The Power and the Glory - post II

Greene sets it up so well because the sympathy for the priest comes and goes with it leaving when innocent men are shot on his behalf but coming back again when you think he himself might get a bullet. There is also the question of faith and what makes him a good catholic and the scene in the prison is almost biblical in the way he finds community and friendship among murderers and thieves.

It is also worth mentioning that the main character of the priest is never named, something which I have to say I like because if he had a name then it would detract from the idea that he is simply a priest or at worst a whiskey priest

Bullet points between pages 96 – 164

* The priest understands that the man who has tagged along with him towards Carmen is planning to drop him in it with the authorities to get the reward so the priest takes the decision to let him go into the city on his mule alone

* The story then breaks and you pick it up with the priest meeting a beggar in the city and asking for a drink which takes him into contact with a relation of the governor and the police chief who sell him some wine and brandy

* As he is leaving the illegal drink buying meeting he is chased and caught by the police and when he is in a packed cell he finds the courage to tell the assembled criminals that he is a priest and finds the strength to explain he is not worthy of being a martyr and expects to die

* After cleaning out the toilets and meeting the man who planned to report him to the authorities, who realises he is onto something much better by living off the police as they search for him, he leaves with the intention of heading over the border

* On the way he reappears at the banana store where he had met the girl but it is deserted and all he finds is an Indian mother mourning her son who has been shot in mysterious circumstances

* He accompanies her to a burial ground then with a high fever travels through the mountains before stumbling across a village and finding not only safety but a place where priests are still revered

More tomorrow…