The Power and

the Glory
Study Guide by Course Hero

TENSE
What's Inside The Power and the Glory is written in the past tense.

ABOUT THE TITLE

j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 The verbally ironic title The Power and the Glory comes from
the expression of praise to God often recited at the end of the
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1 Christian prayer the Lord's Prayer (or Our Father): "For thine is
the kingdom and the power and glory, for ever and ever,
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 3
Amen." The religious characters in the novel, however, have no
h Characters .................................................................................................. 4 power and no glory.

k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 8

c Chapter Summaries .............................................................................. 13

d In Context
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 26

l Symbols ..................................................................................................... 29
The Mexican Revolution
m Themes ...................................................................................................... 30
Early 20th century Mexico was a site of significant social and
e Suggested Reading ............................................................................... 31 political upheaval. Since the days of the conquistadores in the
16th century, Mexico had been sharply divided into a wealthy
upper class, comprising people of Spanish heritage, and
impoverished lower classes, comprising indigenous people and
j Book Basics mestizos (part-indigenous, part Spanish). Although mestizos
formed the majority of the Mexican population, they suffered
AUTHOR under the leadership of Porfirio Díaz, president of Mexico for
Graham Greene more than 30 years and himself a mestizo. A powerful
politician, Diaz largely ignored the Mexican Constitution, set up
YEAR PUBLISHED a strong central government, and instituted policies that took
1940 land away from the people. The Mexican Revolution began in
1910, but opinions vary on its end date. Officially it lasted until
GENRE
1920, but some reforms were not implemented until the
Drama
mid-1930s, the time period in which The Power and the Glory is
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR set.
The Power and the Glory is told from the point of view of a
From 1910 to 1920 Mexico experienced incessant fighting and
third-person omniscient narrator. While the narrator tends to
a series of leaders, many of whom were assassinated. When
focus on one character per section, there are moments when
Diaz was forced to resign in 1911, Francisco Madero became
multiple character perspectives are considered.
president, remaining in office only a few years before he was
The Power and the Glory Study Guide In Context 2

arrested and assassinated. Victoriano Huerta, who succeeded Power and the Glory, Greene raises universal questions about
him, proved as much of a despot as Diaz, and a revolutionary beliefs and power and their influence on human behavior.
group—including General Alvaro Obregón, Pancho Villa, and
Venustiano Carranza—rose against him. After a power Early in the book, Greene's priest expresses frustration with

struggle, Carranza became president and oversaw the writing defeatist ideologies: "everyone says ... you do no good ... hear

of a constitution granting the president considerable power, them saying it all over the world." Published in 1940, The Power

limiting the power of the Catholic Church, and returning land to and the Glory came at a time when England was fighting a

the people—issues that arise in The Power and the Glory. After lonely battle against the Nazis. The United States was heavily

Carranza was killed, Obregon took power only to lose it. In isolationist, reluctant to become involved in a "European war."

1934 Lázaro Cárdenas became president, and the reforms of

the 1917 Constitution were finally implemented. This seems to
be what the lieutenant refers to in the novel, as he keeps Socialism and Religion
thinking back to "five years ago."
One of the central conflicts in the book is between socialism
(the government, represented by the lieutenant) and religion
The 1930s (represented by the priest). Socialism is a political and
economic system in which the government—with consent of

Published in 1940, The Power and the Glory is set in 1938 the governed—owns and controls most aspects of the

during the period of the Great Depression, when many production, distribution, and exchange of goods. A socialist

countries still suffered under the economic hardships that system generally results in more even distribution of wealth

began with the Stock Market Crash of 1929. As a result, the than a capitalist system, which tends to create large gaps

appeal of socialism gained popularity. As people lost jobs and between owners and workers. In the 1930s Soviet Russia was

savings and struggled to support their families, capitalist the largest socialist country in the world, although its socialist

countries, such as the United States and Britain, faced bank principles extended to Marxism, based on the ideas of

failures, worker strikes, and various manifestations of Prussian philosopher Karl Marx, which had no use for religion

government instability. In the United States, for example, and, in fact, outlawed it. The Mexican Revolution (1910–20)

President Hoover ordered the U.S. Army to disperse a group of incorporated socialist ideologies, including a reduction in the

veterans peacefully protesting because the government had power of the Catholic Church.

not paid them what they were owed after World War I
Nikolai Lenin, one of the leaders of the revolution in Russia,
(1914–18).
described religion as oppression. Karl Marx, author of The

In the 1930s the Communist government appeared to be Communist Manifesto (1848), saw it as the "opium of the

creating a utopia in Russia, largely based on people" because many church leaders taught their followers to

communist/socialist principles. Of course, 1930s Communist be obedient and unquestioning toward their masters and to

Russia was far from what the government-controlled media give their money to the church. The church, therefore,

claimed; but unaware of the reality, many people in Western operated like a drug on the poor and perpetuated the

countries became convinced that socialism provided the expectations of the rich. Church leaders, who often were well

answer to the world's problems. educated and lived comfortably, had more in common with rich
landowners than with the poor who attended their parishes.
By the late 1930s and 1940s, some of the intellectual Priests implored poor believers to be patient with their
enthusiasts of socialism began to rethink their beliefs. Details suffering on Earth because they would be rewarded in Heaven.
emerged from Soviet Russia that suggested it did not match Greene uses some of this rhetoric in The Power and the Glory
the socialist utopia some imagined. In Spain, the Civil War as the priest gives his homily during Mass.
demonstrated that socialists and communists could turn on
each other in difficult times. In Mexico, where Graham Greene Because the Catholic Church tended to support owners rather

visited, the socialist government frequently experienced a than workers, socialists saw the church and its representatives

state of turmoil, which could turn vicious toward its own as the enemy, going so far as to advocate for the elimination of

people. Although writing specifically about Mexico in The religion, particularly religions in which churches held immense

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Author Biography 3

wealth. When socialist revolutionaries took over in Mexico, they mortal sin, in fact, that can lead to eternal damnation.
tried to eliminate the Catholic Church from the country, with
varying degrees of success.

a Author Biography
Catholicism
In The Power and the Glory, the Mexican government has Early Career
outlawed the practice of Catholicism and, consequently,
priests from doing their work. Priests are expected to live Henry Graham Greene was born in Berkhamsted,
differently from ordinary people, the vow of celibacy being Hertfordshire, England, on October 2, 1904. Greene attended
among the major differences. Catholic priests are not the Berkhamsted School, at which his father was headmaster
permitted to marry or have any kind of sexual relationships, and where the author proved to be a rebellious student. After
because their love and devotion belong to God. Priests also are attempting suicide by playing Russian roulette and running
expected to behave in a respectable and dignified manner. The away from school, he was sent to London. There, he lived in
whisky priest in The Power and the Glory meets none of these the home of the psychoanalyst who treated him. Later Greene
expectations. Furthermore, some priests may take a vow of attended Balliol College, Oxford, where he converted to
poverty, meaning they choose to live simply and spend their Roman Catholicism, primarily because of Vivien Dayrell-
money helping those in need. The whisky priest and the others Browning, a devout convert to Catholicism he married in 1927,
he knows have not taken such a vow—or if they have, they do the year after his conversion.
not follow it. On the contrary, they live comfortably and are well
After Oxford, Greene moved to London and worked as an
provided for.
editor at The Times to pay the bills while also doing his own
Until the mid-20th century, the Mass was said in Latin, the writing. The success of his first novel, The Man Within (1929),
language of the Catholic Church for hundreds of years. Not allowed him to leave The Times and work for The Spectator as
until the 1960s could priests say Mass in the native language of literary editor and film critic. He continued to write novels,
their congregation. The Mass is one of the central events of which were moderately successful. These early novels were
Catholic life, and Catholics are expected to attend Mass every thrillers: fast-paced, suspenseful "entertainments," as Greene
week. The priest reads from the Bible and gives a lecture called them, although they usually explored deeper themes and
about the reading, followed by the Eucharist, also called moral issues.
Communion. The Eucharist is a symbolic reenactment of the
Last Supper, at which Jesus shared bread and wine with his
disciples as a way to bond with them before his capture and International Travel and
crucifixion. Because Catholics believe the priest transforms
bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ, called Intrigue
transubstantiation, strict rules govern the handling of the bread
and wine, and this is brought up in The Power and the Glory. During World War II (1939–45), Greene was recruited as an
agent with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), which reports
Catholics also believe in the concept of sin. When people sin, to the Foreign Office, and sent to Sierra Leone in Africa to spy
they do something wrong in the eyes of God and thus cause on the activities of the Vichy government there. After the war,
disappointment or anger. Serious sins are known as mortal Greene traveled the world as a freelance journalist, also
sins, whereas more trivial ones are venial sins. A person should seeking settings for his novels. Separated from his wife and
not take communion while in a state of sin. To remove sin one having left England, Greene was attracted to countries
must go to confession, at which the sinner tells the priest what undergoing political upheaval, and he continued to write novels
wrongdoing was committed. The priest then gives an set in international hot spots, where revolutions, civil wars, or
assignment for penance—usually prayers to make up for the other unrest surrounded him. The Quiet American (1956) is set
wrongdoing. The whisky priest struggles greatly with hearing in Vietnam during the anti-French uprisings in the early 1950s;
people's confessions when he is in a state of sin himself,

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Characters 4

Our Man in Havana (1958) in Cuba just before the communist

revolution; A Burnt-Out Case (1961) in the Belgian Congo Critical Reception of The
shortly before the country won independence; and The
Comedians (1966) in Haiti under the dictatorship of François Power and the Glory
Duvalier.
The Power and the Glory was received with critical acclaim and
His travels kept him on the move for decades, as he not only is still considered by many to be Greene's finest work.
wrote about but became involved with those close to the However, the Catholic Church condemned the novel for years,
action, including Dictator Fidel Castro in Cuba. In fact, the although Greene later reported Pope Paul VI had personally
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had a file on Greene, assured him his novels were not blasphemous. Clearly the
because of his communist leanings, and watched his activities characters of the priest and former priest in The Power and the
closely. Glory pose questions about clerical behavior and motivation at
the time.

Major Works and Catholicism

Death and Legacy
Brighton Rock, published in 1938, was one of the first of
Greene's novels to explore Catholic themes. Following an Greene died of leukemia in Switzerland on April 3, 1991, after a
adolescent criminal raised as a Catholic, the book addresses career spanning more than 60 years that included short
questions about guilt, faith, and responsibility. Greene delved stories, plays, poetry, essays, and screenplays. Although
more deeply into these themes with his next novel, which many shortlisted, he never won the Nobel Prize, an oversight many
consider his finest: The Power and the Glory (1940), based on find highly questionable, for he was a widely known writer
his travels in Mexico. whose work had great popular appeal and at the same time
explored deep and abiding religious, moral, and political issues.
Some of Greene's books are similar to spy novels, based on his
intelligence work, but Greene typically dug deeply into moral

h Characters
and ethical questions, trying to find God or truth in the midst of
geopolitical intrigue. Greene's novels feature questionable
characters facing moral or spiritual crises usually in settings of
upheaval or decadence. He focuses on sinners, not saints:
decadent or corrupt anti-heroes who perform heroic acts. The Priest
threat of menace, or evil, is always present, as are danger and
depravity. Sharp dialogue, exciting plots, and fast-paced text Known only as "the priest" or "the whisky priest,"
make his novels compelling to read and provide moral issues acknowledging his alcoholism, he is educated, having spent
for readers to contemplate. some years studying in the United States, and once enjoyed
the status of the priesthood. The son of a storekeeper, he
As a writer deeply interested in religion and politics, Greene
became a priest not because of a religious calling but because
objected to being categorized as a "Catholic novelist," the title
of the comfortable lives priests enjoyed. As the last priest in
possibly implying thematic limitations or expectations. He
Mexico known to the authorities, he has neither fled nor
preferred to be considered a novelist who happened to be
renounced the priesthood by marrying. Instead he remains, on
Catholic, and later he considered himself a "Catholic atheist," in
the verge of flight but never following through, and ministers
that he disapproved of traditional piety and found it difficult, if
secretly to those who need him. He says later he became
not impossible, to believe in God, heaven, and hell. But he did
proud of being the only priest left and stayed longer than he
believe in the mysticism and magic of Catholicism and in its
should have. He has conceived a child and commits many other
doctrines.
sins, small and large. He sees himself as a bad man and a bad
priest, someone who should not be a martyr, but he still fulfills
his duties, even when those duties lead to his death.

