The Same yet Different

An essay response to the novel The Power and the Glory by Grahm Greene

The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene, the use of the Passion--a religious story from the New Testament--as a main comparison, is displayed through the main characters; as Jesus, Judas, and the Pontius Pilate were main people involved in the well known event of the Passion, the whiskey priest, the Mestizo, and the lieutenant were characters that played the same role as the religious figures in the Passion, throughout the novel.

The complicated world, full of hate and disagreement, that is displayed in the novel, is controlled by non-Christians who believe that any Christian leader shall be terminated; the conviction to stay true to your faith has put the whiskey priest on the run as a fugitive. This on-the-run priest represents the Biblical being of Jesus--one who sacrificed his body for others and his beliefs. Throughout the story of the Passion, Jesus wasn't liked by the Jewish citizens because of his beliefs in Christianity. His difference in thoughts lead him to be pursued by the leader of the Jews, the Pontius Pilate, and eventually killed by them. Jesus followed his conviction and gave his life for all the humans who have sinned, gave his life to prove that he was a man of his thoughts, and to show the world how much every single person meant to him. As Jesus wasn't welcome in the Jewish area, the whiskey priest wasn't welcome in his town either--any open Christian priest or follower was a wanted human in their town. Just like Jesus, the priest was later killed because of his beliefs.

Although Jesus was open with his religion, the priest was more secretive and didn't want anyone to know; he hid in towns until he finally decided to let his thoughts and beliefs free. To be disliked, or even worse, hated by the population for your thoughts and religion is truly unheard of in our time today, and would confuse most individuals. We have grown up in a world where it is your right to believe, feel, and say what you want--a world much different than the one in the novel. Without our individual thoughts, the world would be simply boring. "The new children would have new memories: nothing would ever be as it was. There was something of a priest in his intent observant walk--a theologian going back over the errors of the past to destroy them again." (24) Times have changed, things are different, but yet the same. During the time of the Passion, the Jewish people--along with their leader, the Pontius Pilate--thought that after the death of Jesus, there would be an end to Christianity. Along with his faith, Jesus rose again and brought back Christianity. Like Jesus, the whiskey priest and his faith are unwanted in the local towns. Their belief in religions have cost them their lives.

As the whiskey priest represented Jesus because of their similarities, the men who pursued these religious people were also similar. Throughout the novel, the lieutenant--the man in charge of finding and killing the wanted people--contains qualities and times in his life that are similar to the Pontius Pilate--the head of the Jewish people, and the one in charge of Jesus' death. In both cases, the lieutenant and Pontius Pilate both were considered, by the citizen's nearby, as the 'higher power," and they were looked upon as the ones who decide what is okay to believe in. Along with making the rules, the two powerful men also had to take care of the ones who chose to go against the sacred rules, go against the higher power, and against the normal beliefs. "We have to die some time," the lieutenant said. "It doesn't seem to matter so much when." (206) At the end of both stories, Jesus and the whiskey priest died because of their rulers or the higher power. In the novel, the lieutenant foes after and kills the ones who are brave enough to be Christian, and those who believe in something; this action is unheard of in our community today. Jesus got crucified for our sins and because the Pontius Pilate didn’t believe in Christianity, while Jesus was a strong, Christian leader. The differences in beliefs got Jesus and the whiskey priest by the higher power men who seem not to care who died, when or why because it was a part of their jobs. They could have terminated an innocent person's life, just to follow their conviction--a job not many would be willing to take.

Just as Jesus and the whiskey priest had someone watching, criticizing, and following their every move, they also had followers who claimed to be loyal, but in the end, betrayed their religious leaders. Throughout both the novel, and Bible, the Mestizo and Judas portray the same characteristics, and the Mestizo ends up doing things parallel to Judas. In the Bible, Judas was in charge of a money box due to his honesty and other trustworthy qualities; temptation got the best of him, and Judas stole some of the money that the box contained. In the novel, the Mestizo had been trusted, but also did some bad things."I am a religious man myself. This is a religious place." (168) Both Judas and the Mestizo claimed to be religious, but eventually turned against their religious leaders. We all attempt to be truthful one hundred percent of the time, but it is human nature to have flaws, and these men's flaws were their commitment to religion.

