The Power and the Glory
by Graham Greene
How does good spoil, and how can bad
be redeemed? In his penetrating novel The Power and the Glory, Graham
Greene explores corruption and atonement through a priest and the people
he encounters. In the 1930s one Mexican state has outlawed the Church,
naming it a source of greed and debauchery. The priests have been rounded
up and shot by firing squad--save one, the whisky priest. On the run, and
in a blur of alcohol and fear, this outlaw meets a dentist, a banana
farmer, and a village woman he knew six years earlier. For a while, he is
accompanied by a toothless man--whom he refers to as his Judas and does
his best to ditch. Always, an adamant lieutenant is only a few hours
behind, determined to liberate his country from the evils of the church.
On the verge of reaching a safer
region, the whisky priest is repeatedly held back by his vocation, even
though he no longer feels fit to perform his rites: "When he was gone it
would be as if God in all this space between the sea and the mountains
ceased to exist. Wasn't it his duty to stay, even if they despised him,
even if they were murdered for his sake? even if they were corrupted by
his example?"
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