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Characters 5

Lieutenant
The lieutenant is an Indian, someone who seems to have been
very badly treated in pre-revolutionary Mexico. Now, he has
power and wants to remake the entire world so no child ever
suffers the way he did. He is ruthless in his pursuit of the priest
but shows unexpected generosity. He is bothered by the priest
because the man is honest with him, not arrogant or
judgmental, and, in the end, he feels regret about the priest's
death, although he does not want to admit it.

Mestizo
The mestizo is a poor man who has lived a hard life. His
defining physical feature is his lack of teeth; only the canines
remain. He is sneaky and manipulative, always looking out for
himself. He wants to turn in the priest to get the reward, but he
wants to do it on his own terms so he doesn't have to share the
reward with anyone. Once he has betrayed the priest, he still
asks for forgiveness.

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Characters 6

Character Map

Lieutenant
Socialist police officer;
opposes religion

Pursuer

Priest
Alcoholic, sinful man on the
run; continues to serve
despite ban
Illegitimate
daughter

Betrayer

Brigitta Mestizo
Malicious six-year-old; Menacing half-Indian man;
illegitimate daughter pursues the priest for money

Main Character

Other Major Character

Minor Character

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Characters 7

Full Character List Also called "the Yankee" or "the

American," James Calver is a criminal
Gringo
hiding out in Mexico and wanted for
bank robbery and homicide.
Character Description

Weak and burdened with guilt and

A Roman Catholic priest now in hiding
regret, Padre José is a priest who
and on the run because religion is
Priest chose to marry his housekeeper to
against the law. He is an alcoholic and
avoid being shot or having to leave.
a bad priest, but a good man. Padre José
He feels living his present life is a kind
of martyrdom, worse than the
A police officer who pursues the traditional kind, which involves death
priest, the lieutenant is a devoted rather than lifelong torment.
Lieutenant
Socialist who hates religion and wants
to remake the world.
A German-​American woman who lives
with her brother in a safer region of
A half-​Indian man, a Judas figure, also Miss Lehr Mexico, Miss Lehr is sympathetic to
called the "half-​caste," the mestizo the priest, who stays with her and her
Mestizo brother for a few days.
ultimately betrays the priest to the
authorities to get the reward money.
An elderly German-​American man
The whisky priest's illegitimate child, who lives with his sister in a safer
Brigitta is a strange girl, mature region in Mexico, Mr. Lehr does not
Brigitta Mr. Lehr
beyond her years and inclined to exactly support the priest but permits
malicious behavior. him to stay on their property for a few
days.

The Chief of Police is the lieutenant's

boss, whom the lieutenant refers to as Luis is a 14-​year-​old boy frustrated by
jefe (Spanish for "boss"). Suffering his mother's obsession with a
Chief of Police religious book, for he admires the
from toothache throughout the book,
he is happy to let the lieutenant take Luis heroes of the Mexican Revolution, not
charge of the hunt for the priest. the Christian martyrs. After the priest
is killed, Luis becomes more
interested in priests and religion.
Captain Fellows is an American army
veteran and head of the Central
American Banana Company; cheerful Brigitta's mother, Maria is a poor
Captain Fellows woman who had sex with the whisky
and ineffectual, he is content to let his
teenage daughter manage the banana priest and bluntly admits her
plantation. Maria willingness to be "the priest's woman"
if it helps her. Now that it doesn't, she
has no further interest in the priest
The daughter of Captain and Mrs. but does not turn him in to the police.
Fellows, 13-​year-​old Coral is the one
who really manages the outpost. She
Coral Fellows Pedro is a poor villager across the
hides the priest one night and offers
him a place if he ever comes back; he border who kisses the priest's hand
Pedro
does, but she is gone, probably dead. and promises to attend Mass the next
day.

Coral's sickly mother, Mrs. Fellows

Mrs. Fellows spends most of her time whining A scholarly, bitter, and law-​abiding
about how difficult everything is. man, the schoolmaster ignores the
priest; when the priest offers the
Schoolmaster
schoolmaster the money he has
The governor's cousin uses his status earned from baptisms, the
Governor's
as the governor's relative to protect schoolmaster is grudgingly grateful.
cousin
him while he sells alcohol illegally.

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Plot Summary 8

Mr. Tench is an alienated British

dentist living in Mexico estranged
Part 2
Mr. Tench from his family. He is friendly to the
priest at the start of the book and is The priest travels to the home of a former lover, Maria, and his
saddened to witness his death. daughter, Brigitta. The child, Brigitta, is now six, and he has not
seen her in years. Maria insists the villagers allow him to stay.
The Indian woman meets the priest as However, now the lieutenant is taking hostages, and the priest
Indian woman
she carries a child who has been shot.
is no longer welcome. He says Mass for them, but the
lieutenant and his men interrupt. Maria and Brigitta protect the
In the communal jail cell, the pious priest, but the lieutenant takes another man from the village as
woman argues with the priest,
Pious woman encouraging him to avoid his sinful a hostage. The priest leaves. Along the way, he meets a
ways; when he says he cannot, she mestizo, a half-Indian, half-Spanish man. The mestizo suspects
criticizes him. he is a priest and wants to turn him in for the reward, but the
priest escapes.

In another town, the priest attempts to buy some wine for

k Plot Summary saying Mass, as well as some brandy for himself. Possession of
alcohol is illegal, and he is arrested and thrown in jail, even
though he made the purchase from the Governor's cousin. In

Part 1 the communal jail cell, no one recognizes him. Almost relieved
to be captured, he admits he is a priest, but his cellmates do
not give him up. The next morning, however, the mestizo spots
On a hot afternoon in Mexico in 1938, Mr. Tench, an English
him. The mestizo now lives with the police so he is available to
dentist, waits for a boat. He strikes up a conversation with
identify the priest, but he chooses to say nothing at this time
another English-speaking man who claims to be a "quack"
because he enjoys the easy life he is living at the expense of
doctor. In truth, the man is a priest, now in hiding because the
the police and wishes to collect the reward for capturing the
revolutionary government has forbidden the practice of
priest himself. The priest is summoned before the lieutenant,
Catholicism, and priests must either leave or marry. He is a
who still does not recognize him, even though an old picture
"whisky priest," an alcoholic priest who has stayed in Tabasco,
hangs in the police station. Instead, the lieutenant releases the
a southern Mexican state, during a Catholic purge but now
priest and even gives him a little money.
intends to escape on the boat to Vera Cruz. However, when a
child brings news of a sick woman, the priest goes with the The priest returns to the banana outpost, but the Fellows
child and gives up his chance of fleeing. family is gone. The priest encounters an Indian woman with a
nearly dead child. Apparently the child was shot accidentally
In the capital city, a police lieutenant is eager to destroy any
during a standoff with the Gringo. The priest and the woman
reminder of "the old days." He is hunting the priest, as well as
travel together until they reach consecrated ground, where the
an American criminal, the Gringo, wanted for bank robbery and
woman leaves her now-deceased child. The priest continues to
murder. The lieutenant sees the priest as the biggest threat to
wander, soon becoming ill. Eventually, he finds himself in a safe
his community and gets permission to take hostages to force
place across the state border in a village that has not outlawed
villagers to give up the priest.
religious practices.
The lieutenant visits a banana company outpost, where he
meets the Fellows family: Captain Fellows, his wife, and his 13-
year-old daughter, Coral. Coral refuses to let the lieutenant Part 3
search the outpost where the priest, now on the run, is hiding.
The priest stays overnight and then moves on. The priest stays with Mr. and Miss Lehr, a Lutheran brother
and sister. They don't exactly approve of him, but they agree to
let him stay for a time until he regains his strength. The priest
hears confessions and arranges for Mass and baptisms. As he

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Plot Summary 9

becomes more of a functioning priest out of hiding, he can feel

himself slipping back into the way he behaved before, in better
days: speaking disdainfully to people and demanding they pay
heavily for his services. After he says Mass, however, the
mestizo is waiting for him.

The mestizo says the American criminal has been shot. He is

dying and wants the priest. Although the priest does not
believe the mestizo and senses a trap, he goes anyway. The
American is still alive when he arrives and tries to send the
priest away so the priest will not be captured. As soon as the
American dies, the lieutenant appears.

Since it is raining too hard to travel, the priest and the

lieutenant retreat inside. They discuss their differing views on
people and religion. The lieutenant thinks the priest is a good
man, despite his religious occupation. They travel back to the
city, where the priest is put on trial and convicted in his
absence. The night before the priest's execution, the lieutenant
brings the priest some alcohol and leaves him alone in his cell.
The priest tries to envision his own confession, but struggles to
regret the sin of Brigitta.

Part 4
The next morning is the day of the priest's execution. Captain
and Mrs. Fellows have not changed, but something
unspeakable has happened to Coral, who is no longer with
them. The Chief of Police, suffering from toothache, summons
Mr. Tench, the dentist. As Mr. Tench sets up, he witnesses the
priest's execution. Disturbed, Mr. Tench vows he will leave
Mexico. That night another priest, newly arrived, is quietly
welcomed at the home of Luis, who opens the door and invites
him inside.

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Plot Summary 10

Plot Diagram

Climax

7
10 Falling Action
Rising Action
6
11
5

4 12

3 Resolution

2
1

Introduction

Introduction Climax

1. The hunted priest talks with Mr. Tench and misses the boat. 9. Attending to the dying American, the priest is arrested.

Rising Action Falling Action

2. The lieutenant proposes taking hostages. 10. The priest and the lieutenant talk about their beliefs.

3. The priest is almost caught visiting Maria and Brigitta. 11. The priest is executed.

4. The priest meets the venal mestizo.

5. The priest is arrested for possessing alcohol.

Resolution
6. The lieutenant doesn't recognize him and lets him go.
12. Another priest is welcomed to town.
7. The exhausted priest wanders until he finds a safe village.

8. Aware of a trap, the priest willingly goes with the mestizo.

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Plot Summary 11

Timeline of Events

One afternoon in 1938

The priest, planning to escape a ban on religion, meets

Mr. Tench.

A week later

The lieutenant wants hostages to force the priest out of

hiding.

A few days later

The priest hides out at the banana company outpost.

Several days later

The priest is almost caught visiting Maria and Brigitta.

The next day

The priest meets the mestizo, who tries to get him

arrested.

Several days later

The priest is arrested and jailed for buying alcohol.

The next morning

The mestizo sees the priest in jail but does not tell the
lieutenant.

A few minutes later

The lieutenant releases the priest without knowing who

he is.

A week later

The priest returns to the banana outpost and finds it

deserted.