Later, at the last super, Jesus told his disciples that he knew that one of his men would betray him, and let Judas know that it would be him. Parallel to Jesus telling Judas, the whiskey priest knew that someone would eventually turn him in and betray him. After Jesus' cue to Judas that he would soon betray his leader, Judas lead the soldiers to Jesus, where he turns him, leading Jesus to be arrested. Continually betraying their leaders, the men confess their wrong doings, trying to make it all better. As humans, we recognize our mistakes, and sometimes regret them, leading the majority of us to confess to someone, and try to reconcile. Both Judas and the Mestizo display the idea of betraying your leader, and then regretting your decisions--decisions that could alter your life.

As a Christian, our lives have been mapped out and decided by a crucial event in the New Testament: the Passion. The idea of making a religion illegal seems strange and incomprehensible to most people now, but was regular daily routine in the setting of this novel, by Graham Greene. In the novel, the idea of no religion has set some people off on their journey's to discover themselves as a Christian, or in some cases, a person without religious beliefs. As Jesus, Judas, and the Pontius Pilate were main characters in the well known event, the Passion, the whiskey priest, the Mestizo, and the lieutenant were characters that portrayed the same role as the religious figures in the Bible. The use of the Passion--a religious story from the New Testament--as a comparison, is displayed throughout the course of the novel, The Power and the Glory.

Covering Up Flaws

An essay response to the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Throughout the duration of the novel Life of Pi, Pi Patel--a young Indian boy who has a very strong faith--tells his life story through two different, yet parallel, stories due to the human nature of covering up his natural flaws. In the first story told through animals, Pi's character is portrayed through himself, and a beautiful Bengal tiger at the same time. While in contrast, in the second story displayed through humans, Pi is actually himself. Piscine made up these stories to make his life seem better than it actually is, to cover up his mistakes, and to make it seem like he is still the innocent, pure boy he said he was. This young Indian boy believes that it is okay to make up a story, describing his life's journey, to cover up his horrible time on the Pacific Ocean. Life is a story. In your head it's a fantasy, but in reality, it's much more complex and challenging; Pi first tells the story in his head.

While experiencing his adventurous life on the Pacific, Pi discusses with himself, because everyone else has left him one way or another, about everything that has happened on his journey. In one section during the first story, Richard Parker and Pi, in way both Pi just talking to himself(a little hard to understand, consider revision), talk about a terrible, sad thing: murder. Richard Parker, Pi's alter ego, admitted that in fact, he has killed two men in his life. If Richard Parker displays Pi's worse side, then Pi himself has killed two men--an act that obviously goes against his beliefs. "That's what fiction is about, isn't it, the selective transforming of reality." (p.VIII) Since he has gone so far in the opposite direction of religion and living by the 10 Commandments, Pi thinks that the only way to make it seem like he is still the innocent, religious boy he was, is to make up another story, covering his faults.

During the first story of Pi's life, there were animals, along with Pi, aboard the life boat; unfortunately, it soon became just Pi by himself. Right after the ship sank, Pi was thrown onto a lifeboat with an injured zebra, a raging hyena, and his alter ego, the Bengal tiger, Richard Parker. Soon after the group had experienced the torture on the ocean, the zebra was nearly dead, so the hyena took it into his own hands to take the suffering animal out of its misery. In the wild, animals survive on their own kind; humans see killing other humans as revolting, but in an essence, this is what has just happened. After the death of the zebra, Richard Parker was hungry, so he decided to kill the hyena. Soon it became Pi along with his other half, Richard Parker. Throughout the second story, it was Pi, his mother, and the ship's cook who were put onto the life boat, fending for themselves. In this case, Pi's mother had the injured leg, and the cook took it into his hands to take her leg, when it really wasn't necessary for it to be amputated. Pi had just experienced part of his mother dying; he didn't know he'd soon see all of his mother die. After some long, grueling days, the cook killed his mother and used her flesh for bait. The young boy was so revolted at this terrible crime, that he ended up killing the cook, leaving himself to find food. "I will confess that I caught one of his arms with the gaff and used his flesh as bait. I will further confess that, driven by the extremity of my need and the madness to which it pushed me, I ate some of his flesh. I mean small pieces, little strips that I meant for the gaff's hook that, when dried by the sun, looked like ordinary animal flesh." (p.256) Pi used to be a pure vegetarian, but he has become another person, a cannibal. While becoming this horrible person, he made up his second story--this story has animals killing each other instead of humans because it seems less horrible to have animals committing such acts.

