The Power and the Glory Essay

Stumbling, and confused. What do I stand for? What is my destiny, and what do others think about me? In the novel The Power and the Glory the whisky priest has all of these problems. He tries to reason, but in the end he has to turn to his faith to guide him through the dark and hopeless times. His beliefs are strong enough to carry him through sickness, disgust, and hopelessness. There is a very important theme to the book being there is no good or evil, only shades of gray. The power to inspire is very great, and even if you don’t see it you could be making a world of a difference to someone else. Sometimes the best things are free, and cannot be seen or touched.
Although many think the whisky priest to be so sinful he is almost to the point of inhuman, he is just as much or more human than everyone else. Nobody is perfect, but everyone has good traits, and bad traits about them. Everyone is critical of themselves and others, and it just ends up being a mess. No person is one-dimensional, no person has one side to them, and no person is the same. You can never really judge or know what is going on in anyone’s head except for your own. This means you are the biggest critic of yourself. Greene shows that the priest is self-critical even when others aren’t “The lieutenant said in a tone of fury: "Well, you're going to be a martyr—you've got that satisfaction." "Oh, no. Martyrs are not like me. They don't think all the time—if I had drunk more brandy I shouldn't be so afraid." Even though it seems to the priest as if he has failed everyone, in fact he has done the exact opposite.
Failure is all depending on how you view the situation. The priest failed to escape with his life, and live on to maybe change his ways. However, he succeeded in an even bigger way; he inspired people to have faith, and he gave them hope. He explains how he is able to accept death “He knew now that at the end there was only one thing that counted—to be a saint.” Being remembered in the post-mortem form the priest’s story is a lot more powerful, and inspiring. Suddenly opinions of him change, and he is known as the noble and faithful symbol of hope. Although the government feels they have won, they cannot stop the power of mind, or the desire inside everyone to make a difference.