Two days later

After wandering for days and growing ill, the priest finds
a friendly village across the border.

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Plot Summary 12

Three days later

The priest stays with the Lehrs and begins to grow

comfortable.

The next day

The priest says Mass and hears confessions.

After Mass

The mestizo asks the priest to hear the injured

American's confession before he dies.

Several hours later

Against reason, the priest returns to hear the criminal's

confession and is caught.

That night

The priest and the lieutenant talk about their different

points of view before returning.

A day later

The priest is executed.

That night

Another priest is welcomed to the town.

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Chapter Summaries 13

uncomfortable—nauseous, in fact—for no discernible reason

c Chapter Summaries other than the water, which by this time he should be used to.
With the continual presence of illness and pain, Greene builds
a sense of discomfort from the very beginning. Mr. Tench also

Part 1, Chapter 1 allows the reader to see the main character, the priest, through
another's eyes. Initially, this character seems to be only a poor
man, but readers learn he is a priest known simply as the
priest, or the whisky priest. Readers also may note the spelling
Summary of whisky, which is the spelling indicating Scotch rather than
Irish or American whiskey. Mr. Tench notices the priest's
In a small town in Mexico, Mr. Tench, a British dentist, goes out
"protuberant eyes" and "impression of unstable hilarity, as if
to the port to fetch an ether cylinder being delivered on a ship.
perhaps he had been celebrating a birthday, alone." Indeed, the
Mr. Tench is unhealthy: something is wrong with his stomach,
man is in poor physical shape, with an aura of death about him,
and he continually forgets what he must do. Mr. Tench sees a
in his "hollowness and neglect." His "dark suit and sloping
pretty girl on the arriving boat and in English comments on her
shoulders reminded [Mr. Tench] uncomfortably of a coffin." If
looks. A man near him responds in English, to Mr. Tench's
the priest reminds Mr. Tench of death, Mr. Tench appears as a
surprise. Although the man is Mexican, he speaks some
man devoid of real feeling, spiritually numb, and his shipment of
English. Poorly dressed and carrying a cheap novel, he tells Mr.
ether—an anesthetic—appropriately comments on his
Tench he is a "quack," a seller of "patent medicines." Mr. Tench
character.
regularly says "ora pro nobis" as a casual expression, which
startles the man. The man offers to share some brandy he has, In this chapter, Greene doesn't state the man is a priest, but he
and Mr. Tench invites him home, assuring him there is time to does supply hints. The man is startled by Mr. Tench's use of
catch the boat. ora pro nobis, the Latin term meaning "pray for us." Until the
mid-20th century, the Catholic Mass was recited in Latin, and
The men talk and drink. Mr. Tench reminisces about his family,
the unidentified priest asks if Mr. Tench is Catholic. It is a
and the man wonders what the town was like "before the Red
strange phrase to use in casual conversation, yet Mr. Tench
Shirts came." Mr. Tench insists there was little difference, but
does so multiple times. When the two men discuss events in
the man says the people had God then. The man and Mr.
the country, the stranger mentions how the people used to
Tench talk about catching the boat to Vera Cruz. A child
have God; when they depart, he offers to pray for Mr. Tench.
knocks on the door, asking for a doctor. The stranger is
Most significant, Mr. Tench finds the stranger's novel with its
unhappy about going, but he gathers his things, saying he is
deceptive cover—called La Eterna Martír (The Eternal Martyr) is
"meant to miss" the boat. Mr. Tench reflects on how good it
in fact a book written in Latin—not something most people
was to talk to someone, even a stranger. He finds the
would carry around in such times, and whose title foreshadows
stranger's novel, which was left behind. Inside the book is not a
the stranger's destiny.
story at all, but something written in Latin. Mr. Tench hides the
book, uneasy. Greene offers multiple clues about the times. There are
repeated references to generals: the statue of an "ex-general
Meanwhile, the stranger leaves with the child. He hates the
... ex-human being" that Mr. Tench passes and the boat named
child and the sick woman who have kept him from catching the
for General Obregon, the revolutionary leader and former
boat. He thinks himself "unworthy of what he carried" and
president of Mexico. Obregon was assassinated by a Catholic
hopes to be caught soon.
man who blamed him for the persecution of the Church.
Whether the statue and the boat both refer to Obregon is
unclear, but the country does seem to have gone through more
Analysis than its share of political turmoil. In addition, Mr. Tench refers
to various government rules about alcohol, and he talks with
Greene starts with a minor character—Mr. Tench, the
the priest about a man named Lopez, who helped people
dentist—to provide an outsider's perspective. Mr. Tench is not
escape and who was shot. When someone knocks at Mr.
Mexican and not clear on anything, even his own plans. He is
Tench's door, he hesitates to open it. Life in Mexico is neither

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Chapter Summaries 14

straightforward nor safe. anticlerical sentiments are similar; both want to rid the area of
the last remaining priest. The lieutenant suggests they take a
Mr. Tench often compares himself to the stranger. Both speak hostage from each village and shoot the person if the villagers
English, both enjoy a drink, and both are "educated." He talks don't stop protecting the priest. With the chief willing to
about how the man can get away to Vera Cruz, although he consider the idea, the lieutenant heads home, thinking about
himself cannot afford to leave. Yet the man's behavior at the life before the Revolution. He hates life as it was during his
end of the chapter demonstrates his inability to leave. In a way, childhood and wishes he could wipe out everything from
he also has invested in this place and cannot afford to leave. before five years ago.

The priest is full of self-loathing. When he first speaks to Mr. The scene shifts to a family's home. A mother reads to her two
Tench, he refers to himself as a "quack," a questionable doctor little girls while her teenage son listens reluctantly. The mother
who uses phony medicines and promises cures. Although reads about Juan, a young Mexican boy who suffers
some characters in the book might consider priests as quacks persecution because of his faith and who ends up as a martyr.
because they promise what cannot be seen or guaranteed, like The girls listen, but the boy asks questions about a "whisky
salvation and heaven, the priest genuinely believes in his faith, priest" who visited them, a religious man who is often drunk.
despite his questionable behavior. He calls himself a quack The mother is embarrassed by the whisky priest, but she still
because his sinfulness makes him "unworthy of what he helped him. She considers him better than Padre José.
carried," referring figuratively to the religious items he brings
with him to celebrate the Mass, including the liturgical text he Padre José was a priest. When the government gave priests a
accidentally leaves behind. To Catholics, the priest carries the choice to be executed or to renounce their faith and marry as
ability to transform bread and wine into the body and blood of proof of renunciation, Padre José married his housekeeper;
Jesus Christ during Holy Communion. The whisky priest sees now, he suffers for his choice. He believes himself damned
himself as an unworthy vessel for such a task. But, he does not because he has forsaken God and envies the priests who were
flee. He is the only priest, and a priest has an obligation. Later executed. Padre José feels the executed priests suffered less
in the book he explains his thinking and why he did not flee. At than he does, because their deaths were quick.
this point in the book, Greene wants the reader to understand
the priest's perspective and his belief that he cannot escape.
Analysis
Part 1, Chapter 2 This chapter introduces the lieutenant, a passionate supporter
of revolutionary ideals, eager to kill priests to protect his land
from religion. However, in a way, the lieutenant is a priestlike
figure himself. He dresses neatly and has ambition. He has "no
Summary need of women," and his room is compared to a "monastic
cell." The narrator observes "something of a priest in his intent
A squad of police, led by a lieutenant, returns to the police
observant walk." Yet, he has all the fervor and discipline the
station. The lieutenant seeks out his jefe, his boss, the Chief of
whisky priest lacks. As a priest dedicates his life to a higher
Police, in pain from a toothache. He has just seen the governor
purpose, the lieutenant dedicates his life to making the country
of the state, who is angry because a priest is loose in their
better than it was in his childhood. The lieutenant has difficult
region. When the lieutenant mentions not having a photograph
memories from childhood, which reflect poverty, discrimination,
of the priest, the governor produces one from an old
and perhaps mistreatment or lack of sympathy from Church
newspaper. The lieutenant hangs the photo on the wall next to
officials. He believes a post-revolution, post-religion Mexico will
a mug shot of James Calver, an American criminal on the run in
be better for everyone.
Mexico. The priest, the son of a storekeeper, speaks English
and can "pass" for a gringo (non-Latino) as well. In the early 20th century, many younger people turned from
traditional religions and embraced new theories and ideals.
Showing intense anger toward the priest and considering him a
Marxist and socialist beliefs rejected religion as
threat, the lieutenant shows approval of, even admiration for,
counterproductive, or reactionary, in newer economic and
the American criminal, "a man at any rate." The chief's

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Chapter Summaries 15

social systems. Thus, many young people embraced Marxism

and socialism as their parents or grandparents had embraced Part 1, Chapter 3
religion. The lieutenant is one of those young people. Centuries
earlier, Catholics used the Inquisition to eliminate those they
thought were an evil influence; now with similar fervor, the Summary
lieutenant will do the same to eliminate the priests.
Captain Fellows, a cheerful man, is the administrator of an
From a portrait of a true believer in radical, anticlerical outpost of the Central American Banana Company. His wife is
socialism, the author shifts to one of a family led by a true ill and feeble, neurotically obsessed with death and anything
believer in Catholicism. The mother reads a religious book the that can be interpreted as a reference to death, even phrases
narrator identifies as "whitewash," as the 14-year-old son like "go west" or "turn to the wall." She informs her husband of
knows as well. The book purports to tell the life story of a the arrival of a policeman the previous evening, whom their
young Mexican boy martyred for his faith. However, the story is daughter, Coral, has allowed to sleep on the veranda. Only 13,
poorly written, and the young boy is portrayed as far too good Coral is more responsible for the outpost than either of her
to be true, and thus unbelievable and unsympathetic. For parents and insists her father see the policeman.
modern readers, this book might be analogous to the worst
kind of TV after-school special with unrealistic dialogue used The policeman—the lieutenant—searches for the priest.
to preach an obvious moral. The mother attempts to use the Captain Fellows says the priest is not there and assures the
book to bolster her children's faith at a time when Mass is lieutenant they are not Catholic. The lieutenant leaves, thinking
forbidden and priests are few and far between. In fact, the the Fellowses will turn the priest in and spitting to show his
children have seen only two: the whisky priest and Padre José. hatred. Coral announces she did not allow the police to search
Although the mother maintains an outward show of respect their property because the priest hides in one of their buildings.
toward the whisky priest, in private conversation she Captain Fellows wants to send him away, but then advises the
expresses her doubts about his behavior. She repeats a rumor priest to wait until after dark for safety. The priest asks for
about the whisky priest baptizing a child as "Brigitta." At the some brandy; his obvious need for alcohol offends Captain
moment, the rumor serves as another example of the whisky Fellows.
priest's failings, although later the name will carry additional
Against her father's wishes, Coral brings the priest some food
significance.
and a bottle of beer. Full of curiosity, she asks the priest many
If the whisky priest presents one example of a religious man's questions but has little ability to understand his thoughts.
failings, Padre José presents another. Indeed, they seem foils When she encourages the priest to get away or to renounce
for each other. The elderly Padre José chose to renounce his his faith, he indicates he has no ability to do so: "This is my
calling and marry to avoid fleeing or being executed. His parish ... it's out of my power." Having finished the beer, the
marriage is far from pleasant; he married his housekeeper, a priest readies himself to leave. Coral tells him to come back if
woman he neither loves nor desires, who appreciates him only he needs help. He is reluctant, but she likes the idea and
because they have a decent amount of money. José spends teaches him some Morse code so he can signal to her if he
much of his time regretting his choice, seeing himself as a returns.
"sacrilege," an unholy use of a holy object, because as a priest
Later "the stranger" enters a small village where an old man
he still had the power "of turning the wafer into the flesh and
recognizes him as the priest. The priest asks if they have any
blood of God." José knows himself to be "in a continuous state
drink, any food, or a place to rest. The old man says they have
of mortal sin." In Catholic teachings, mortal sins could condemn
little but agrees to have a boy stand guard so the priest can
one's soul to hell. Padre José believes he has made a terrible
sleep. Yet before the priest can fall asleep, the old man begins
choice and must live with it. He is no more worthy to represent
to whine about how long it has been since he had the
God than the whisky priest. Padre José views the executed
sacrament of confession. He complains until the priest agrees
priests as martyrs. However, by living in a state of suffering,
to hear his confession, although the priest drifts in and out of
Padre José may endure more than the quick death of the
sleep through most of it. The old man begs to have the village
executed priests.
women confess as well, and the exhausted priest begins to

