The Power and the Glory

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The Power and the Glory

• GRAHAM GREENE, 1940

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Structure of the Presentation

• 1.) Summary of the Plot
• characterisation of the main characters
• 2.) Context
• 3.) Authors Biographical Data
• bibliography
• 4.) Structure of the Book
• remarks on style
• quotation

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1. The Plot

• Mexico, 1930s
• persecution of the clergy
• Whisky Priest, who lives in mortal sin
• is on the run from the police and ways of escape
  become fewer

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The Plot
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The Plot

• meets several people who embody the various
  characters that an absolute regime implies
• always refuses to be a martyr/saint
• is being caught by the police
• is executed and becomes martyr

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1. (a) Characterisation of the Main Characters

• The Whisky Priest
• 2. The Lieutenant
• 3. The Mestizo
• 4. Padre José

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Characterisation of The Whisky Priest

• inner conflict sinful past vs. flight from the
  police
• sometimes egoistic
• acts like a coward in some situations
• clergy vs. hedonism
• self-critical
• takes his position as a priest seriously
• cannot forgive himself ? does not realise what
  kind of influence he has on others

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Characterisation of The Lieutenant

• hates the Catholic Church
• greatest target to kill the Whisky Priest
• man of principles
• social equality
• justice
• uses violence to fulfill political ideals

• thinks in a generalised manner
• reader feels sympathy for him in the end
• it seems, that he regrets the murder

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Characterisation of The Mestizo

• meets the priests several times throughout the
  story and sets traps
• traitor, Whisky Priest calls him Judas
• profit-orientated, acts only to his own advantage
• does not seem to reflect that his actions may
  harm the priest seriously

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Characterisation of Padre José

• denies his faith
• was forced to marry
• is being laughed at by the children of the town
• symbol for the weakness of the faith/church

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2. Context

• Revolution and Reforms
• 2. Plutarco Elías Calles Cristeros
• 3. Church and State

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Context Revolutions and Reforms

• Great class distinctions led to revolution in
  1910
• 1914 the revolution that has started as a
  rebellion of the middleclass turned into a fight
  of the peasants
• claims
• separation of church and state
• general right to vote
• abandonment of the foreign control of economy and
  politics

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Context Revolutions and Reforms

• 1917 elaboration of a new constitution
• 1919 Pancho Villa is murdered ? peasant rebels
  lose influence
• 1920 president is murdered ? official end of
  revolution
• Until the 1930s Mexico was characterised by
  inner conflicts and riots

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Context Plutarco Elías Calles

• 1924-1928 president of Mexico
• influenced by former president Obregón
• intransigent concerning the Catholic Church ?
  Cristeros revolt
• Jefe Máximo of the revolution ? decides on
  politics until 1936

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Context Cristeros

• religiously motivated, armed riot in central
  mexico 1926-1929
• originates in the revolutionary constitution of
  1917
• Viva Cristo Rey war claims about 100.000
  victims
• 1929 Church regains control over clerical
  institutions, but state still owns them

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Context Church and State

• from 1917 on strict separation of church
  and state
• religious institutions lose right of existence
• 1920s-1930s civil war (Cristeros)
• 1950s détente of the harsh rivalty
• 1992 discriminating articles of constitution are
  changed
• Catholic church 87.5 of the population

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3. Biographical Data

• Graham Greene
• (1904-1991)

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Graham Greene

• October 2nd 1904 Berkhamsted
• often tormented at school
• shy and sensitive
• several suicide attempts
• sent to therapist in London

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Graham Greene

• Balliol college modern history
• editor at The Oxford Outlook
• develops interest in politics
• 1925 graduates with the BA

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Graham Greene

• 1926 converts into catholicism to be able to
  marry Vivien Dayrell-Browning
• gets a job as subeditor at The Times
• 1927 marriage (?daughterson)
• During WW2 works for the MI 6

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Graham Greene

• globetrotter sought of the worlds trouble
  spots
• Among other
• Vietnam during the Indochine War
• Kenya during the MauMau outbreak
• Stalinist Poland
• Castros Cuba
• Papa Doc Duvaliers Haiti

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Graham Greene

• towards the end of life lives with Yvonne
  Cloetta in Vevey
• April 3rd 1991 Vevey, Switzerland

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Bibliography

• Work influenced by
• Adventure stories (Rider Haggard, R.M.
  Ballantyne
• R.L. Stevenson, Henry James
• Trips
• Sweden England Made Me
• Jungle of Liberia Journey without maps
• Sierra Leone The Heart of the Matter
• Mexico The Lawless Roads, The Power and the
  Glory

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Bibliography

• Novels
• The Man Within (1929)
• The Name of Action (1930)
• Rumour At Nightfall (1931)
• Stamboul Train (1932)
• aka The Orient Express
• It's a Battlefield (1934)
• England Made Me (1935)
• aka The Shipwrecked
• The Bear Fell Free (1935)
• Journey without Maps (1936)
• A Gun for Sale (1936)
• aka This Gun For Hire
• Brighton Rock (1938)
• The Confidential Agent (1939)
• The Lawless Roads (1939)
• aka Another Mexico
• The Heart of the Matter (1940)
• The Power and the Glory (1940)

• The Little Fire Engine (1950)
• The End of the Affair (1951)
• The Little Horse Bus (1952)
• The Quiet American (1955)
• Loser Takes All (1955)
• Our Man in Havana (1958)
• A Burnt-Out Case (1960)
• The Comedians (1966)
• Travels with My Aunt (1969)
• The Honorary Consul (1973)
• The Human Factor (1978)
• Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party
  (1980)
• Monsignor Quixote (1982)
• Getting to Know the General (1984)
• The Tenth Man (1985)
• The Captain and the Enemy (1988)

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4. Structure Of The Book

• 4 parts which are divided into chapters
• third person narrator, gives no personal comment
• written in past tense

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Structure of the Book Stylistic Remarks

• atmosphere Greene creates in this novel gives the
  reader a vivid impression of what is happening
• certain motifs and symbols lead like a main
  idea through the novel
• human weakness
• paradoxes danger of fundamental idealism

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Sources

• Members-tripod.com/greeneland/bio.htm
• www.wikipedia.org
• www.mexiko-lexikon.de
• www.aola.de
• www.mexiko-lindo.de

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