The Extended Allegory in The Power and The Glory Essay -- Power and Th

The Extended Allegory in The precedent and The Glory Graham Greene pieced in concert The place and the Glory from his own personal memoirs in 1940 after a three-year trip to Mexico. Drawing from his own observations of a small town part between the anti- ghostlike laws of the secular government and the peoples religious beliefs, Greene readyd the story of a Catholic priest being pursued by the practice of law to illustrate the conflicting relationship between the church and state (Greene 2-4). Greene used his experiences in Mexico to create an extended allegory that illustrates the conflict between the two world views and, in turn, reveals his own values and philosophy. Drawing from his experience in Mexico, Greene developed a whiskey priest, a character introduced to Greene by a friend in Mexico in a story of a drunken priest that christened a child by the wrong name, to embody the religious world view. The priest, who ashes nameless throughout the novel to emphasize his allegorical role, is less an idiosyncratic than a symbol of the Church and of the cumulative wisdom of the past, in short, of Hesperian Humanism (DeVitis 89). The priest, however, is seen as a traitor to the state and to his religion. The last Catholic priest in a secular Mexican state, the priests photograph is hung succeeding(a) to that of a notorious American gangster on the wall of the police office. The priests tendency towards gin, cowardliness, and his moral weakness make him a traitor to his reliance and religious order. On the allegorical level of the novel, the priests flight from the police is seen as a flight from God and away from becoming a saint (DeVitis 90). Refusing to accept his destiny of being captured by the police and becom... ...ce into paradise (Hynes 67). further after the priests execution is the lieutenant forced to realize his own vacancy and does Greene reveal his religious compassion. Although often criticized for being chiefly Roman Catholi c, The Power and the Glory masterfully illustrates the intense conflict between the secular and religious world views (Hynes 70). By developing complex allegorical characters, Graham Greene achieves an about myth-like quality. Works Cited Allot, Kenneth and Miriam Farris, The Art of Graham Greene. New York Russell & Russell, 1951. DeVitis, A. A., Graham Greene. New York Twayne Publishers, 1964. Greene, Graham, The Power and the Glory. New York The Viking Press, 1940. Hynes, Samuel ed., Graham Greene A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, New island of Jersey Prentice-Hall, 1973.