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Chapter Summaries 16

weep from fatigue. The old man interprets it as weeping for confirmation, matrimony, and taking holy orders are once-in-a-
their sins and hurries to bring the women, even though they lifetime sacraments, according to Catholic teaching, whereas
complain about participating so late at night. confession and the Eucharist are practiced frequently. Thus,
the priest's arrival is so important for believers. After hearing a
penitent's confession, the priest may give advice and assign
Analysis penance, which usually is the recitation of prayers on the
rosary, a string of beads each containing a prayer; the whisky
This chapter introduces the Fellows family: Captain Fellows, priest assigns such penance in this chapter. The old man's
his ill—or hypochondriac—wife, and their oddly precocious eagerness to have his confession heard is understandable, for
daughter, Coral. The priest's interactions seem to take place dying without confession can lead to eternal damnation. But
mostly with people who live outside of society in some way. As because confession focuses so much on the sinful nature of
foreigners, the Fellows family and Mr. Tench, introduced in people, it must be painful for the priest to listen to confessions,
Chapter 1, are outsiders. As Mr. Tench responds to life in hence his reluctance. In addition, he is exhausted and less than
Mexico by complaining of a vague, unspecified illness, the eager to perform church rites, despite his calling and refusal to
Fellows family members also have their own ways of coping. abandon it. He is only human, as are the people in the town. He
Captain Fellows doesn't really need to cope, however, for he is also is well aware of his own sins, but to whom can he
happy in this dangerous place: "In only one other country had confess?
he felt more happy ... wartime France, in the ravaged landscape
of the trenches." Captain Fellows thrives in dangerous
environments. On the other hand, his wife does not and suffers Part 1, Chapter 4
from crippling anxiety and physical illnesses, which may or may
not be imagined.

Then there is Coral, the young girl who somehow runs the Summary
entire operation for her parents. Throughout the book, children,
who represent the future, are often at odds with adults, and Starting to write a letter to his estranged wife, Mr. Tench finds

Coral is one of these. She knows how to manage the himself thinking back to the strange man who shared a drink

policeman better than her father does. The policeman is in fact with him. Padre José goes for a walk in the graveyard, hoping

the lieutenant already introduced and not an easy man to to avoid the children who tease him. Instead he meets a family

"manage." Yet Coral knows how to do it. She doesn't believe in burying a young child. They ask him to say a prayer for the

God, having lost her faith when she was 10, but nevertheless child's soul, but he refuses. His action causes the family more

chooses to help the priest, even promising she will "never grief than the five-year-old child's death itself, for "they had

forgive them" if they kill him. She shows kindness and been used to losing children, but they hadn't been used to ...

humanity, traits that seem lacking in many others, certainly the hope which peters out."

among the believers who give the priest nothing, not even the
As for other bystanders, Coral, being educated at home by her
rest he needs so badly. Coral is an unusual blend of adult and
mother, is continuing to manage her parents' responsibilities
child. She understands the risks involved in helping the priest
even though she too is not well. When Coral asks her mother
and finds ways to minimize them. She takes on her parents'
whether she believes in God and the virgin birth, Mrs. Fellows
responsibilities but cannot see why the priest feels an
gets upset. In another home the Catholic mother is still reading
obligation to his community. She protects the priest from the
to her children about the sainted Juan, but her son Luis, who
lieutenant, but is childlike enough to envision flashing Morse
admires the revolutionaries rather than the Christian martyr,
code signals to the priest on the run in the jungle.
complains until he is sent out of the room to talk to his father.

Near the end of the chapter, Greene shows the priest "at Although not much of a believer, the father tells his son the

work," hearing confessions, now known as the Sacrament of Church provided a sense of community. Later, Luis encounters

Reconciliation. Sacraments are rites Catholics believe to be the lieutenant in the street. The lieutenant has just received

symbols of God's blessing on Earth. A person can receive the permission from the Chief of Police to take hostages to force

sacraments from a religious figure, usually a priest. Baptism, the priest out of hiding. Although the lieutenant is distracted,

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Chapter Summaries 17

he appreciates Luis's fascination with his gun, and they have a book the lieutenant is of Indian ancestry; native Mexicans were
friendly moment before the boy runs off. mistreated and abused by Mexicans of Spanish descent, and
thus the lieutenant might have faced discrimination while
growing up and indifference, if not hostility, from the Catholic
Analysis Church, which, the narrator suggests throughout the book,
turned its back on the poor.
The first three chapters are named for locations, but this one
focuses on the characters whose lives coincide with the
priest's. The narrator devotes part of the chapter to updating Part 2, Chapter 1
readers on the progress of minor plotlines that will resurface
later. Greene provides an assortment of characters with
different viewpoints on the priest, religion, and the country of
Mexico. This helps the reader compare and contrast these
Summary
various perspectives.
The priest heads to an unnamed village. Although he

The focus of the chapter is Luis: his lack of interest in religion associates the village with sin, the priest happily goes there.

and his revolutionary fervor. The boy finds his mother's When he arrives, his sin becomes clear: he had a sexual

religious book unbelievable. No doubt Greene chooses a relationship with a woman named Maria, and they have a six-

hyperbolic and stiff style for the story about Juan to encourage year-old daughter, Brigitta, whom he has not seen since she

readers to sympathize with young Luis. Just as Juan burns with was born.

excitement about religion, Luis burns with enthusiasm about

No one in the village is happy to see him, including Maria, and
the revolutionary "gospel" and the "martyrs" who died for the
he learns the police are executing hostages in an attempt to
cause. He describes playing with his friends: "I was Madero:
locate him. He promises to stay for only a few hours: sleep a
Pedro had to be Huerta ... Manuel ... he was Carranza."
little, say Mass, and then leave. He struggles to sleep because
Francisco Madera was president of Mexico until he was
he wonders about Brigitta and Maria. He seems to have little
assassinated, making way for Victoriano Huerta's presidency.
feeling left for Maria, but he loves Brigitta, whom the narrator
Huerta was despotic, and many, including Pancho Villa and
describes as "sharpened by hunger into an appearance of
Venustiano Carranza, fought against him. These events
devilry and malice beyond her age." Maria, too, finds her
occurred before 1920, at least a decade before Luis was born,
daughter nasty, and the narrator further describes the child as
but he believes in them far more than in his mother's religious
on the threshold of sin.
tales.
The priest is saying Mass when the police arrive. He consumes
The chapter contains two parallel scenes of mothers teaching
the communion bread and wine himself, and Maria gives him an
their children. Mrs. Fellows is teaching Coral at home, archaic
onion to bite on so his breath will not smell of wine. The
and irrelevant lessons that have little interest for Coral. She
lieutenant questions everyone in the village and seems
seems more engaged by her brief encounter with the priest,
suspicious of the priest, but Maria saves him. She insists the
prompting theological questions of her mother—much to her
priest is her husband and tells the lieutenant to ask Brigitta
mother's discomfort. The mother reading to her children does
who her father is. Seeing Brigitta point at the priest, the
not engage her son, Luis, in the story of the martyr.
lieutenant is satisfied. Once the police have left, the priest

The lieutenant sympathizes with Luis's revolutionary zeal. The prepares to leave. To protect him, Maria threw away his case

lieutenant feels a sense of happiness; his emotions could even and destroyed the stash of sacramental wine. But, in his case

be considered love for Luis and the children like him: in fact, are papers he needs, so he heads to the trash dump to find

the lieutenant is "quite prepared to make a massacre for their them. There, he encounters Brigitta and tries to tell her how

sakes." The lieutenant thinks of his own painful childhood and much he loves her and how much God loves her; she is not

wants to "begin the world again" for these children, saving interested.

them from the suffering he experienced, from "all that was

He continues traveling. Near the bank of a river he encounters
poor, superstitious, and corrupt." Greene suggests later in the
a mestizo, a half-Indian man. He tries to ask the mestizo some

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Chapter Summaries 18

questions about where to go next but gets limited answers. Yet Greene shows the priest saying Mass. Under ordinary
once he keeps going, the mestizo follows him. circumstances, Catholics would attend Mass at least every
week. During the rite, the priest reads from the Bible and then
The mestizo has guessed the priest's identity and keeps trying offers a homily on a reading, followed by the Eucharist, also
to trick him into admitting it. The priest does not trust the called communion, a re-enactment of the Last Supper, at
mestizo and avoids acknowledging anything at first. They which Jesus shared bread and wine with his disciples.
spend the night together in a hut in the jungle. The priest thinks Catholics believe the priest transforms bread and wine into the
back to life before, when he was well respected and spent his body and blood of Jesus Christ. This is what Greene means:
time handling parish business. He resents the mestizo but "God was here in the body for the first time in six years."
chastises himself for doing so. The priest thinks he is no better
than the mestizo; both are sinful. When the priest tries to Later in the chapter, another significant character, the mestizo,
escape, the mestizo hears him, and they continue on together, appears. Just as the priest and the lieutenant remain nameless,
the mestizo whining about feeling sick and asking the priest to the mestizo is always referred to by a term that emphasizes his
give him communion or do anything to intercede with God on racial background. He is part Indian and part Spanish. At this
his behalf. Finally, the priest acknowledges who he is. They time in Mexico, mestizos suffered discrimination because of
approach the next village, and the priest sends the mestizo on their mixed heritage. The priest distrusts him, although it is
alone. The mestizo grows angry—he will not get to claim a unclear whether it is because of prejudice or because he has
reward if he doesn't have the priest with him—and shouts a sensed "he was in the presence of Judas." In the Bible, Judas is
stream of abuse at the departing priest, promising, "I don't the disciple who betrays Jesus for money. The priest believes
forget a face." the mestizo will do the same and turn him in to the authorities
to collect the reward. He manages to avoid capture in this
chapter, but the mestizo's warning foreshadows the turn of
Analysis events.

