives us an insight into the moment when Latour and Vaillant both first decided to leave their families in France to become priests in North America. It's an extremely difficult decision for both of them, but both of them feel fulfilled for making it.

Names

In French, Latour means "The Tower" and Vaillant means "Valiant" or brave. In this sense, we can see how both Latour and Vaillant are appropriately named.

Father Vaillant is brave and enthusiastic, plowing through whatever obstacles life puts in his way for the sake of promoting the Catholic Church.

Father Latour, on the other hand, likes to take a bird's eye view of things and think carefully about every decision he makes. In this sense, he's like a guy keeping watch from a high tower while Vaillant is off in the trenches fighting for his faith.

Sex and Love

Father Latour has been sent to kick Padre Martinez out of his role as a priest in New Mexico. The main reason for this is because Martinez has a wee problem with obeying the church's ban on priests having sex.

Martinez continues to work as a priest while sleeping with countless women, many of whom are much too young for him. Martinez is a borderline pedophile and Cather doesn't want us giving him a whole lot of leeway. This is why he's such a baddie: in Death Comes for the Archbishop, sex = bad news bears.