payment page
At a Glance:
Full Title The Power and the Glory
AuthorGraham Greene
In-depth Facts:
Type of WorkNovel
GenreRealist novel; novel of spiritual development; saint's life
LanguageEnglish
Time and place written1938–9, Mexico and London
Date of first publication1939
PublisherThe Viking Press
NarratorAnonymous
Point of viewThe narrator speaks in the third person and reports the characters' thoughts and self-analysis but only rarely offers his own opinions. He primarily gives us an account of the priest's actions and thoughts.
ToneThe narrator is earnest and although he usually withholds his explicit opinion about the priest, the arrangement of the plot implies a sense of respect and admiration for him.
TensePast tense
Setting (time)Mexico during the 1930's
Setting (place)Chiapas, Mexico
ProtagonistThe last priest in the state, on the run from the authorities
Major ConflictThe priest is trying to evade capture by the police and struggling internally with his own sense of sinfulness and unworthiness.
Rising ActionThe priest moves from village to village trying to escape from the lieutenant and his men. An untrustworthy man, known as the mestizo, learns his true identity and begins working with the police to capture him. After a few very close calls with the police including being arrested for smuggling, the priest finally escapes danger and makes his way across the border and out of the reach of the authorities.
ClimaxThe priest, knowing he is walking into a trap set by the mestizo, decides to return to the state to hear the confession of a dying man and is captured by the lieutenant.
Falling actionThe priest and the lieutenant finally face one another and discuss their differences; the priest is brought back to the capital city where he is executed;
ThemesThe dangers of excessive idealism; the disparity between representation and reality; the interrelated nature of so-called opposites; the paradox of Christian humility
MotifsAnimals; half-things; abandonment
SymbolsAlcohol; Christian symbolism; children
ForeshadowingAlmost immediately upon meeting him, the priest calls the mestizo "Judas", anticipating the role he will in fact play in the priest's story; the girl singing on the boat at the conclusion of the first chapter does not know why she is so happy, foreshadowing the uneasy nature of happiness and the fact that most of the characters in the novel will be riddled with troubles
