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.