What is the significance (in terms of both weight and meaning) of Paul's "conversion" to atheism, in particular, when he stands on his father's grave...

This text is above all
one of protest against a system that seems implacably opposed against those most in need, and
one where the church and religion is inextricably intertwined with politics and power. Let us
remember that the story gives us insight into the world of Italian immigrants in America, who
are only able to work as construction workers, facing incredible dangers every day. What helps
them make it through each day is their strong faith in Catholicism and the idea that they are
working so hard to spare their children similar difficulties.

The crushing,
painful and torturous death that the construction workers on Geremio's team suffer symbolises
the kind of sacrifice that the American Dream demands from those who seek wealth and fortune in
America. As the building begins to collapse around them, the American Dream quite clearly
becomes some kind of twisted nightmare, And Geremio's moment of epiphany before he dies in a way
that mimics Christ's death forces him to realise the way that he has been systematically cheated
throughout his life by those in power.

What is so key about Paul's conversion
to atheism therefore is that he has learnt the lesson that his father only learnt moments before
his death. Paul recognises the tremendousin his father's death and the comparison with Christ's
death. Jesus of course died for a specific purpose and managed to save mankind as a result. As
Paul stands beside his father's grave, he sees that Geremio's death on Good Friday, the day of
Jesus' death, is a meaningless sacrifice that is the direct result of the unfeeling nature of
men whose treatment of immigrants as nothing more than cheap labour "justifies" such
sacrifices. Paul's adoption of atheism therefore represents his resistance of the forces and
ideologies that have so successfully trapped his parents and immigrants as a
whole.