The Bridge of San Luis Rey, an iconic novel written by Thornton Wilder, explores the events that led to the tragic death of five people crossing the bridge, which inspires Brother Juniper, a faithful man who witnessed the bridge collapse, to investigate the victims, proving that it was an act of God. By thoroughly understanding the stories of each victim for years, Brother Juniper’s hypothesis on the five casualties brings a questionable attitude on whether it was God’s will or just an inexplicable accident. As Thornton Wilder introduces in the novel, the five victims of the calamity each have different lives. By discovering their experiences, the characters in the novel reveal their problems, their connections, and their personalities. As the readers explore the events in The Bridge of San Luis Rey, faith and destiny, love and obsession, and epiphany slowly reveal themselves in each character.
As Brother Juniper delves deeper into the stories of the five victims, he wonders why God would punish them. He questions faith and destiny and is determined to discern God’s intention. Throughout his years of learning about the five travelers—Doña María, Pepita, Esteban, Jaime, and Uncle Pio—he discovers little connection between each person. The faith of Brother Juniper has brought him to think of the accident as an action of God. He fully believes that the five victims deserve to die, and his excessive belief in God misleads him to apply his interpretation of individuals to be explicit. However, as the novel introduces all of the characters, it provides us with a more intricate image and story, refuting Brother Juniper’s understanding. All five characters have complex personalities and experience different issues throughout their life. With little connection to each other, God’s decision of killing the five appears implausible, and Brother Juniper’s pursuit of dogma brings an unavailing result. Around the eighteenth century, Lima was a city where religion was crucial and science was increasingly influential. Although the novel doesn’t bring to a conclusion on whether the death of the five fatalities is an act of God, Brother Juniper’s inability to prove his hypothesis raises the question of one’s destiny—whether a human being’s fate is determined by God, or is everything happening according to one’s own decision and senseless incidents.
While the lives of each character appear to vary, all characters experienced parenting problems and showed or suffered from obsessive love. Doña María, the Marquesa de Montemayor, is an ugly noblewoman who suffered from her own mother’s persecutions with sarcasm. She grew up in her mother’s slamming of doors, screams, and recriminations. Afterward, Doña Maria had a beautiful but cold daughter, and she devoted all her love and obsession to her daughter. Eventually, her daughter, Doña Clara, was antagonized by her constant compulsion and left. Pepita, the maid of Doña María, has to complete arduous tasks to become an acceptable role of taking over The Abbess’s charitable organizations. Esteban, the twin brother of Manuel, grew up as an orphan and was taciturn. He develops a deep relationship with his brother, having their exclusive language and telepathy, almost like one unit. Esteban’s excessive devotion to Manuel results in his attempt at suicide when Manuel dies of a knee infection. Uncle Pio, a man who devotes his energy to the theater, raises Camila Perichole, a talented actress who stops acting to establish her position after being the mistress of the Viceroy. While Camila was unwilling to maintain a connection with him, Uncle Pio still took care of her even when she had smallpox, which demonstrates his selfless love towards Camila, which could sometimes be oppressive to Camila. Even Captain Alvarado, a well-known world traveler, had lost her daughter when he was away at sea and showed his empathy towards other characters in the story. As the author depicts the unrestrained love of each individual, he allows readers to contemplate love and discern a healthy relationship with each other. Most characters encounter parenting problems and fanatic love, but later realize that their intense love and obsession with one another necessitates adjustments.
After going through all difficulties, the characters each experienced their epiphany, realizing they should change. Right before the bridge collapses, the five victims were in pursuit of a new life or had an insight on how to alter their attitude. Doña Maria intended to go on a pilgrimage for her daughter, Esteban planned to travel around the world with Captain Alvarado after being saved from committing suicide, while Uncle Pio wished to bring Jaime to live with him in the city. The characters who continuously show unhealthy love and obsession with their beloved have a moment of epiphany after sudden loss and tragedy, which changes their mindset and brings out salutary emotions. For instance, Esteban’s grief was pacified when Captain Alvarado was able to be a rapport with Esteban in losing his loved one, enabling Esteban and Captain Alvarado to recover from their longtime wallowing in despair. At the five victims' funerals, their relatives arrive to mourn for them. Doña Clara and Camila Perichole can visit the Abbess, who herself was deep in sorrow, and share their grief and emotions. The Abbess, who comforts the woman, also undergoes an epiphany, allowing her to become more tranquil while dealing with other situations. Throughout a lifetime, the characters, alive or dead, all try to walk to a new life. The five victims, holding hope, crossed the bridge for a new beginning but plummeted into an endless abyss. After the loss of their beloved, the other characters suddenly became aware of their situations and with the guidance of The Abbess showed interest in helping others and living an altruistic life.
The novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey illustrates disparate characters who, after years of consuming love and obsession, finally experience an epiphany and realize their problems. From Brother Juniper’s eager desire to prove the dogma to the altruism of The Abbess, the author demonstrates a different understanding of faith. The divergent destinies of each character—whether it was the calamity of the five victims, the improbable death of Brother Juniper, or the epiphany of other characters—interrogate the readers on the meaning of life. Brother Juniper’s ceaseless faithful research, every character’s epiphany, and love and effort each offers seem meaningless after the instantaneous death. However, love always endures, and each character is always in search of their meaning and connection in life. As The Abbess says at the end of the novel: "But soon we shall die and all memory of those five will have left the earth, and we shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning."
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