How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph.)
Quote #1
"We've shot him half a dozen times," he said. (1.2.14)
The lieutenant says this looking at a picture of the priest. He doesn't mean that they've shot this priest half a dozen times. He's speaking figuratively. To him, all priests are the same: they're all bad and they all need shooting. They're not individual persons, but a singular symbol of what's wrong with the world. We might call this an oversimplified way of looking at things, but don't tell the Lieutenant we said anything.
Quote #2
The lieutenant said suddenly, "I will tell you what I'd do. I would take a man from every village in the state as a hostage. If the villagers didn't report the man when he came, the hostage would be shot—and then we'd take another."
"A lot of them would die, of course."
"Wouldn't it be worth it?" the lieutenant demanded. "To be rid of those people forever."
"You know," the chief said, "you've got something there." (1.2.42-45)
The lieutenant argues to his chief that this violence is acceptable because the ends justify the means. This reasoning puts him further outside a Christian worldview, which has traditionally rejected this moral reasoning. For traditional Christianity, the ends do not justify the means. And some actions are always and everywhere wrong.
Quote #3
"And I shall shoot as often as it's necessary."
"The jefe said with facetious brightness, "A little blood never hurt anyone. Where will you start?" (1.4.100-1)
Serving and protecting aren't on this police chief's radar, are they? We admit, he's sort of joking, but to even tell such a ghastly joke speaks volumes.
Quote #4
An empty gaseosa bottle sailed through the air and smashed at the lieutenant's feet. His hand went to his holster and he turned; he caught a look of consternation on a boy's face.
"Did you throw that bottle?"
The heavy brown eyes stared sullenly back at him.
"What were you doing?"
"It was a bomb."
"Were you throwing it at me?
"No."
"What then?"
"A gringo."
The lieutenant smiled—an awkward movement of the lips. (1.4.107-115)
They didn't have Grand Theft Auto back then, but the children made do. You'll notice that the lieutenant doesn't want to stifle their violence; he encourages it with a smile. He appeals to the boy's violent play because he wants them to appreciate and share his worldview. If this doesn't make him a villain, we don't know what would.
Quote #5
They were breathless with interest. He stood with his hand on his holster and watched the brown intent patient eyes: it was for these he was fighting. He would eliminate from their childhood everything which had made him miserable, all that was poor, superstitious, and corrupt. They deserved nothing less than the truth—a vacant universe and a cooling world, the right to be happy in any way they chose. He was quite prepared to make a massacre for their sakes—first the Church and then the foreigner and then the politician—even his own chief would one day have to go. He wanted to begin the world again with them, in a desert. (1.4.129)
A few shootings here and there doesn't trouble the lieutenant; he wants to pulverize the world and make something new. Too bad the world isn't his to mold. We wonder how that's all going to turn out for him…
Quote #6
"No, but as I was saying—life has such irony. It was my painful duty to watch the priest who gave me that communion shot—an old man. I am not ashamed to say that I wept." (2.2.156)
Whatever guilt the chief had overseeing the shooting of a priest he personally knew has since left him. He's not as violent a man as the lieutenant is, but he's happy to pass the dirty work on to others. Mostly he just complains about his tooth.
Quote #7
The priest said, "He only killed and robbed. He hasn't betrayed his friends." (3.1.162)
This is interesting: both the priest and the lieutenant believe that killing and robbing are minor wrongs relative to others. For the priest, this worse sin is betrayal. For the lieutenant, it's deception. For us, it's skipping lunch. Nothing is worse.
Quote #8
"Don't depend too much on God's mercy. He has given you this chance. He may not give you another. What sort of life have you led all these years? Does it seem so grand now? You've killed a lot of people—that's about all. Anyone can do that for a while, and then he is killed too. Just as you are killed. Nothing left except pain." (3.2.61)
The life of the American criminal has turned out to be meaningless rather than glorious. Intent on violence to the last, his life ends with a bang and then a whimper. Another one bites the dust.
Quote #9
"You're a danger. That's why we kill you. I have nothing against you, you understand, as a man." (3.3.49)
If the lieutenant knew the priest as a man rather than as an idea, would he be less prone to kill him? We suspect not. As Michael Corleone famously said, "It's not personal, Sonny, it's strictly business," and he sentenced his own brother to death.
Quote #10
"I hate your reasons," the lieutenant said. "I don't want reasons. If you see somebody in pain, people like you reason and reason. You say—pain's a good thing, perhaps he'll be better for it one day. I want to let my heart speak."
"At the end of a gun?"
"Yes. At the end of a gun." (3.3.108-110)
At least he admits it. That's the lieutenant, though. He's sincere, and he doesn't like lies.