“Power And Glory” Research Paper

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In the novel The Power and the Glory , Graham Greene uses the elements of fiction to demo a chief subject. Some of the elements he uses are them, characters, symbolism, and puting. The manner Greene uses these elements to demo a chief subject for his novel, is really good. The elements come together to demo the subject, which is commiseration. Pity for a fellow human being. Puting is a major component of fiction. The scene of a piece of literature can put the temper of the scene. Puting, can besides do the reader experience a certain manner. Some of the scenes in The Power and the Glory evoke certain feelings in the reader.

In the scene when the whisky priest was put the crowded gaol, for holding liquor on him, Greene makes the scene so atrocious that you can? t aid but experience sorry for the priest. As Kenneth Allott said,  The crowded spiritual world figures in the dark seem like forms from a Dore hell.  ( 182 ) . In the scenes when the priest is going from town to town, the scene is really unsmooth. Through dense woods and complete darkness, he travels and once more, the reader feels commiseration for person he doesn T know but feels connected to because of being human. As Kenneth Allott said, There is a blanketing sense of inhuman treatment? s ubiquity and really often this temper is symbolized by a peculiar background of sordidness ( 15 ) .

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Some critics think that the novel is a melodramatic thriller about a police officer trailing a priest, romanticized by its spiritual significance and its alien Mexican setting. ( Pryce-Jones, 58 ) . Another of import component of fiction is symbolism. Symbolism in a novel can convey some penetration to what its subject might be. A batch of the characters, ambiances, and objects contain symbolism in the novel. The spirits that the priest is imbibing is extremely symbolic.

It is a symbol of how the priest commiserations himself. He feels his life is non deserving much, so he drinks. He makes himself feel worthless. Neil McEwan said, The novel steadfastly connects the solaces of intoxicant and faith … those who need to stamp down both have cut themselves off from suffering. ( 59 ) . That statement shows the priests commiseration on himself. Another symbol in the novel is the scene in the gaol. This is a symbol of the priests lose of religion. He feels as if his life has no more significance and he might every bit good give up. Fictional characters are besides symbolic in the book. As Allott said,  There is a sense in which other characters in the book can be regarded as symbols. ( 174 ) .

A fresh wouldn? t be complete without characters. And, characters in The Power and the Glory play an of import function to arouse commiseration for the priest. First is the Lieutenant, whose grim chase of the priest makes you commiseration him. The lieutenant even starts to kill guiltless people in hopes to happen the priest. You can non assist but experience sorry for the priest because of the lieutenant. Another character in the novel is Brigitta. Brigitta is the kid of the priest, who evidently is illicit.

The priest wants severely to love the kid, but he cant. He is caught between his ch ild and the wickedness he has committed. She besides, …  Stands for the early corruptness of innocence.  ( Alott, 174 ) . This alone makes us feel for the hapless whiskey priest. Another character in the novel is the ladino. The ladino, who follows the priest to turn him in for a wages and so to acquire him to bless a death condemnable. ( McEwan, 92 ) .

We pity the priest even more because the ladino is after him merely like the lieutenant does. ( Alott,174 ) . Some little characters play an of import function in the novel. The people in the towns, who have rejected the priest in fright of being killed, makes us feel for the priest because of their Acts of the Apostless of rejection. Mr. Fench, Mr. Fellows, and Mrs.Fellows, all show that most of humanity has given up hope. John Atkins said, Mrs.Fellows knew that decease was coming nearer, and that she lived in a graveyard …  ( 182 ) .

These are the people who the priest is seeking to salvage, non himself. This is why we pity him. He is seeking to salvage people who do non desire to be saved. The priest can go forth the province and be safe, but he chooses to remain and seek to salvage them. This finally leads to his decease. He seek’s to salvage a condemnable, but it ends up to be a trap. This is why we finally pity him, because he knows he is being set-up, but he gives in because he is tiered of running. He has given up hope. Theme is another of import component of fiction. There has been many subjects that people have put to The Power and Glory.

Some of them include life, decease, faith, wickedness, political relations, and everything else you can believe of. Pity is a major subject to this book. Greene uses all the elements of fiction to demo this. The characters, scene, and symbolism all show the cosmopolitan subject of commiseration. All of these elements show commiseration for the priest as Kenneth Allott said best, The whiskey-priest is driven to transgress and desperation ; he is made to lose everyplace  something he had hoped to maintain. After the dark in prison, when his deal with God reveals his misgiving, his find of devastation in the Chaps house signifies his entry into a religious desert ; the comparative composure of his visit with the Lehrs is the stagnation of self-deceit ; his return with the ladino to the banana plantation represents his heroic reawakening to responsibility. But, there is no operatic expansive coda.

The sufferer does non decease in a blazing of religion. He goes out wretchedly, smelling of the brandy which he has failed to drown his fright, with an tremendous sense of anticlimax and a feeling that he has ? missed felicity by seconds at an appointive topographic point . The universe ends- it is the lone imaginable ending-  non with a knock but with a whine.  … ( 193 ) This quotation mark, though long, shows precisely why we pity the priest, and why commiseration is the chief subject of the novel. The novel The power and the Glory , by Graham Greene writes with the elements of fiction. He uses them to demo a chief subject in his novel. The elements come together to demo a chief subject of commiseration.

 

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