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(2) “Marullo is a catholic and a wop. He probably won't show up at all. I'll
close at noon till the execution is over”
(Steinbeck, 1985: 11).
These are Ethan's phrases alluding to the events preceding Christ's execution and
to execution itself from his conversations with his wife Mary. There are a lot of similar
biblical allusions in the first part of the book, in the first chapter in particular. Some of
them are actualized as references (see examples above), others – as direct quotations.
(3) Ethan said, “And after that they mocked Him, they took the robe off from
Him and put His own raiment on Him and led Him away to crucify Him. And as they
came out they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear
His cross. And when they were come unto a place named Golgotha – that is to say, a
place of a skull -”
He uses this quotation in conversation with Margie Young-Hunt, local beauty
and seductress. Ethan is so overwhelmed by Christ's sufferings that he cannot refrain
from expressing his feelings not only to people around him but to other living
beings, namely to birds.
Ethan said after them, “At noon the sun will darken and blackness will fall on
the earth and you will be afraid.”
Talking
to another character, a teller at the local bank,
Ethan confesses that
Easter is a dreadful holiday for him. He uses one more quotation from the Bible to
explain how he feels:
(4) “And every year, ever since I was a kid, only it gets worse because-maybe
because I know more what it means, I hear those lonely 'lama sabach thani' words.”
Later on in chapter 3 Ethan gives a more detailed explanation of what Good
Friday means to him personally and his feelings in connection with this holiday. He
puts it this way:
(5) “
Good Friday has always troubled me. Even as a child I was deep taken
with sorrow, not at the agony of the crucifixion, but feeling the blighting loneliness
of the Crucified. And I never lost the sorrow, planted by Matthew and read to me in
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