In Part 1, Greene establishes the priest's need to hide from the

authorities. In Part 2, readers learn more about the priest Part 2, Chapter 2
largely through his own reflections: "He was a bad priest, he
knew it." The priest knows he is a failure, literally facing the
personification of his failure when he meets his daughter,
Brigitta. In Chapter 2, readers learn the rumor of the whisky
Summary
priest drunkenly baptizing a boy "Brigitta." Is his secret
A "man in the shabby drill suit" is sitting in the city plaza when a
daughter on his mind so much?
beggar accosts him. After some conversation, the man says he

Brigitta is a strange child, "sharpened by hunger into an wishes he could obtain wine. The beggar promises to help him

appearance of devilry and malice beyond her age." On a literal get some, and they head off. The man in the drill suit seems

level, this description makes sense: an illegitimate child, uneasy when he sees the police marching by with a mestizo

conceived by a priest and raised in poverty, would doubtless among them. The beggar urges him to keep going.

grow up faster. From a religious perspective, though, her

The man buys brandy and wine from the Governor's cousin,
knowledge is troubling. She has an adult's doubts about
who seems to expect a drink for his trouble. The man offers,
religion and repeats suggestive comments made to her by
but the cousin drinks most of the bottle of wine. The man in
other children, comments about whether the priest is "good
drill sticks to brandy. As they drink and talk, the Chief of Police
for" a woman. At age six, Brigitta should be ignorant of such
arrives and complains about finding the wayward priest, while
ideas. The priest bargains with God for her soul: he will face
he helps the cousin finish the wine. When the man in the drill
"any kind of death—without contrition, in a state of sin—only
suit begins to cry, they scold him for being drunk and send him
save this child." Clearly the priest loves his daughter; according
on his way.
to the Catholic beliefs, dying in a state of sin risks one's eternal
soul, particularly if the sins are serious, as the priest's are The man bumps into a Red Shirt (a revolutionary) who spots
indeed. Thus, he is willing to suffer for eternity to save Brigitta. his bottle, and the man—the priest, although Greene does not

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Chapter Summaries 19

name him—runs away. He goes to Padre José's house and Catholics say in confession to show God how much a sinner
asks to be hidden, but Padre José refuses. The priest is regrets the sins committed. The priest attempts to cleanse his
arrested and brought to the police station where he discovers soul before death as best as he can. He stands there, facing
his own portrait hanging on the wall. He gives them a false his own picture on the wall, and, somehow, no one recognizes
name, Montez, but is sure he will be discovered. Instead, when him.
they realize he has no money, they toss him in the communal
jail cell overnight. There are several implications in the failure to recognize the
priest. On a literal level, the priest's appearance has changed
because of his difficult life; Maria also struggled to recognize
Analysis him. He has lost weight and is more disheveled than he was at
the time of the photograph. On another level, it may also
Greene has a certain fascination with anonymity. The priest suggest something about the people chasing him. They are
never is named, and this chapter is the second time he is chasing an image, a symbol, what they think a priest looks like.
presented almost as a new character: "the man in the shabby Because the real priest does not fit their image, they overlook
drill suit." The repeated anonymity for the priest forces readers him. In the same way, Greene repeatedly uses anonymity to
to view him and his situation from the outside, paying attention draw the reader into the priest's experience without realizing
to clues in his speech and behavior to figure out what is he is a priest. A priest, as Greene recognizes, is always a
happening. It also reminds readers of the priest's external symbol. Green wants the reader to see both a man and a
appearance, something he no longer bothers about much. The symbol. The Red Shirts and officers see him solely as a man in
changed appearance and initial doubt about his identity this chapter, and that is why he survives.
contribute to the story's suspense—and there is no doubt that
part of the story is indeed a suspense story about a fugitive
and a relentless pursuer, and Greene is an expert at creating Part 2, Chapter 3
tension. This incident is also a reminder of the risks the priest
faces: he must keep moving to avoid arrest and, subsequently,
execution. The reader may feel judgmental about the priest Summary
and his many weaknesses. By removing those personal details,
Greene pushes the reader to consider the priest as a generic The priest is locked in a communal cell. Some cellmates
individual. Should any person feel as hunted as the priest complain about the crowding, about a lack of water, and about
does? Greene wants the reader to sympathize with this their relatives who have not come to pay their bail. Others are
suffering man, regardless of his personal weaknesses. less troubled: one couple is having sex throughout most of the
chapter. In the darkness, the priest reveals his identity to the
Whatever the lieutenant's aspirations for his glorious new
entire room. One older and pious woman, in jail for having
world, the Chief of Police and the others are ordinary humans
religious material in her house, argues with him, warning him he
with ordinary weaknesses. The priest buys his illegal alcohol
has endangered his own life. Later, she reprimands him for
from the Governor's cousin, and the Chief of Police looks on
being a bad priest and shows deep contempt for him.
and does nothing. The priest tries his best to get wine so he
can continue to say Mass, and when others drink it, the priest Finding a new level of honesty, he admits his alcoholism and
begins to cry, seeing "all the hope of the world draining away" tells them about his daughter. He reflects on his own ideas
as the bottle is drained. The priest cries many times in the about God. He is afraid of death and pain but also welcomes
book, usually from exhaustion. Greene is clear in this instance: the idea of not running anymore. He thinks he is a bad priest
he is not crying because he is tired or drunk. He is crying and wonders if he would do more good by dying or by running
because he once again is failing in his responsibilities as a away. In the cell, he has a confrontation with traditional religion,
priest. Without wine, he cannot say Mass. The priest must personified by the religious woman. He has his own theology
continue to wonder why he should remain and risk his life. now, his own belief that is far more forgiving than Church
doctrine. He encourages the woman, snobbish and self-
When caught for possessing alcohol, he prepares himself for
righteous, not to look down on people so much, not to be so
death. He tries to recite the Act of Contrition, a prayer

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Chapter Summaries 20

angry and ready to condemn others because they do not meet their sins; neither does the priest. However, he does emphasize
expectations. Rigid and unrelenting in her traditional beliefs, how unworthy he is to be considered a martyr, a claim with
she criticizes him: "It's people like you who make people which the pious woman agrees.
mock—at real religion."
The priest has several "near miss" moments in this chapter
When morning comes, the priest expects to be recognized and when he is almost recognized. In a moment of situational irony,
shot. Instead, he is ordered to clean up the cells and dump the he confesses his identity in the jail cell, and nothing happens.
buckets the prisoners use for toilets. As he does so, he sees He sees the hostages who were taken for his sake in the yard,
the hostages taken because people would not identify him and and they do not acknowledge him. Although the mestizo does
thinks it "a damnable mockery that they should sacrifice recognize him, the man chooses to stay quiet since he has his
themselves" for him. He discovers the mestizo, now living off basic needs presently met and so he can collect the full reward
the police while they wait for him to identify the priest. The for catching the priest. What is most interesting is the priest's
mestizo recognizes him but decides not to say anything for a reaction to these events: he is ready to be caught, relieved to
time because he is enjoying his life at the moment, as the stop running. When the mestizo lets him go, "he felt only
police see to his needs. The priest is sent before the lieutenant, regret." But he knows why he remains free: God is not yet
who scolds him for drinking. The lieutenant thinks he looks ready for him to be caught. God wants him to continue to
familiar but does not realize he is the priest. In fact, aware he minister to people, although the priest cannot imagine which
has no money, the lieutenant offers him a five-peso coin. The people, where they are, and how he will do it without wine. But,
priest takes it in shock and says, "You're a good man." he believes God has decided he must keep living, at least for
now.

Analysis The lieutenant offers the final surprise of the chapter. In his
zeal to capture the priest and rid the country of the pernicious
The priest has nowhere to go: he has been caught. Greene influence of the Church, the lieutenant ironically does not
uses his captivity to explore some of the ideas on which the recognize the priest; he even gives the priest some money to
novel is based: the nature of sin, what it means to be "good," live on. The lieutenant's failure is surprising, as the lieutenant is
and the challenge of an absolutist religion in a world full of more alert and professional than most of the other police
nuance. The priest spends much of his night in conversation officers. The narrator notes the lieutenant's behavior: "almost
with a pious woman who serves as an antagonist for the scene. as if the lieutenant had something on his conscience." The
The woman represents traditional church thinking and priest's false name is the same as a man the lieutenant
practice; she even threatens to write a letter to the bishop, executed: does the lieutenant feel guilty for the execution? Or,
reprimanding the priest for his behavior. The priest represents does he feel generous to an older man he thinks is a beggar?
a new theology, a new way of looking at God and the world. In any case, the priest says the lieutenant is "a good man," and
Greene wants readers to believe it—from the priest's limited
The traditional Catholic Church in the 1930s was governed for viewpoint. The lieutenant may execute civilian hostages and
the most part by absolute, stringent rules, which the woman plan to execute the priest; nevertheless, he is still a good man.
has spent her life following. The priest, on the other hand, has Greene is offering another example of the sympathy and
developed his ability to sympathize with people and to stray forgiveness in the priest's theology.
from doctrine when the occasion demands. However, empathy
does not seem to have been used much in his old life; but, now
he has seen far more. He is thus able to connect more easily Part 2, Chapter 4
with this woman, with the couple having sex in the corner, and
even with the mestizo who wants to turn him in. The priest
comments sarcastically about the reward offered for him: "To
commit so ugly a sin ... and to have no compensation ...
Summary
wouldn't be fair." Again, his statements and perspectives echo
Weeks later, the priest returns to the Central American Banana
the Bible: when Jesus is on the cross, he asks God to forgive
Company outpost because he doesn't know where else to go.
those who have crucified him. Jesus does not judge people by

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Chapter Summaries 21

The place is deserted. The priest discovers an injured and Tennyson poem, "For men may come and men may go, / But I
starving dog and fights her for a bone so he can eat the few go on for ever," shocks the priest yet shows how life goes on,
scraps of meat still on it. He wonders about Coral and reads a even when people do not. So does the novel: the Fellows family
few of her school materials left behind. On the road again, the is gone, the little boy is gone, and the world continues. If the
priest encounters an Indian woman carrying a three-year-old priest goes, the world will continue without him, too. The other
boy, who was shot multiple times. Before the priest can help, poem describes a father watching his daughter die because
the boy dies. The woman and the priest can barely she is running away from his disapproval. This loss affects the
communicate. He asks what happened and she says, priest, who has a deep love for his own daughter.
"Americano." She wants to take the boy to a church: "Iglesia,"
she keeps saying. As he sets off with the woman and her dead child, the priest
thinks of her desire for a church: "He hadn't so much as seen
The two then travel together, eating nothing but large lumps of such a thing for years now." Yet by the end of the chapter he
coarse sugar and not talking because they have few words in has found one. Somehow he has crossed the border. The
common. The woman carries the dead child strapped to her priest has been ill, hallucinating, and expecting to find his
back. After a long walk, they find a strange graveyard on a grave. Arriving in a village that welcomes him, one with a
plateau, the graves marked with crosses. The woman blesses church still standing, is almost like heaven. But the priest is too
the child's dead body with the cross. The woman will not leave tired and ill to rejoice. The mood is one of bewilderment, rather
the graveyard, and the priest goes on alone, ill and than joy. He even gives his true name to a stranger—although
hallucinating. He ends up back at the graveyard, but the Greene does not reveal it—"because he was tired and there
woman is gone. The dead boy is alone with an offering of sugar seemed no object in going on living." The priest is safe now, but
near him. The priest eats the offering and immediately feels his safety seems of little importance to him, as despair, illness,
sicker. He keeps walking until he finds a village, where and exhaustion consume his body and spirit. With the images
unexpectedly, the residents welcome him. Collapsing against of abandonment (the Fellowses' disappearance) and death
the wall of their church, he falls asleep. (the boy), and the priest close to death himself, it seems
unlikely the priest will find physical or spiritual safety and
renewal.
Analysis
The priest is not heroic in this chapter, and readers can Part 3, Chapter 1
understand why he wants to be caught. He steals food from a
starving, injured dog and a dead child. He wanders through a
jungle in the pouring rain as he fights a fever and hallucinates.
God may have saved him at the police station, but God is not
Summary
saving him from all suffering. And the priest does suffer, as do
Having safely crossed the border, the priest is staying with Mr.
others in this chapter, including the Fellows family and the little
and Miss Lehr, a German-American man and his sister who
boy. The boy dies because of the "Americano," but Greene
have given him shelter on their plantation after their foreman
does not reveal what happened to the Fellows family. Most of
found him ill. Mr. and Miss Lehr do not approve of him: they are
their possessions are gone, but not all; some of Coral's school
Lutheran, not Catholic, but are willing to let him stay with them
things are left behind. Did the family leave? Did something
until he recovers. The priest bathes in the stream with Mr. Lehr.
happen to Coral?
When he gets back from his bath, he finds a Bible in his room.

