A single purpose, you must fulfill it before you die. Everything else doesn't matter, only what you need to do. No matter the consequence, you need to carry on, fighting until the end. Death is only a small thing, the real thing is to make a difference in the world, to make a change. Graham Greene, through The Power and the Glory, tells us that if we simply live for ourselves, and never set out to make a difference, that we lose who we are, and at that point, it is nearly impossible to get it back.
In The Power and the Glory, there are a multitude of characters that have some sort of purpose, and then some characters who simply live for themselves. The first of these is the priest. He is somewhere in between, because many times during the book, he is living for himself, being selfish, and some other times, he is living to be a priest, and is guilty for his sins. He definitely died as a priest, as he died for his beliefs. However, during some parts of the book, namely the dog scene, and a little bit before and after that, he lives for himself. An example of this is when the child is buried, and the woman leaves a single sugar ball for him to survive if he somehow came back to life. The priest, starving as he is, half dead, takes the ball. An interesting point during all of this is how nearly everything is referred to as half. It is in a half destroyed house that the priest finds the child. In the Fellows' old house, it is where he finds the half dead dog. He feels as though he is half in the world, half in another. This half refers to the arch between Heaven and Hell, where the people with no conviction lie. Half, as in halfway between the two. The priest, hovers between Heaven, and the middle, but never is completely in either until the books end, even though he hasn't exactly done the ideal things a priest should do during life. During the whole book, the priest does great things. However, Graham Greene always portrays him as though he never does anything right. However, after his death, he influenced many. Mr. Tench, after witnessing his death, decides he cannot live there no longer, and decides to go back to his wife(who has found religion). However, many of the other characters can fall into Heaven, Hell, or in between.
The lieutenant is a prime example of evil; he does anything he can to find the priest. He took people from a village, and even if the priest was no longer there, execute the hostage, knowing the priest would no longer take it, and reveal himself, stopping the bloodshed. However, the hostages being executed never brings the priest in. The lieutenant, oddly enough, kills each hostage during the priest's most selfish time, where he lived for himself, and himself only. Although some may see the lieutenant as someone who should be shot for himself, he is not killing because he is an atheist, or because he relishes making destruction, and causing death where he goes. He is killing because he believes religion ruins people, because it is not a lifestyle someone should live. However, he never wavers in his decisions, as the priest does, and will never change his ideals. He has a sense of justice, and in this case, justice is the eradication of all religion. However, if he was changed, he wouldn't be able to actually acknowledge it. He would simply lose himself, and would end up dying for no reason, not having really done anything. The single admirable thing about him is his decision not to waver, but he is hated for it, and will never be loved, liked, or admired. The boy who is just finished hearing the story of Juan, the martyr, sees the lieutenant passing by. He spits at his feet, disgusted by his actions, and definitely defying the lieutenant's vision of the next generation.
“A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.”- MLK. This quote goes along with The Power and the Glory quite well; as it describes both the lieutenant and the priest as the man who would die for his beliefs and ideals. Other characters, like Padre Jose, is not fit to live. He lives for nothing, wouldn't die for anything, even his most dearest and closest companions. The priest and the lieutenant both live for their ideas, and both would die if it meant that the priest made differences in somebody's life, helping them to see the world in a new light, to live fully, not emptily without some sort of conviction. The lieutenant would die if it meant that his vision of the future came true. Anyone can make a change in the world, the difference between us all being the determination to do so. Graham Greene illustrates a good point, in that if we don't do something, if our days are filled with the same thing over and over again, we aren't fit to live, if we cannot do something to change it, and have the courage to try to.
Compare and contrast the experience with the mother carrying her nearly dead child, and the dog in the hut. What do these two experiences begin to show us about human nature, and the nature of existence? What do we learn from watching the priest react to each? And finally, what way can this be seen as a hopeful message?
The mother carrying her dead child and the dog in the hut are both very symbolistic parts of The Power and The Glory, in the sense that they carry great meaning, by showing common human nature. The first, the old dog, barely alive, but struggling to survive, is a good example of the priest's situation. He is constantly trying to stay alive, by whatever means possible. When he meets the dog, and notices the bone underneath its paws, he wants it right away. “This was human dignity disputing with a bitch over a bone.” (Page 144)This is his human side, arguing with an animal side, of an argument between desire, and dignity. Instead of waiting, or trying to find something else, he immediately pokes the dog with a wire, and gets the bone. He eats it, and tells himself that he will give a little meat back to the dog. However, he soon devours it, and tosses the picked-clean bone back to the dog, somewhat guilty. This whole part of Chapter Four tells us of an animal side all humans have, one that can be pushed to greater lengths than what we normally are. While the priest isn't going too far, he still eats the whole bone without noticing, and guiltily gives the bone back, somewhat regretful, but accepting the fact his life is above that of a dog, the food chain in effect.
The mother carrying her child is again, another part in our nature, the more spiritual part of us. The mother insists on taking her child to a burial ground; the priest thinks it to be easier to simply bury it in the village. However, the mother stays true to tradition, and, regardless of whether or not the priest would have gone with her, have left to the burial ground. When the mother left leaving a sugar ball to the child, the priest once again, out of desperation, took the ball. This is the same animal nature, the one witnessed with the dog. He soon crossed the border, and when a man with a gun comes to him, he has no intent of continuing his journey, and tells his true name. Oddly enough, the man was happy to see a priest. He is given a sense of hope, although he doesn't directly acknowledge it, and gives a hopeful message to the novel.
When the priest enters the village, after leaving the dog, he felt as though he was in limbo, a state that is described as between worlds, in and out of consciousness. This represents the space in between Heaven and Hell, where the people with no conviction lie. The priest does nothing for others, and does nothing for himself besides what he needs, therefore erasing any sort of conviction he has at this point, which in turn, erases his hope, leading up to the border, and giving his identity to the man. At this point, the priest somewhat forgets what he is living for, his nature of existence. Also, everything he does in this part is half, he can only communicate with the woman in half Spanish, half English. The child and dog are half dead when he finds them, the shelter in the village is only half a hut. This all represents his state of limbo, half in consciousness, half out of it. The two events of Chapter Four, and the symbolism in between, all represent a crucial part of human nature, one that comes out of its shadow when we are in hard-pressed times, forced to survive by any way possible.