There is much uncertainty as to why Graham Green chose to have the priest in his novel, The Power and the Glory, live such an appalling life. Normally, one thinks of a priest as the holiest being among all people on earth. This common belief, however, is challenged in this novel when the priest takes part in numerous activities that are not priest-like: committing adultery, alcoholism.

In Christianity, you learn that priesthood is one of the closest things to purity and Godliness that exists in the world. Priests don't engage in sexual relationships, and they certainly don't do anything that is against the law. In The Power and the Glory, however, the priest, lovingly known as the "whisky priest", does the opposite. First, he is an alcoholic. In this time, alcohol is an illegal substance, yet the priest still illicitly consumes it. It seems that in almost every situation the priest is involved with throughout the book, he drinks. From the very beginning, when he first meets Mr. Tench, "I have a little brandy" (Greene, 11), all the way through the end when he is arrested and killed for possessing alcohol. Another matter that confuses me about the priest is his relationship w

Throughout the book, I tried to think of the priest as a good man, because most priests are. The contradiction of his behavior and his beliefs, however, seems like Greene was trying to make his readers think otherwise.

ith Maria. Brigitta is the child of the priest, who is illegitimately born of Maria. The priest wants badly to love the child, but he can't show it. He is caught between his child and the sin he has committed. "I love you. I am your father and I love you. Try to understand that" (Greene, 82).

Greene's priest character is here to show us that there is a vast amount of suffering in the world, "He was shaken with the enormity of the problem. He lay with his hands over his eyes: nowhere, in all the wide flat marshy land, was there a single person he could consult" (Greene, 65). By showing that a priest goes through all of the same situations and emotions that everyone else goes through, Greene is showing that we are all equal and we are all human. The priest has gone through so many things, that everyone can identify with him in one way or another. By having the priest go through so many difficult times, Greene is proving his view of the Catholic Church: the church works through people. There is a great need for compassion to others and for acceptance of the faults of othe

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Approximate Word count = 883
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)