After seeing these terrible things, Pi has become aware of the sins he's committed, his ignorance toward them, and longs to hide what has been done. While living in India, in a modest family home, Pi was a strict vegetarian; living on the Pacific ocean has created something out of him of which he had never envisioned--a person who eats animal's and their meat. "Lord, to think that I'm a strict vegetarian. To think that when I was a child I always shuddered when I snapped open a banana because it sounded to me like the breaking of an animal's neck. I descended to a level of savagery I never imagined possible." (p.197) His unique journey has showed how much surviving without natural resources, that we take for granted, can impact our beliefs as well as our character. Throughout Pi's first story of life, he has killed animals left and right. He somehow crafts a completely different story to plaster over all that he is ashamed of; Pi's reputation is of great importance to him. To cover up his flaws, Pi displays the cook as a bad person and describes him killing Pi's poor mother. Although Pi is still eating animals, he feels as if it isn't as bad when someone else was pushed so far as to do the same. In our lives as humans, everyone makes mistakes, it's just natural. We sometimes even lie about what we did to protect ourselves from the consequences that may come along with our actions; Pi is doing the same, harmless thing. Pi still wants to be the good, perfect little boy, but he realizes that it is very hard to contain that image while living a life as a salvage; he finds no wrong in making a story to cover up his sins because it protects who he is and his reputation as a modest Indian boy.

While Pi is used to living a modest life, living on the ocean has taught him many important things, and has forced him to make difficult decisions that could affect who he is. Even though he's made these decisions, he continues to cover them up so no one will ever know what he did to stay alive, and to protect the reputation he has with his family. Pi's reputation and who he as a person is very important to him, and it's the only way he will be happy. Due to the human nature of covering up flaws, Pi Patel tells his life story through two different stories, to make his life seem like it isn't as horrible as his real life.

Forgivness and Love

“I'll tell you…what real love is. It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving your whole heart and soul to the smiter—as I did!”( p. 240) Throughout the novel, Great Expectations, the theme of love is displayed-- along with other subthemes such as love through pain-- through different characters; Miss Havisham, a wealthy lady, is stuck in the past and cannot forgive and forget, she is stuck without love from anyone, and she is stuck without love for anyone; she represents love through pain. During the course of the novel, Miss Havisham changed from an unloving, evil, remorseful person, to a forgiving and loving person, with one visit from a young boy, Pip.

Throughout her life, Miss Havisham has learned to hate all men; she was left at the alter to stand alone without the one she loved. It seems as though she cannot move on, she cannot forgive, and she cannot forget. How can someone be so unhappy that they love to be hurt, love to hurt people, and not love anyone? Miss Havisham seems to be so full of hate that she invites a young boy over to play with her lovely little daughter. When Pip plays with Estella, he instantly falls in love with her, his emotions falling in place with Miss Havisham's plans. “Love her, love her, love her! If she favours you, love her. If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart into pieces—and as it gets older and stronger it will tear deeper—love her, love her, love her!” (p. 240) Even though Estella didn't love him back, Miss Havisham forced Pip's emotions, just to leave him heartbroken. Miss Havisham loves to be hurt because the feeling of pain is all she has; if she moves on, she will be very confused and lost; she will feel like she isn't herself. Understanding this herself, she decides to stay covered by her dark cloud, raining pain into her body.

In the beginning of the novel, Miss Havisham, and her accomplice, Estella, didn’t have hearts; Miss Havisham taught her daughter that love was an evil thing, she taught her daughter that you don't have to have love to be happy, and she taught her daughter that being cruel to people who love you is the right thing to do. Poor Estella broke young Pip's heart, cruelly, and maybe without intention. After Pip’s journey of becoming a gentleman, he decided to visit those heartless women; he clearly stated to Miss Havisham that she ruined him; Miss Havisham turned from a completely heartless woman without love, to a forgiving woman who found her self with a heart. “I had never seen her shed a tear before, and in the hope that the relief might do her good, I bent over her without speaking.” (p.400) The difference in-between Miss Havisham’s attitudes changed drastically. How can someone go from wanting revenge on all men—due to one of her personal experiences—to a woman who finds herself able to love? The fact that Pip, an innocent boy who says his feelings, changed Miss Havisham’s life, for the better, is astounding. He showed her that there is love, that she had a heart, and that she can move on from the past, and look forward to her journey of life ahead of her.

"Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever do many partings welded together." (p. 223) Like Joe said, life is made of things that connect together, one of which being love. Love can make a situation turn from bad to worse, even when in reality, the situation isn’t getting any better. Unfortunately, Miss Havisham was stuck believing that love was pointless, when it really can make a huge difference in someone’s life; Miss Havisham realized that at the end of the book, turning her personality from evil, to caring in one day. Miss Havisham, a wealthy lady who cannot learn to forgive and forget, displays the theme of love of pain--one of the many subthemes of the main theme, love--clearly throughout the majority of the novel Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens.