The priest finds an essay she was writing about the American Miss Lehr used to run a hotel and brought a Gideon Bible with

Revolution, a compelling topic, considering she has been living her when she sold her hotel. (The Gideons, a Christian group,

through the aftermath of a modern revolution in Mexico. Her are known for placing Bibles in hotel rooms.) The priest is

math assignment borders on the archaic, using terminology like somewhat perplexed by the list of biblical references in the

"rood" for measurements. The poems Greene quotes are also front of the Bible, directing readers to a particular text for

old-fashioned but significant: "The Brook" by Tennyson and comfort or inspiration according to their spiritual needs.

"Lord Ullin's Daughter" by Campbell. The refrain of the

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Chapter Summaries 22

The priest borrows Mr. Lehr's horse to visit the village, where War II. At the time Germans were seen as fiercely militaristic,
he is treated with great respect. People are eager for the yet the narrator says Mr. Lehr left Germany to avoid military
sacraments: Eucharist, reconciliation, and baptism. He haggles service. So, the Lehrs, in their way, are out of place in their
with them over the price of each sacrament, and he begins to culture, much the same way the priest of out of place in his and
feel himself growing more formal and demanding of respect, the others out of theirs. The Lehrs also are Lutheran; the
"the old life hardening round him like a habit." Another man different religion permits Greene to address some of the
approaches him, offering to sell him wine for Mass and brandy Christian criticisms of Catholicism, which have reverberated
for himself. While the priest no longer enjoys being on the run, throughout the ages. The Protestant Reformation in the 16th
he feels tremendous guilt for having survived. He does not century led to the creation of many "protestant Christian"
believe he deserves the comforts of this life and now thinks religions that objected to certain tenets of Catholicism while
almost longingly of his days in hiding. still maintaining some of its beliefs. Centuries later Mr. Lehr
raises several of those same objections, as he notes, "Too
Miss Lehr tells the priest about a time when she accidentally much luxury, it seems to me, while the people starve." The
read a little of the Police News, horrified by this view of the Catholic Church has long had a reputation for elaborate
world. The priest reflects on her reaction as he listens to churches and formal ritual, of which Mr. Lehr disapproves, and
confessions, most of which involve minor misdeeds or human the priest acknowledges he may be right. Such agreement
error. He feels jealous of those who confess trivialities to him would be almost heresy to most Catholics—a priest agreeing
and receive absolution; he, on the other hand, cannot believe with Protestant criticisms of the Catholic Church—but in these
he will be absolved of his much greater sins. later chapters Greene is beginning to differentiate between the
Church and the faith. The Church is fallible; the Church makes
The next morning, he says Mass for the people in the village,
mistakes: it is made up of men. The faith, however, is not
an act he enjoys without fear of being interrupted. But when he
wrong.
emerges from the Lehrs' stable, he finds the mestizo waiting
for him, claiming to have come "on an errand of mercy." The The priest struggles with guilt in this chapter, particularly
Yankee (the American criminal on the run in Mexico) has been Catholic guilt and survivors' guilt. The Catholic guilt centers on
shot and is dying. The priest does not believe the mestizo, but a life of deception and sin: becoming a priest for material
the mestizo produces proof: a handwritten note. He describes reasons, being a bad priest, being an alcoholic, committing
how the American grabbed a child to try to protect himself adultery, fathering a child and not repenting for it. Survivor's
when the police found him, but they shot both the American guilt often appears in people who live through a traumatic
and the child. The priest thinks of the dead child he saw, the experience and wonder why they survived while others did not.
one the Indian woman carried. He knows some of what the The priest feels himself unworthy of the clothes he has
mestizo says is true but nevertheless does not trust him. borrowed from Mr. Lehr, of the money he can earn from doing
his duties, and of the respect he receives in this safer town. He
The moment he realizes he will do his duty and go back with
tries to make promises to mend his behavior, and when he
the mestizo, the priest feels happier, for "he had never really
says the brandy "will be the last I'll ever drink ... he knew he
believed in this peace ... it was time he woke up." As he leaves
lied." He feels impatient with the minor sins confessed by the
with the mestizo, the priest sees the schoolmaster, who did not
good people of the town, feeling "an odd sense of
approve of him. He offers the schoolmaster the money he
homesickness" for the old places, dangerous as they are. He is
earned from saying Mass and hearing confessions. The
also envious of these people, who can confess their sins to him
mestizo howls, but the priest says, "I shan't need money again,
and go home feeling free. Catholics believe penitents confess
shall I?" and they set off on their travels.
their sins, agree to do penance, and then are absolved—sins
are wiped away as if they never happened. Such spiritual

Analysis cleansing is impossible for the priest, who loves Brigitta, the
result of his sin. Of course, to many modern readers, the real
sin might be the failure to love one's own child, but readers
The Lehrs play a small role in the book but serve two
should keep in mind the Catholic Church's traditional views on
significant purposes. First, they are German-American. The
sin. The priest can never confess and be absolved because it
book was published in 1940, during the early years of World

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Chapter Summaries 23

would require him to wish Brigitta had never been born. So, he criminal wants "vicarious violence," but in fact the criminal's
is trapped. Some readers may interpret his release from prison intentions are unclear. He tells the priest he will need a gun, but
as "forgiveness," but in Catholic tradition, forgiveness can be he doesn't say why. Does he anticipate the priest will shoot his
given only by a priest during confession. way out to avoid capture? Or does he think the priest might
shoot himself rather than be captured? Of course neither is
This dilemma may explain why he goes with the mestizo at the likely, but the criminal could be showing altruism rather than
end of the chapter. He doesn't have to do it. In fact, he resists, seeking revenge. In the criminal's refusal to confess and
initially, and the mestizo can do nothing about it. The mestizo is repent, the priest has failed once again in his vocation and
not a police officer and has no weapons. Furthermore, the reinforced his character as a bad, in this instance ineffectual,
villagers are respectful of the priest; if he told them the mestizo priest but a good man.
was a threat to him, they would drive the mestizo out of town.
But he doesn't do it and goes along without a fight. He even The priest mentions a thief; it is the second time the biblical
takes the money he has earned—money he might be able to thief is mentioned, the first being during the priest's
use to bribe someone or to escape—and gives it to the conversation with the pious woman in jail. In the Bible, Jesus is
schoolteacher to buy food and supplies for the villagers. His crucified together with two thieves. According to the Gospel of
comment to the mestizo—"I shan't need money again, shall Luke, one thief verbally attacks Jesus, demanding he save
I?"—shows he is not fooled. He knows he is going to his death himself and the two thieves as well. The other thief, often
and seems relieved, if not almost happy, about sacrificing his called "the penitent thief" or "the good thief," says they deserve
body for the salvation of his soul. This scene may remind their punishment, but Jesus does not. He asks Jesus to
readers of the biblical story of Jesus, who goes willingly, remember him. Jesus promises the good thief will go to
knowing he will be betrayed and handed over to the heaven. The pious woman mentioned the good thief,
authorities. encouraging the priest to live a good life in the future,
something the priest said was impossible. Now the priest
offers the same opportunity to the dying criminal and thinks he
Part 3, Chapter 2 has failed because the criminal does not repent. The priest
sees himself as no better than the criminal, although he longs
for the heaven he describes and from which he believes

Summary forever barred.

After a five-hour trek, the mestizo and the priest reach a

deserted cluster of Indian huts, where the mestizo says the Part 3, Chapter 3
American is waiting. Still suspicious, the priest does find the
American inside, near death. The priest tries to hear his
confession, but the American will say nothing except to tell the Summary
priest to beat it, refusing to confess. He offers the priest his
gun and his knife and dies without having repented of his sins. When the lieutenant enters the hut, the priest thanks him for
The priest tries to pray—"after all he was thinking of me, it was allowing him time with the dying man, to which the lieutenant
for my sake"—but he sees himself as no better than the responds, "I am not a barbarian." Because of a rainstorm, they
criminal. are forced to shelter in the hut with the dead man.

The priest tells the lieutenant of the two times they previously
Analysis encountered each other. The priest admits he is a bad priest.
The lieutenant remembers how judgmental the priests and the
Although the priest expects to be caught, he does not expect church guilds could be: "the family wasn't really deserving of
the criminal to reject the opportunity for confession, even if the charity ... they were Socialists anyway." The priest says he is
criminal is trying to save the priest's life. Angry, he pushes the both right and wrong, causing the lieutenant to be both eager
criminal to let go of his violence. The priest believes the and angry. The lieutenant claims the priest is a dangerous

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Chapter Summaries 24

symbol and must be destroyed, although he has nothing examines his beliefs and his actions; the lieutenant sees no
against him personally. The lieutenant continues, challenging need to do so. In addition, the priest has harmed no one other
the priest by pointing out the ways the Church has never than himself, whereas the lieutenant has the blood of many on
helped the poor. The priest agrees but suggests bad people his hands, including that of the hostages taken and, in some
will still do bad things. cases, killed as a consequence of his plan.

When the lieutenant asks why he didn't flee, the priest says he The two men's exchange of ideas establishes a forum for the
remained at first because he thought it would all blow over. author to expound on his beliefs about God, society, and
Then he became proud of himself for not running; he got lazy socialism. The Church and the socialist government are
about following the rules, and "one day because I was drunk presented side by side. Both aspire to help the poor, but the
and lonely ... I got a child." The lieutenant calls him a martyr, but priest admits the Church often fails to do so. The lieutenant
the priest disagrees. He praises the lieutenant for listening, and insists his side, the socialist side, will do better, but the priest
the lieutenant replies, "I am not afraid of other people's ideas." observes "bad men" will exist there as well—men who are out
for personal gain and don't care about raising up the poor. In a
As they get ready to leave, the mestizo asks for the priest's way, the priest suggests socialism may face the same struggle
blessing. The priest retorts, "You think my blessing will be like a the Church has faced: the gap between the organization's
blinker over God's eyes." He tells the mestizo to pray and to ideals and the people who carry them out. The priest believes
give away the money. himself to be a poor representative of the Church, but he urges
the lieutenant not to assume all Socialists will share the
When they stop for the night, the lieutenant again asks
lieutenant's passion for the poor.
questions, which the priest tries to answer as well as he can.
He cannot understand why men like the lieutenant hate the The priest speaks of pride as "what made the angels fall."
rich and yet try to bring up their children the way rich people Although not a direct warning to the lieutenant, it is a hint. The
do. The lieutenant is angry and questions the idea that God is lieutenant is proud—proud of his political stance, proud of his
love; the priest insists God is love, but perhaps God's love role in overturning the old order. The priest explains the other
doesn't resemble a human idea of love, as "it set fire to a bush side of pride—how his own pride led him to stay far too long,
in the desert, didn't it ... set the dead walking." The lieutenant led him, in fact, to this moment of capture.
challenges him again, saying God should love the priest after
how the priest has served Him. The priest disagrees, saying he The priest's interpretation of God's love is a key concept.
is just as deserving of damnation as anyone else. They discuss When the lieutenant speaks of his love for the poor people, the
the idea of miracles, with the priest insisting he neither expects priest says love can be dangerous in its own way. Describing
nor deserves a miracle to save him. When they arrive in the God's love, the priest says it may be beyond human
city, the priest asks permission to say his confession to Padre understanding and so powerful it would terrify people. Indeed,
José. The lieutenant gives permission. many elements of Catholic theology are identified as outside
the realm of normal human understanding. For example, the
Gospel of John states, "For God so loved the world that He
Analysis gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him
shall not perish but have eternal life." How much someone
Now face-to-face, the priest and the lieutenant act as foils for would need to love humanity to allow his or her child to die so
each other and their ideas. The priest tried to do the right another might live may be beyond human comprehension. But,
thing, risking his own life to give the sacraments to a dying the Bible describes God's love in this way. The priest may have
man. Yet he failed to persuade the dying criminal to confess allowed his discipline to lessen, but his theology is as strong as
and repent. The lieutenant succeeds in doing what he thinks is ever.
right: capturing the priest. But his obsessive pursuit is driven by
anger and a desire for vengeance on the institutions that hurt The lieutenant, however, disparages God, saying the priest
him as a child. He repeatedly insists he is not a barbarian, but seems to have a bad superior officer—"If a man served me as
his actions are motivated by anger, while the priest's are well as you've served him"—and relates the various ways he
motivated by forgiveness and self-sacrifice. The priest would reward such a loyal follower. The priest will have none of

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Chapter Summaries 25

it, for he does not see himself as worthy of being saved.

