Cain even lays Abel’s murder at God’s feet, saying, “ou were the one who pronounced sentence, whereas I merely carried out the execution.” He believes “god should not go wasting his energies on creating an atmosphere of constant terror and fear,” particularly when he turns his back on the poor, unfortunate and wretched.Ĭain is undoubtedly tendentious. Among other things, God “is not a person to be trusted” and his ease in ordering Abraham sacrifice Isaac indicates such acts are “a deep-seated habit.” If anything, if the God portrayed in the Bible has a conscience, it is “so flexible” that it agrees with whatever God does, regardless of effect or ramifications. Throughout, it is clear Cain is angered by what he perceives as God’s capriciousness and antipathy toward his creation, an entity “who devours his own children.” In Saramago’s version of events, the devil and other fallen angels rebelled because God is evil. Cain visits the Tower of Babel, is present as Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac and joins Noah on the ark, but not in the chronological order in which these events appear in the Bible. God’s judgment after Abel’s death is for Cain to be “a restless wanderer.” In Saramago’s hands, he wanders the Book of Genesis, aided by the fact he can go back and forth in time. Rather, Nobel laureate’s José Saramago’s final novel is perhaps better described as a tumultuous indictment of the God of the Old Testament.Īlthough Saramago begins with the story of Cain killing his brother Abel, he uses the result to take it further. Since it is a work of fiction, it might not be accurate to call Cain an atheist manifesto.

José saramago cain