Convictions

an essay response to the novel The Power and the Glory

Convictions, our beliefs, are what define how we live our lives. People with stronger beliefs are quite often stronger than people with weak ones. Our convictions are what keep us going, they make us who we are. They help us make choices, whether it may be the right or the wrong one. In the novel The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene shows that when we go against or give up our convictions, life can take a turn for the worst.

After the government forced all priests to either take a wife or be killed, the priest named Padre José did as he was told and married a woman who he did not truly love; his only reason for marrying her was to save his own life. "An old man who married was grotesque enough, but an old priest. . . . He stood outside himself and wondered whether he was even fit for hell." (29) Padre José was a man who gave up his convictions to live. He gave up his priestly beliefs for what: the rest of his life with a woman who he barely liked? "There was no respect anywhere left for him in his home, in the town, in the whole abandoned star." (30) He perhaps even regretted it, because after leaving the priesthood he had lost the respect of everyone. No one stopped him on the streets anymore, no one came to him for confessions, he became just an ordinary man--which for him was possibly a fate even worse than death.

The lieutenant is the main individual in charge of capturing the whiskey priest, and he takes his job very seriously pursuing the priest mercilessly. Although he is shown to have convictions, his convictions are for the wrong things. He believes that the church is shady and dishonest, and will do anything to bring it down. Throughout his search for the priest, he takes hostages from villages and kills them. He truly thinks that everything he does is for the greater good, and that he is helping people. His mind is so set on capturing the priest, that he doesn't realize nor care about the people that he is hurting and killing along the way. Graham Greene uses the lieutenant to display what happens to people whose convictions aren't pure and good.

The mestizo in the novel The Power and the Glory lives his life like an animal, seeming perfectly content about it with no remorse. He is called "Judas" (99), referring to Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, who later betrays Jesus. The mestizo, like Judas, betrays the whiskey priest when the two meet. He tells the priest that he will help him, but instead turns him in to the government, where the priest meets his death. When the priest and the mestizo crossed paths in the jail, the mestizo's true animal nature is revealed. He stands next to a pile of vomit, as if it's something ordinary, and something that is common for him. The priest, disgusted and horrified by the mestizo, can only hope that he will soon be away from the animal-like man.

The whiskey priest: like Padre José, is forced to chose between a life on the run or giving up the life of priesthood to live, but chooses exactly opposite of him. When the whiskey priests gives up his priestly convictions, his life becomes horrible. He is constantly running from the government, who will kill him if they find him. The people of the towns are afraid to help him, because if they do they could face being tortured by authorities. Basically, the priest is the reverse of what he is expected to be. His name "whiskey priest" comes from his insane drinking habit, which is illegal as well. He also has a daughter, which goes completely against the rules of a priest. "He knew he was in the grip of the unforgiveable sin, despair." (49) It seems as though the priest is always leading the others he is around to sin, when he should be leading them away from it and helping to repent themselves. Eventually, the priest gets what he deserves, and is killed by the lieutenant after he is turned in by the mestizo.

Convictions--our beliefs, what guide us throughout our lives. They tell what type of person you are, good or evil. In the novel The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene shows that life can take a turn for the worst when we go against, give up, or lack convictions.