The Extended Allegory in The Power and The Glory
Graham Greene pieced together The Power and the Glory from his own personal memoirs in 1940 after a three-year trip to Mexico. Drawing from his own observations of a small town torn between the anti-religious laws of the secular government and the people's religious beliefs, Greene created the story of a Catholic priest being pursued by the police to illustrate the conflicting relationship between the church and state (Greene 2-4). Greene used his experiences in Mexico to create an extended allegory that illustrates the conflict between the two world views and, in turn, reveals his own values and philosophy.
Drawing from his experience in Mexico, Greene developed a "whiskey priest," a character introduced to Greene by a friend in Mexico in a story of a drunken priest that christened a child by the wrong name, to embody the religious world view. The priest, who remains nameless throughout the novel to emphasize his allegorical role, is less an individual than a symbol of the "Church [and] of the cumulative wisdom of the past, in short, of Western Humanism" (DeVitis 89). The priest, however, is seen as a traitor to the state and to his religion. The last Catholic priest in a secular Mexican state, the priest's photograph is hung next to that of a notorious American gangster on the wall of the police office. The priest's tendency towards gin, cowardliness, and his moral weakness make him a traitor to his faith and religious order. On the allegorical level of the novel, the priest's flight from the police is seen as a "flight from God" and away from becoming a saint (DeVitis 90). Refusing to accept his destiny of being captured by the police and becom...
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...ce into paradise" (Hynes 67). Only after the priest's execution is the lieutenant forced to realize his own emptiness and does Greene reveal his religious compassion.
Although often criticized for being "chiefly Roman Catholic," The Power and the Glory masterfully illustrates the intense conflict between the secular and religious world views (Hynes 70). By developing complex allegorical characters, Graham Greene achieves an almost myth-like quality.
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The Allegory of Men painted by Frans Francken in 1635 perfectly depicts the impact of religion during that time period. Francken was a devote Catholic during the 1600s when the church had a lot of influence on the community and government(“Frans Francken the”) . The painter’s intention was to capture the people’s awareness of the church’s power on one’s afterlife. The painting instills good catholic values by reminding people how important it is to make proper decisions to be granted entrance into heaven. Since the church has so much power, they ultimately decide what were “good” and “evil” choices. Divided into three parts the painting shows heaven, Earth, and hell. However, the underlying message in the painting is how humans end up
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BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in year).
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Puberty is the time in one’s life in which there body prepares for their adult years. They change physically and emotionally. Google describes puberty as “the period during which adolescents reach sexual maturity and become capable of reproduction”.