What Do You Live For?

Author's Note- a essay response to the novel, The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

The smell of brandy is everywhere, but even with all this delightfulness, the feeling of death clings to everything. The morning sun peaks over the horizon and he knows, we all know, that his time on this earth will soon cease to exist. His only reason for life was his faith, and he had failed, not only God, but himself, the only thing left for him is forgiveness. Prayer fills his mind, body, and soul as he is taken to his death, but not for himself, for his enemies. The wall of which many others' blood has been splattered and drenched across comes closer and closer, until finally its all that fills his vision. Words begin to flood like poisonous venom from the lips of the officers, it doesn’t matter what they are, just what they mean; death. Shots are fired and the pain is so intense that nothing but death can cure it, but he has forgiven his enemies and himself, so he journeyed on to a better life with God in his mind and forgiveness in his soul. In the novel The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene, the "whiskey" priest portrays nothingness, his life unvalued. Throughout the novel, multiple of different characters are shown, each living their own life is different ways, each believing in something either wholesome and pure or disgusting and evil.

Within the first few pages of the novel The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, you are introduced to the most human figure in the entire plot. The "whiskey" priest is a man on the run for believing in his faith. Although he isn't the most faithful priest, he still represents us as people. With our own flaws and mistakes, he shows that people are not perfect and everyone is searching for an escape. Most of us feel pain and suffer through hardships, and most of us don’t want to feel that. The "whiskey" priest gets his name from his alcoholism, which is his escape from reality. It is human nature to shield away from pain, to want to feel anything but it. Even though the priest is full of mistake after mistake, he still is true to his purpose. "There's a pain. To choose pain like that-its not possible. And it's my duty not to be caught"(40) This quote explains his reasons for his life; he knows that without an escape he would be caught sooner. Without him the people would have no hope and their faith wouldn't exist.

One of the younger characters in the novel, Carol Fellows, shows the most compassion and selflessness out of anyone. With her bright spirit and knowledge of right and wrong, she represents the selfless people of the world. When the "whiskey" priest appeared in her home, she immediately became kind and caring towards his needs. If we had more people like this in the world, then it would be a better place without unnessisary pain. Without selfishness and pride, the world would not be as cold as it is today. Carol Fellows is a gift, she makes people want to be good, to strive for it. Although she in young in age, her knowledge shines well beyond thoughs of her parents, who are afraid and concerned at all hours of the day.

Though they are close in age, the character Brigita, the "whiskey" priest daughter ,is far different form Coral Fellows. Brigita was born to a single mother in the times when that was uncommon. Her father was a priest who was not allowed to be to married, let alone produce a child. She only thinks of herself as unlucky to have come from such a broken life, which is what leads her to be cold. Cold is a word that every child shouldn’t be. A child is the symbolism of innocence and life, but Brigita shows the exact opposite of everything a child should be. "Now perhaps you'll go - go away altogether. You're no good any more to anyone,' she said fiercely. 'Don’t you understand , father? We don’t want you any more."(78) These bitter words, words that should never be spoken from a child's tongue, show the mass hatred towards her father and her un-childlike ways.

Evil and betrayal takes a whole new meaning in the character known in the novel as the mestizo, which is why he represents the evil way of life. Upon the priests first meeting of him, it is shown how the sneaky and conniving his true self is. He goes along with the "whiskey" priest to the city of La Candelaria, constantly trying to get the priest to confess to his true identity, showing nothing other then his evil ways. With evil in our lives, we can never truly be happy. With betrayal in our lives, who do we trust? The mestizo is a perfect example of why we do not completely trust each other, why we lock our doors at night, why we don’t always tell the truth. Evil is all around us in the world, without it everything, every way of life, would be different. Betrayal is what makes us human, everyone strives to achieve and advance in life, which is not possible without some form of betrayal.

As the novel, The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, comes to an end, the existence of so many different types of lives are portrayed. From living to the most honest true life, down to wanting nothing more then to gain, each life represents what goes on in our world every hour of every day. There are some who love and strive for good, and there are some who want destruction and self gain, but no ones reasons are exactly the same. If they were then we wouldn’t be known as individuals, and our world would be like something out of a science fiction novel. We need convictions and we need conventions to make our world function. Without differences in people we would be boring and dull. We would be normal.