Throughout this chapter, the lieutenant seems to offer the
Analysis
priest a verbal way out—not an actual escape but an
With the priest now caught, the lieutenant struggles with his
opportunity to have second thoughts. Maybe the lieutenant
own feelings. He is almost grateful Padre José refuses to
wants to let the priest go and hopes, secretly, if he is
come. The cowardice and the coarse conversation between
persuasive enough, the priest will give up his struggle.
Padre José and his wife remind the lieutenant of his beliefs; he
Reinforcing biblical allusions, the author sets all of this
feels superior for ridding himself of religion. He brings the
conversation in the desert. In the Bible, Jesus goes out to the
captured priest some brandy, a generous act on the
desert to fast and pray; there he is tempted by the Devil, who
lieutenant's part but also a confirmation of the priest's
encourages Jesus to use his godly powers to spare himself
weakness, and he dismisses the priest's fears about death.
pain or discomfort. Jesus repeatedly refuses. In the end, the
Yet, he is uneasy. He cannot hate the priest as he had. The
lieutenant accepts the priest's decision and offers to help. He
lieutenant rips down the photos of the priest and the criminal,
is startled by the priest's request for Padre José, saying, "He's
assuring himself he is restless because the chase is over.
no good for you." The lieutenant, in spite of himself, has a
However, his emotions seem more complicated. The lieutenant
certain respect for the priest, a respect he does not feel for
may indeed have some of his own doubts.
Padre José, but he agrees to try to arrange for the priest to
have a final confession. As the priest, alone in his cell, attempts to hear his own
confession, he again is stopped by love for his daughter. He
loves his daughter more than others, and when he tries to pray
Part 3, Chapter 4 for others, he knows he is really praying for Brigitta: a failure
for a priest, although not a failure for a parent. Aware of his
own failings, he knows the people deserved better and is sorry
Summary for letting them down. Greene does not attempt to ennoble the
priest in this late chapter: the priest drinks and sobs, the third
The lieutenant goes to see Padre José, who refuses to hear time he cries in the book. This time he cries from fear. He
the priest's confession. When the lieutenant informs him, the bargains with God to get out of the situation. He is human and
priest is disappointed, although he understands Padre José's not divine, although the Bible has Jesus himself praying to
reasons. The lieutenant informs the priest he will be executed avoid death: "Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me."
in the morning and offers him a flask of brandy, which he Catholics believe Jesus was both human and divine at the
gratefully accepts. Before the lieutenant leaves, the priest asks same time; the human part of Jesus did not want to die, any
him if there is a lot of pain when someone is shot. The more than the priest does.
lieutenant assures him it is over quickly and leaves.
The priest's dream is significant. He eats an assortment of
The lieutenant struggles, feeling as if he has lost momentum food inside a cathedral but knows "when he had finished them,
and his reason for existing; the priest and the American are he would have the best dish of all." As he finishes, another
captured. The priest, left alone in his cell, tries to walk himself priest saying Mass raises the Host, the moment in the Mass at
through confession. He realizes how much he loves his child, which the bread is about to be consecrated. So, the "best dish
thinking, "Oh God, help her. Damn me, I deserve it, but let her of all" is communion with the body of Christ. He watches the
live for ever." He begins to grieve for how much he could have other priest, and then notices his glass is filled with wine. Coral
done, but didn't, when the people "deserved a saint." When he Fellows filled it, saying she obtained it from her "father's room."
does fall asleep, the priest dreams he is in a cathedral where The word "father" is symbolic here. The priest is literally
others are worshipping; even Coral Fellows is there. The priest Brigitta's father. He is also referred to as "father," as all priests
wakes up to see it is the morning of the day he will die and he are. God is often referred to as "the Father," as in the Lord's
thinks, "it would have been quite easy to have been a saint." Prayer, which begins with the address, "Our Father." The
dream may represent the priest's worries about what he has
not accomplished, or it may symbolize God's forgiveness. The
Bible often uses the image of a "banquet" to represent Heaven,

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Quotes 26

as in the 23rd Psalm. The priest is frightened and disappointed Coral, Captain Fellows also thinks of the priest and Coral's
in himself, feeling now, at the end, that he might have been a brief encounter with him, wondering "if he'd told her things"
saint if he'd just made a little more effort. Certainly, people because of how she spoke after he was gone. Mrs. Fellows
have died for him. wants to leave the country. Captain Fellows does not, but
seems likely to go with his wife rather than stay in Mexico
alone. For Mr. Tench, the priest's execution feels personal and
Part 4 increases his desire to leave. Perhaps he too has stayed too
long. Greene revisits the various sufferings of these
bystanders. Some people's suffering is resolved: the Chief of

Summary Police gets his toothache seen to, for example. Others, like the
Fellows couple and Mr. Tench, do not have clean, easy
conclusions to their stories.
Captain and Mrs. Fellows are alone in the town. Mrs. Fellows
moans about her illnesses and Captain Fellows seems ill at
The narrator returns to the family reading about Juan the
ease. Coral is not present, and the conversation suggests she
martyr. The priest's death is already transforming the rumor
is dead or possibly in a place where she is inaccessible to
about him. The mother says the priest is a martyr, and Luis, the
them. Mrs. Fellows wants to leave Mexico, but Captain Fellows
doubting boy, has a new interest in priests because they have
likes the work and feels bad about leaving Coral (presumably
had a hero in their house. The priest worried about being a
her grave). He mentions the priest who is scheduled for
martyr because he saw himself as anything but a hero. Instead,
execution and wonders if he is the one Coral helped.
the priest's death makes faith real to Luis in a way nothing else
has. He now rejects the lieutenant and welcomes another
Mr. Tench the dentist visits the Chief of Police to tend to his
priest into his family home. Thus, as a symbol of the future, the
teeth. He chats about his estranged wife, but a sound outside
child Luis and his change of heart imply Catholicism is not
startles him. He realizes the priest's execution will take place
dead for the next generation.
just outside the window. He recognizes the priest and feels
bad as he sees him shot.
The book ends with the new priest's arrival. Luis does not let
him say his name, so he remains anonymous, as the whisky
The religious mother continues to read about Juan the martyr
priest was. The ending is ambiguous. Greene seems to assert
to her children. Juan dies blissfully, happy to go to God. Luis,
that the priest's death has helped enable the practice of
the skeptical boy, asks his mother if the priest who was shot is
religion to continue, even in places where it is illegal. The book
now a martyr. The mother did not think highly of the priest
celebrates faith over practice: the idea that belief in God is
when he lived but now says the priest was a martyr. The boy's
good, even if the belief comes from a sinner, even if the belief
attitude changes by having had a "hero" in the house. He sees
is not supported by the formal trappings of traditional religious
the lieutenant, whom he once admired. When the lieutenant
practice. If the whisky priest has helped spread faith, maybe he
smiles at him, the boy spits. Late that night, he hears knocking
is a kind of saint, after all.
at the door. A stranger stands there, introducing himself as a
priest. The boy is excited to hear it and lets the man into his
home.
g Quotes
Analysis
"Everyone says ... you do no good.
Greene uses parallel structure in much of the book: two visits
to the banana outpost, and here, at the end of the book,
I can hear them ... all over the
another "bystanders" chapter. Like Part 1, Chapter 4 this world."
chapter focuses on those characters that touch the priest's life
and whose lives the priest has affected. The priest mattered
— Priest, Part 1, Chapter 1
because he was a symbol, as the lieutenant knows. Although
Captain and Mrs. Fellows are far more affected by the loss of

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Quotes 27

Mr. Tench tries to discourage the priest from responding to a This is the lieutenant's fiercest criticism of the Catholic Church:
call for help, and these words are the priest's answer, priests who ask people to give money and food when the
capturing his desperation: he feels he cannot stop, but he people themselves are starving. Catholic churches were often
worries he does no good. His words also express a common lavishly decorated, and priests lived much easier lives than the
attitude in the world at the time, when good people claimed peasants in the community. The lieutenant, who grew up poor,
they could do nothing to stop the actions of evil people like the resents this attitude and treatment.
Nazis.

"Wherever he went, whatever he

"The dignity of people afraid of a
did, he defiled God."
little pain ... yet sitting down with
some firmness." — Narrator, Part 1, Chapter 2

— Mr. Tench, Part 1, Chapter 1 The narrator is describing Padre José, a priest who agreed to
marry and give up his calling. But being a priest is a lifelong
commitment, a part of his identity, as indicated by people still
The idea of pain or suffering occurs repeatedly in this book. In
calling him "Padre." Padre José believes he is defiling or
this excerpt Greene explores how facing what frightens or
dishonoring God, simply by remaining alive. Yet, he is too
hurts a person can confer dignity. The statement describes the
frightened of death; his fear accounts for his having accepted
priest, who is not a dignified person normally, but who finds a
this marriage arrangement in the first place.
certain dignity in doing his job in the face of danger.

"You cannot control what you

"Like the King of a West African
love—you watch it driving
tribe ... who may not even lie down
recklessly towards the broken
in case the winds should fail."
bridge."
— Priest, Part 1, Chapter 1
— Captain Fellows, Part 1, Chapter 3

The priest thinks this about himself as he gives up his escape

to respond to a woman's request for help. The simile Captain Fellows thinks this about his daughter, Coral, who
expresses the priest's sense of his own responsibilities: his seems to run the outpost more than he does. In a broader
people expect him to solve their problems, even the problems sense, it expresses how parents may feel about children or
no human being can fix. He is weary, just as a man would be how a priest might feel about his congregation. Sometimes
who was never allowed to lie down, but his identity is rooted in they simply have no control and stand by.
responding to others.

"It needed a God to die for the

"Demands made from the altar
half-hearted and the corrupt."
steps by men who didn't know the
meaning of sacrifice." — Priest, Part 2, Chapter 1

— Lieutenant, Part 1, Chapter 2 The priest repeatedly ponders the nature of God's love.