When Should We Honor Our Military Heroes?

As Veteran’s Day—Wednesday November 11, 2009-- approaches us, we begin to think about honoring the people around us who have served our country—those who are alive, and those who have passed. These people have sacrificed their bodies for us, for our country, and even for other countries; they have left the ones they love to fight for our freedom, fight for our rights, and fight for other countries’ freedoms; they have been in situations of tragedy while fighting for everyone. As we think about honoring them, we think; when should we honor them? The answer is every day. If you simply think of all that they have done for us and everyone around us, the answer seems obvious. Patriotism shows how much you care about America; fighting for America is very patriotic. When you honor our Military Heroes, it makes you think of how hard their job is, and how many obstacles they have overcome; they have to be strong, even when it’s hard to; they have to act like everything is okay, even when it’s not; they have to help others, even when it is hard to help themselves.

As you are thinking of all that these people have done for us, it seems as though you realize just how hard their job is; would you be able to leave the ones you love, to go fight for other people's rights in a dangerous country, would you risk your life, would you be able to do all of the things they do? Most of the time, the answer is no. Because we were born American citizens, we sometimes take freedom for granted, but it shouldn't be that way. Right now, people are fighting for your rights overseas, while you are sitting in a safe building doing homework—a harmless, easy task. The least we can do to show the men and women how grateful we are that they are out there, risking their lives, just to make ours better is honoring, thinking, and praying for our Military Heroes every day.

Turn from Good to Pure Evil

"The men of the village, therefore looked upon Wang Lung with increasing respect and they talked to him no more as one of themselves but as one who lived in the great house, and they came to borrow money of him at interest and to ask his advice concerning the marriage of their sons and daughters." (p.216) Throughout the course of the novel, The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck, the concepts of paradox and how money can majorly change someone's personal values are displayed; Wang Lung, the main character, becomes the man he never wanted to be-- turning from a family oriented man to an evil, self-centered man-- because of paradoxical wealth. When Wang Lung was a young man, he used to care about his family somewhat-- he was proud to have a son, and made sure that he provided for his family-- and in the end when he is rich, he only cares about himself, his land, and how other people see him. If he didn’t care about his self image so much, maybe he would have learned to love and cherish the moments he spent with his family and enjoy his family, instead of being unsatisfied and having to buy a new wife.

As a member of a family, you should love, care, and respect your family; as a member of a family, you do not replace them with a purchase of a more beautiful person; as a member of a family, you let them into your lives, and deal with any challenges that come with them. Wang Lung obviously thinks of family a different way than any close family today would. Due to the fact that Wang has more money than them, doesn't get along with, like, or care for his aunt, his uncle, and his cousin, he treats them horribly. After the uncle and aunt go over the edge of annoyance, Wang Lung has had it and goes to his last resort, opium. He then takes a trip into town and buys some opium; he gives his uncle and aunt some, and eventually, they find themselves addicted. Addiction weathers your body and can eventually kill you; I find it hard to believe that Wang Lung's mind did not process this thought when feeding his aunt and uncle the drug. When Wang's cousin says that he has interest to be in the war, Wang is delighted-- on the inside, he is stoic on the outside-- and hopes secretly to himself that the young man will get killed, and never come back to disrupt Wang's precious life. If someone is blessed with fortune and a family, they should love them and cherish them, but due to paradoxical love, Wang finds himself unhappy with his family. Just like Wang was blessed with sons, he also had daughters-- one of which was mentally disabled. In the world today, bringing to attention that someone is disabled is wrong, and can hurt their feelings a great bit, but in the early life, it was a fact of life, and they talked about it very openly. They even called her “the fool.” She can't understand the name, and somehow lives a happy, easy life. The fact that her own father makes fun of her-- when he should be loving her-- is yet another example of paradox. Wang is never happy and at peace with his family, but seems to find peace in his land. If someone likes their land more than their family, it shows that they are ungrateful, and they may not even notice the feelings that they are putting forth. "Well I will go back to the tea shop and see if I can hear anything new. There is nothing in my house except fools and a dotard and two children." (p.171) Buck shows how much Wang-- and unfortunately other people in the world-- respond to the blessing of family. Some love, and some, like Wang, hate.

