In Bel
Canto Music serves as a sort of lubrication for thought and emotion. As we listen to beautiful music, the things
that are most important to us become clear.
Once Roxane begins to sing again the people’s minds turn to their passions. Ruben discovers a special love for his house
and the work of caring for the household.
He discovers that he enjoys the labor and that he has “a certain knack
for it” (Patchett 178). Roxane begins
to develop deep relationships with people who don’t speak the same
language. She and Carmen spend their
mornings together drinking tea and braiding each others’ hair (162). According to Patchett, “In this way, only for
the little time they had together in the mornings, they were sisters,
girlfriends, the same. They were happy
together when it was just the two of them alone” (162). Love begins to grow between Mr. Hosokawa and
Roxanne. Mr. Hosokawa’s thoughts show us
how their relationship developed:
She sat beside him on the sofa
reading. She asked him to sit beside her
at the piano. On occasion she took his
hand, a gesture so startling and wonderful that he could barely inhale. She asked him, do you like this piece? She asked him, what would you like me to
sing? These were things he never could
have imagined: the warmth of a person and the music together. (167)
Before the music everything was terrible and scary for the
captives. The music allows the people to
discover that they are still alive, and to remember the things that they have
to live for, if only for that moment. It
is as if the music pumps life into their hearts so that they are able to beat
more passionately and love more fully.
The music, the things and people that they love become their only
concerns, and the things that they fear become less terrifying.
However, love in itself can be
terrifying. There will almost always be risks involved if we are to love
fully. Certainly, the dangers of loving
and of caring are more clear in a hostage situation. There is always the risk of losing the one
that you love, but for Gen, Roxanne, Mr. Hosokawa, and Carmen, the risk is much
greater. All of them, in their own way,
face those risks and their own fears, because somehow they knew that no matter
what happened, it would be worth it to love.
Roxane, faced with the reality of her own death, found the courage to
love. According to Patchett:
Because if Messner was right, if it
was still going to be a very long time that they were held hostage, then she
deserved to have this. And if, at the
end of that long time, they were killed anyway…then she deserved it all the
more. (239)
Roxane was also aware that time was short, and that if they
weren’t killed “that they would all go back to their regular lives… [and] she
would not see Katsumi Hosokawa again” (239).
So in the time that she had, no matter how it would end, she decided to
express her love as fully as she could.
Gen took on the risk of loving as well.
Though he hoped unrealistically for a “happily ever after” with Carmen (who
is a terrorist), there was a part of him that must have known that it was not
possible (302-306). Still in his heart
he made his plans: “He would marry
Carmen. He would have Father Arguedas
marry them and it would be legal and binding, so that when they came for them
he could say she was his wife” (303).
Carmen took risks not only for the man who she loved but for her friends,
who were also hostages. The time that
Carmen spent in the house was probably the best time of her life. At one point she asks Gen, “would it be so
awful if we all stayed here in this beautiful house?” (206). When she talks
about staying there, what she means is never leaving, because she has more here
than she has ever had before in her life.
However, she still risks an end to this beautiful time because of her
love for Gen and her friends. She sneaks
Mr. Hosokawa up the stairs to see Roxane in the middle of the night, and when
they are discovered, she risks her life for him and for his happiness
(257). According to the author, “These
two things Mr. Hosokawa was sure of:
Beatriz pointed the rifle at him and Carmen came in front of the gun”
(257). In that moment Mr. Hosokawa must
have understood Carmen’s love and loved her in return. Though Mr. Hosokawa took a very big risk
because of love, it seemed that he had the least to lose. According to the author, “He had been asked
to come to her room at two A.M. and there was nothing more in the world to
want, ever” (254). Mr. Hosokawa’s
relationship with Roxane fulfilled him completely. He finally had everything that there was for
him to want out of life. This must have
made it easy for him to give up his life for Carmen. Life had nothing more to offer him than it
had already given, and so there was nothing for him to fear in death. According to Patchett, “He was in front of
her the instant she was being thrown behind him, the instant the man who saw
her standing in front, separate from Mr. Hosokawa, fired his gun” (313). In the end Carman and Mr. Hosokawa die. The worst fears of Gen and Roxane are
realized, but somehow their love still survives. It is as if the love that was born in them
had to be expressed somewhere, so Gen and Roxane held on to each other (315).
Love is the
thing that matters most. In the novel the
music helps each person discover the love within them. In the midst of a terrifying situation, brave
souls take risks for the sake of love.
They face their fears because the love that they experience is worth the
risk. Shouldn’t we too be a little
braver when we love? Shouldn’t we let
our lives sing of love? If tomorrow never comes, we should be sure that we have
loved passionately and fearlessly, and know that it is worth the risk.
Work Cited
Patchett, Ann. Bel Canto: A Novel.
New York: HarperCollins, 2001. Print.
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