Graham Greene: “The Power and the Glory” A Brief Survey

„The power and the Glory‟ was first published in 1940. This book has four parts. The setting is of Mexico. This novel is built on the equation of the human and non-human. The setting and the protagonist are inseparable. In a state, where the Church and the priests have been outlawed by a revolutionary, presumably Communist government, flees the last remaining priest (he is anonymous), all other priests having already run away or capitulated to the state. The theme pursuit clearly indicated in the epigraph, taken from Dryden, helps to unify the episodic pattern of the novel and gives it a picaresque character. Our attention is concentrated on the priests hunted and harried by the police (red shirts) led by the lieutenant who has dedicated himself fanatically to the eradication of religion in his state. As the priest flees through forests and mountains, we find that the priest is fleeing not only from the police but also from his own self.