As a wealthy person living in early China, you would visit expensive tea shops every day, just to be with other wealthy people, and look at prettier women; this was one thing Wang looked down on when he was a young, poor farmer. Due to the fact that he is addicted and more wealthy, Wang now visits Lotus--a young, pretty woman that lives at the tea shop -- every night; he sneaks out, and somehow doesn't feel guilty that he is cheating on his wife, the woman who gave him sons. Just like Wang got his uncle and aunt addicted to opium, he now finds himself addicted to visiting Lotus-- so addicted that he decides to buy her, and bring her into his home. He even builds a few rooms for her, so that she would not be disrupted to his family. Buying someone is unheard of, and unfortunately, O-lan, Wang's original wife, has to live with this other woman who is prettier than her. Sooner than later, Wang finds himself buying anything-- jewelry, clothes, another servant-- she wants, anytime she wants it. Although Wang is rich, he should be focusing on saving, and more on his family, but because of the concept of paradox, Wang is wealthy, a good thing, he has to be evil, a bad thing. “Yet when he went into his houses there was no peace. Although he had given his son a wife and although he had bought enough slaves to serve them all, and although his uncle and his uncle’s wife were given enough opium for their pleasure all day, still there was no peace. And again it was because of his uncle’s son and his own eldest son.” (p. 287) It almost seems as if his family doesn't exist, and the only important person is him, and sometimes Lotus. Lotus has become his life; before her he was never satisfied with his family, he had to go to his land to be happy.

When a poor young man wanted to get married in early Asia, you had to go to a Great House; Wang did this, and went to The House of Hwang-- an intimidating place which he humiliated himself in. The Lord at this house right away told Wang that O-lan, his wife-- wasn't pretty, clever, or smart, but knew how to work in the fields and in the house; that seemed to satisfy Wang in the beginning, but now he needed more. It seems as though wives were handed out like candy; that is totally insulting and scary to women today to think that they had to live with a poor man, whose only purpose for them was to have children, sons preferably, and to perform hard work in the fields. As a poor man, Wang was afraid of these people who lived like royalty in the House of Hwang, and was thankful that he didn't intimidate people like they did. Little did Wang know that sooner than later, he would become one of them. As Wang became richer, he became more arrogant, and thought of himself as a lord of his house. Eventually every person that lived in his house had servants, and were living a wealthy life; Lotus had two slaves. If a person has so much money that they become self-centered and arrogant, it clearly proves that money can change someone's personal values; Wang valued his family and saving money when he was poor, but now he values himself and his own prosperity. When it seems as though Wang has all the money in the world, he ends up buying the House of Hwang and lives in it; his sons redecorate it so that it fits their likings, and they even make it seem like it wasn't fancy enough for them. “We must not think we can be a great family because we live in these inner courts.” (p. 309) Although Wang's son told him this, Wang still felt like a king on his throne living there, having all the power in the world. After this move of Wang's-- moving to the house-- he clearly shows that he is becoming the man he never wanted to be, a rich, careless man.

Wang Lung is truly an evil man, yet he still prospers; he has committed many evil acts, but it seems as though after every evil act he commits, he comes out even richer than he was before. For everything he does, weather it is evil or kind, there is an opposite reaction, where paradox is found. After he gets his aunt and uncle addicted to opium, his land dries up from the flood, and he is again able to harvest his crops. If someone becomes more evil with every good thing that happens to him, it clearly represents opposite reactions and feelings between events. “And Wang Lung gave him the silver bit by bit, as he sat smoking and resting in his court, for the silver came in easily from the land at every harvest and whenever he needed it, and so he gave it easily.” (p. 312) Due to all the good fortune around Wang, he becomes arrogant, and spends his money carelessly, freely, and easily-- something he would never even thought of doing when he was a poor farmer. With all his money, one would think that Wang would be happy, but truly, he is never at peace or satisfied; it's almost like a king, hating his job. If someone has so much prosperity, you would think that they would be happy, but instead, he is angry and annoyed with everything in his life.

“But since he was rich Wang Lung was careless, and he was as angry as he liked and he muttered as he walked homeward to think of the water swelling up over his land and over his good crops.” (p. 274) After Wang becomes rich, he turns into a different man. He becomes evil, careless, and displays feelings of hate; money has clearly changed his life for the worse. Although he is living a life of luxury, his attitude has changed from a man who valued his family, to a man who values his land and himself. Pearl Buck displays the concepts of paradox and how money can majorly change someone's life throughout the course of her novel, The Good Earth, by making the main character, Wang Lung, become the man he never wanted to be-- a rich, evil man who doesn't care about his family, but about himself, and only himself.