The Power and the Glory
Pgs. 7-30
September 4, 2007
7:30 P.M.
.
....I just began reading The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene. Graham Greene was an English writer from a prominent family of first cousins. His works usually explore modern world and morality issues. An important note which might help us in the understanding of The Power and the Glory novel is the fact that Greene converted to Catholicism in 1926. This came after he began corresponding with his future wife, Vivien Dayrell, a Catholic convert.
.---
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
.......At the very beginning, the novel is very disperse. Greene fools the reader into thinking that the story centers around Mr. Tench, a displaced Englishman living in Mexico. Mr. Tench's ether cylinder, Mr. Tench's gold teeth business, Mr. Tench's constant postponement of business, Mr. Tench's poverty, Mr. Tench's priced Japanese drill, Mr. Tench this and that, the reader has no time to think about anything else that happens in the story. Even when he's with the stranger, Greene focuses on Mr. Tench as the main character; the reader knows very little about anybody else. However, as the story progresses we begin making very important connections to the stranger presented in first chapter. After reading the second chapter, the reader can finally make a connection of all the hints and foreshadowing provided in the first chapter.
.
......Throughout the first chapter, the stranger is a very ambigous character; however, as the novel progresses the signs clearly point to him as a runaway priest. He is presented to the reader as "a small man dressed in a shabby dark city suit, carrying a small attache case (9)...." The "dark city suit" should raise red flags for the reader; aren't they in Mexico where it's supposed to be hot climate? Why would anyone in their right mind dress so warmly in such hot climate? Just as well, he has brandy, when it's apparent that the government has set a monopolized prohibition of alcohol. Why would he have such priviledge? It is apparent that there is something shady about this character. Another scene which hints at the stranger's possible background, is when child came looking for "the new doctor in town" because "his mother was sick." While Mr. Tench goes to open the door, "the stranger crouched in the rocking-chair, gazing with an effect of prayer, entreaty...(16)" People don't care about religion any more and an atheist sense has filled the population since the government set out to exterminate the Church; why would this person show such signs of faith and devotion when it could threaten his? The reader can assume that if the stranger is a priest; he's probably praying that the police isn't there for him. He doesn't care to defend his beliefs any more, maybe he's been fighting for so long that he doesn't have the strength to continue his battle. It's as if he already gave up running away; he is ready to face the consequences that come along with his beliefs. (In Chapter 2, I made the connection between the stranger and the "whisky priest." The reason why I made this connection was because of the brandy that the stranger had in his possession in Chapter 1.)
.
.......Chapter 2 quickly changes scene. The lieutenant and the police chief talk about the purging of the priests. "Something you could almost have called horror moved him when he looked at the white muslin dresses - he remembered the smell of incense in the churches of his boyhood, the candles and teh laciness and the self-esteem, the immense demands made from the altar steps by men who didn't know the meaning of sacrifice. The old peasants knelt there before the holy images with their arms held out in the attitude of the cross: tired by the long day's labour in the plantations they squeezed out a further mortification. And the priest came round with the collecting-bag taking their centavos, abusing them for their small comforting sins, and sacrificing nothing at all in return - except a little sexual indulgence (22-23)." The lieutenant is part of the general population: he is an average citizen. The author is probably trying to portray the general sentiment towards religion: the resentment, the hatred, and the blame. People view the Church as something evil, something selfish. The Church doesn't truly care about its followers, all it cares about is the money they can gain, the "centavos" they can steal from the hardworking and tortured peasants. These poor beings, guided by ignorance, complementing the plantation torture with moral guilt. The way the author portrays its harsh reality.
.
.....However, what's ironic about this point of view is that just a few pages back the author mentions the end of a school. "...the Syndicate of Workers and Peasants had once been a school. He had helped wipe out that unhappy memory. The whole town had changed...(24)" Doesn't ignorance feed the faith that keeps religion afloat? More educated people question religion, don't they? Scholars and scientist are usually atheist because religion and knowledge clash. If there is knowledge then religion cannot feed its followerd whatever they say as a truth. Knowledge helps question the basic of foundations of religion. With all this said, then why would they want to end education? The only answer that I could find from my interpretation of the text, was because the government is actually trying to take the place of the religion. "There was something of a priest in his intent observant walk - a theologian going back over the errors of the past to destroy them again (24)." They are replacing religion, fixing all its flaws with the government. Finally, the government will have no competition in order to control its people. No one can question them and there won't be a power struggle with the Church anymore. What the government dictates as right goes. Now the people will turn to the government for answers, not to religion.
Some Vocabulary:
attache
protuberant
garrulous
bile
ewer
puttee
gaiters
dapper
muslin
jowl
trite
mondstic
contrition
petering
buffoon
No comments:
Post a Comment