And so he is. But not just an ordinary fool. He is wonderful fool. He is a wonderful fool who will never allow the little light which he sheds along man's way to go out. Gaston's witness was shedding light on those around him, not through words but action.
Conversion leads to self awareness and then to action.
This is the chain of events for Endo. It is the chain which he uses in Volcano and When the Whistle Blew , and even in his latest novel, Deep River . Each delves into the souls of people confronted with the world, their unconverted hearts, and then their conversions so as to act upon their worlds with the fullness of their beings. It is provocative and semi-autobiographical. The novelist tells his conversion conflict in fiction, but fiction rooted in truth.