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Quotes 28

Christians believe Jesus was crucified to wipe away their sins of judgment between the priest and the people. Piety makes a
and died out of love for them. The priest thinks God must have priest see himself as better than ordinary people.
a tremendous capacity for love if God is willing to die for such
flawed people, himself included.
"What was the good of confession

"When you visualized a man or when you loved the result of your

woman carefully, you could always crime?"

begin to feel pity." — Priest, Part 3, Chapter 1

— Priest, Part 2, Chapter 3

This is one of the priest's fundamental problems. For Catholics
to confess and be forgiven, they must feel regret for their sins.
The priest is talking to the pious woman in the dark jail cell. She The priest cannot regret the conception of his child, so how
is judgmental and critical, but the priest wants to accept and can he confess? But if he cannot confess, he cannot go to
understand her. The priest believes if he visualizes her, he can heaven when he dies.
recognize her humanity and understand her instead of judging
her.
"Pride was what made the angels

"That was another thing this fall. Pride's the worst thing of all."

country taught you—never ask — Priest, Part 3, Chapter 3

questions or ... look ahead."

The priest believes his pride led him to many sins, thinking
— Mr. Lehr, Part 3, Chapter 1 himself better than other people and being able to ignore some
of the Church's rules. Greene also suggests that people who
are proud of their piety lose the chance to offer significant help
Mr. Lehr displays minimal curiosity about the priest and what
to others who are struggling, for they look down on them
has happened to him. Mr. Lehr has decided that the way to
instead of loving and helping them.
survive is to avoid getting involved, while the priest chooses to
involve himself.

"God's love ... set fire to a bush in

"God might forgive cowardice and the desert, didn't it."
passion ... was it possible to
— Priest, Part 3, Chapter 3
forgive the habit of piety?"
The priest describes God's love as being powerful and
— Priest, Part 3, Chapter 1 frightening. He alludes to the biblical story of Moses, who saw
God in a burning bush, and to other biblical stories; he gives
Once the priest is in a safe region, he feels himself slipping examples of things believers accept in the Bible, even though
back into his old behaviors. He now associates piety with other those signs would terrify them in real life.
sins, such as cowardice and passion, and he wonders if piety is
forgivable. To Greene, piety is worse because it builds up walls

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Symbols 29

priests. Everyone sins; everyone makes mistakes.

"This was the love he should have
felt for every soul in the world." The priest is also a symbol of God's love. He may be a
neglectful, alcoholic, and sinful priest, but he cares for his
people and gives all he can. He responds to them even when
— Priest, Part 3, Chapter 4
he doesn't want to, and he repeatedly denies himself
opportunities to flee in favor of helping those in need. The
The priest sees his love for his daughter as a failure, a sin, priest shows how God can work in unexpected ways, for God
because he should not have conceived her. Now, near the end does not consider sobriety or lack of sin when calling on those
of his life, he thinks the love he feels for his daughter should to do his work. The priest thinks himself unworthy of respect
have been the love he had for everyone in the world. In effect, and martyrdom—dying for refusing to abandon one's
the priest thinks he should have been able to love people as beliefs—but at the book's end, his martyrdom has inspired
God loves people: a noble goal but difficult for any human others.
being to achieve, even a priest.

"He felt only an immense Bread and Wine

disappointment because he had to
go to God empty-handed." Bread and wine function as symbols on multiple levels. They
are religious symbols and therefore symbols of the priest's
— Priest, Part 3, Chapter 4 illegal behavior. They are also signs of the priest's weakness.

First, in the Catholic Mass, bread and wine are the symbolic
The priest faces his execution and believes he is going "empty- elements of communion as they are transformed into the body
handed" because he did not do enough good works in his time and blood of Jesus to commemorate the Last Supper. Because
on Earth. He is disappointed in himself and believes God will be they are used in the Mass, bread and wine—wine even more
disappointed in him as well. than bread—become dangerous symbols. When the priest is
saying Mass and the lieutenant shows up, he must drink the
wine quickly and then bite into a raw onion to hide the smell.
Later, he is arrested after buying wine.
l Symbols
They also work as symbols of the priest's weaknesses. He
wanted to be a priest because he would not have to work hard
and would be well fed. Greene repeatedly states how much
The Priest weight the priest has lost, now that he must struggle to find
food like everyone else. Some people share their bread with
the priest, but others do not. When he returns to the banana

The priest is a symbol on multiple levels. In the Catholic Mass, outpost and finds everyone gone, he would be grateful for

a priest represents Jesus, as he transforms the bread and wine bread. Instead, he has to steal from a dog. The priest is an

into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. To the Mexican alcoholic, but he chooses to get drunk on brandy, not wine. He

people, the priest represents faith, religion, and the "old ways," carries wine with him, not drinking it, until the bottle is

which, the lieutenant explains, is "why we kill you. I have smashed. Thus, he honors his religion by preserving the wine

nothing against you, you understand, as a man." The lieutenant rather than giving in to the sin of his alcoholism and drinking it.

is glad Padre José chose to marry, becoming a symbol of

broken promises. The whisky priest sees himself as a broken
symbol, too. He represents the humanity in all people, even

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Themes 30

accept it at face value as their parents might have done. Yet

Children Luis helps another priest at the end of the book. Greene
suggests the future may include faith, but a different faith than
the one that failed the lieutenant and many others like him.
Children represent the future. The lieutenant wants to remake
the world for the poor children in the village. He remembers his
own childhood suffering and wants to guarantee these children
do not experience the same. Greene does not explicitly m Themes
describe the lieutenant's childhood, but it seems clear he was
poor and suffered. The Church did not help him or his
family—in fact, the Church got rich off of poor people like his
family. Now he wants to wipe out all the priests and religious
Suffering
symbols to ensure a happy future for the children he sees in
the village.
Greene claims suffering is an integral part of life, and both
Each time the priest visits a new village, he is asked to baptize physical and spiritual suffering pervade the lives of his
the children. Villagers scrape together a little money to pay the characters. Throughout the novel, the priest is tormented by
priest, even a bad priest, so their children become part of their guilt, sin, and fear; he suffers illness, hunger, thirst, and
faith. This need for ritual may also reflect parents' fears for exhaustion. People around him suffer as well. Villagers are shot
their children and for the future: at the time Catholics believed when they are taken hostage. Mr. Tench suffers with pain in his
unbaptized children who died would not go to heaven. Children stomach. Coral Fellows suffers because of her inadequate
die in this book, so their concern is reasonable. If children parents and the unexplained pain she feels. Her mother suffers
represent the future, the future is at risk. The choice to baptize from unidentified ailments. Padre José suffers from cowardice
children is an expression of hope for the future. If the Church and the consequent guilt and misery he feels in having
never comes back in Mexico, these children will not receive the renounced his religion. Even the Chief of Police suffers with
rest of their sacraments anyway. The parents are hoping their toothache. Mr. and Miss Lehr might be the only characters in
children will have a better future. the book who do not suffer, but they seem to have little
emotion.
Greene also uses children's honesty and cunning to invite
readers to consider how these actions might appear to future The lieutenant blames the Church for not relieving people's
generations. Brigitta and Coral Fellows both demonstrate suffering, but the priest suggests the world will always have
unusual maturity and insight for young children; in some cases, suffering. Good people try to help the suffering; bad people do
children know more than adults or show more responsibility. not. Although the lieutenant believes the world will be better
Children are also more honest. They tease Padre José, when the priest and the Church are gone, the priest counters
tormenting him in the same way he torments himself, and a by saying the Socialists will not always be led by good men,
selfishly concerned Padre José worries, "Nobody can do any more than the Church has been. The priest's contention
anything with those children." Greene sees the children as that the Church tries to help the poor by reassuring them they
representing a future that may have less room for hypocrisy. can go to heaven more easily than a rich person is a
The priest admits the Church made mistakes, which the meaningless platitude to the lieutenant. The priest contends
lieutenant, as a child, recognized. The priest suggests the that rather than give power to the poor, it is better to let a poor
Socialists may make similar mistakes in the future, and children man "die in dirt and wake in heaven—so long as we don't push
will witness those as well. Each generation of children could his face in the dirt." Because everyone cannot be saved from
make the world better, but not if they are obsessed only with suffering, Greene argues in favor of hope. The lieutenant's
avenging themselves against those who failed them. solution to suffering would eliminate suffering for the poor by
making the rich and the religious suffer instead.
The boy Luis is irritated by his mother's religious story because
it does not ring true to him. Greene implies that future
generations will question the Church more closely and not

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.

The Power and the Glory Study Guide Suggested Reading 31

love—you watch it driving recklessly towards the broken

Pride and Piety bridge." The priest has similar thoughts about Brigitta, his
daughter. Love for a child sometimes means watching the child
struggle without being able to help. Brigitta tells the priest he is
According to the priest, "pride was what made the angels fall." powerless, yet he continues to pray for her. He bargains with
Pride is one of the seven deadly sins, and the one the priest God, saying he will accept death if Brigitta is saved. Near the
blames for his worst mistakes. When he stayed behind, he end of his life, he thinks of his feelings for Brigitta as "the love
grew proud, self-important, and neglectful of the religious he should have felt for every soul in the world." He believes a
guidelines for his behavior; his drinking grew worse, and he priest should view every person as his child and love each
conceived a child. individual in that way.

When the priest is finally in a safe region, he feels "the old life Greene makes powerful statements about God's love. God
hardening round him ... a stony cast which held his head high." loves the world the way the priest loves Brigitta. According to
He became a priest for the respect and financial stability it Catholic teaching, God sent his only son to die so people might
offered. He could control the villagers because of their respect go to heaven. The priest often returns to this idea of God's
for him, and he let this power shape his interactions with love. He believes only God could be willing to die for the weak,
others. When he dreams, he does not dream of Maria: he deceitful human beings he sees; a human being would choose
remembers parish council meetings when people bowed to die for something admirable. When the lieutenant asks him
attentively. Now he feels unworthy. He thinks even the mestizo, about God's love, the priest insists "God is love," but the love
who will ultimately betray him, is more worthy of God's may be hard for humans to understand.
forgiveness. The priest has lost the pride he had as an active
priest and now has only his piety, which is revealed through his
lack of pride and admirable human character rather than
through his rigid adherence to rules and rituals. e Suggested Reading
Whereas the priest's pride comes more from his former
Agren, David. "Separation of Catholics and State: Mexico's
position, the woman in jail is proud of her piety and thus comes
Divisive Religious History." The Guardian, Guardian News and
across as smug as she looks down on sinners, including the
Media, 12 Feb. 2016.
priest. Greene associates piety with pride: being proud of one's
piety can lead to the sin of pride. Later in the Lehrs' barn, the Greene, Graham. Graham Greene: A Life in Letters. Edited by
priest hears confession from another proud woman who Richard Greene, Norton, 2008.
acknowledges nothing but small sins. The priest challenges
both women to see as God sees. The priest has lost his pride, Greene, Graham. The Portable Graham Greene. Edited by Philip
and is a better servant of God because of it. He sympathizes Stratford, Penguin Classics, 2005.
with others now and may be able to help people the self-
Ripatrazone, Nick. "Revisiting The Power and the Glory During
righteous women would dismiss. The priest is thus a parallel
Lent." The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 14 Feb. 2016.
with Jesus, who often spent time with those marginalized by
the religious leaders of his time. Turow, Scott. "Scott Turow Picks 'The Power and the Glory' as
a Book He Can't Live Without." The Daily Beast, 28 May 2017.

Love

Love is a central theme of the book: love for one's children,

love for one's fellow humans, and love for God. Captain Fellows
thinks about his daughter, Coral: "You cannot control what you

Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc.