Histroical Criticism Essay Research Paper Historical Criticism

Histroical Criticism Essay, Research Paper

Historical Criticism

of

The Power and the Glory

by

Graham Greene

Graham Greene s, The Power and the Glory, is a religious novel that shows the collision between religion and politics in a small state in Mexico during the 1930 s post revolution ( Facts of The Power and the Glory by Wolters and Noordhoff, 1994). This struggle between the Church and the State is as a result of the five articles of the 1917 Constitution. Article 3 called for secular education in the schools; Article 5 outlawed monastic orders; Article 24 forbade public worship outside the confines of churches; and Article 27 placed restrictions on the right of religious organizations to hold property. Article 130, which was most obnoxious to Catholics, deprived clergy members of basic rights and made them in effect second-class citizens. Priests and nuns were denied the right to wear clerical attire, to vote, to criticize government officials or to comment on public affairs in religious periodicals (Constitution of 1917, Art. 130. Law of November 25, 1926, Art. 5). It was this last Article that is the main focus of The Power and The Glory .

The Power and the Glory explores this corruption and atonement through a down and out Roman Catholic priest and the people that he encounters. When small Mexican state outlawed the Church, naming it a source of greed and debauchery, the priests have been rounded up by firing squad and executed. There was only one priest that escaped the executions and lived in hiding, which was the whisky priest. The whisky priest represents the martyrdom of several individual priest that stood against the Mexican religious plight.

The whisky priest, who represents religion and is one of the main characters, earned his name because he drinks a lot of alcohol despite it being an illegal substance during this time period. Throughout the story, the whisky priest continuously fights with his alcoholism, his conscience and his faith, while stating that he is neither a brave man nor a saint. A saint can be defined as one of God’s chosen, usually Christian people ( Webster s New Twentieth Century Dictionary: of the English Language vol. 2 by Noah Webster , 1969). A brave person can be defined as someone who has allot of courage ( Webster s New Twentieth Century Dictionary: of the English Language vol. 1 by Noah Webster , 1969). In the novel The Power And The Glory, the whiskey priest states that he isn’t a saint and not even a brave man. Greene shows this was an accurate statement when he talks about the fact that the whiskey priest was an alcoholic; also that the whiskey priest let s himself commit a mortal sin. Greene shows this was an inaccurate statement because the priest doesn’t think just of himself and goes to help others in need and how the whiskey priest is able to forgive and forget very easily. The author Graham Greene shows throughout the novel this was an accurate and also inaccurate self-assessment of the whiskey priest.

Graham Greene demonstrates how brave and courageous the whiskey priest is when he is willing to forgive people that turn on him. The best example of this is when the

Mestizo tells the whiskey priest that a fellow fugitive is in trouble and needs his blessing. This is a trap that later costs the whiskey priest his life, but he is willing to overlook this. This is best shown when he eventually forgives and even prays for the Mestizo who betrayed him: The priest waved his hand; he bore no grudge because he expected nothing else of anything human… (P. 198) This shows that that whiskey priest is a forgiving man and this indeed helps to validate that the whiskey priests statement is inaccurate.

Graham Greene portrays to the reader that the whiskey priest thinks of others before himself. This is clearly evident when he goes to help the child’s dyeing mother even though he knows that he will miss his boat: But the stranger got up as though unwillingly he had been summoned to an occasion he couldn’t pass by. He said sadly,

It always seems to happen. Like this.

You’ll have a job not to miss the boat.

I shall miss it, he said. (P. 17)

This example displays that the whiskey priest is a good man and helps to prove the whiskey priests statement false.

On the other hand, Greene displays the accuracy of the whiskey priest’s statement when he shows how much of an alcoholic the whiskey priest was. There are many places throughout the novel when this is shown. First early in the novel when we first meet the whiskey priest and he reveals a flask of brandy from the side of his hip:

I have a little brandy, the stranger said.

Mr. Tench regarded him sharply. Where.

The hollow man put his hand to his hip- … (P. 11)

Also when the lieutenant asks the whiskey priest if he would like one final drink:

I’ve brought you some brandy.

Against the law.

Yes.

It’s very good of you. He took the small flask. (P.206)

These examples show the whiskey priest is an alcoholic and that the statement was accurate. To the extreme of not being a saint, the whiskey priest commits a mortal sin of having a sexual relationship with Maria and getting her pregnant. Later abandoning his daughter Brigitta: When you-know-what happened, I was proud. I though

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