The Power and Glory writing assignment “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”.(Matthew 26:41) These words of Jesus are thematic in both the novel, The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene, and the poem, “Batter my heart, three-personed God”, by John Donne. Both the whiskey priest and the speaker of the poem are involved in a battle between their sinful flesh and their spirit, which seeks the Divine. They also admit their sin and commit themselves to God. In both the novel and the poem, the authors use similar paradoxes to describe the character’s relationship with God while the search for holiness takes each on a different path. The speaker and the whiskey priest describe themselves as sinners, yielding to temptation. The speaker of the poem says, “But I am betrothed unto your enemy”(ln.10), showing the speaker is subdued by the devil. The priest, a drunkard with a child, thinks of himself as a transgressor and a disgrace to the Church. While in the prison, the priest says to the pious woman, “But I’m a bad priest…I know from experience-how much beauty Satan carried down with him when he fell.”(p.130) When he is arrested the priest says to a soldier, “You mustn’t think they are like me…It’s just that I’m a bad priest.”(p.191). In addition to recognizing their betrayal of God, they believe that a sacred life is the ultimate victory. The speaker confesses, “Yet dearly I love you and would be loved fain.”(ln.9) The priest also desires to love God above all, “He knew now at the end there was only one thing that counted – to be a saint.”(p.210) However, each character pursues the Divine in a different way. Even though the whiskey priest perceives himself as a sinner, his way of life resembles the good of the Holy Spirit. The priest resembles Jesus in many places in the novel. The prison scene is very much like the Last Supper, when Jesus said to his apostles that one of them would betray him. The priest thinks, “Surely one of these people will betray me first.”(p.128) He also cleans the pails of the cells in the prison just as Jesus washes the apostles’ feet. The night before he is executed the priest prays alone as Jesus did in the garden. The priest embarks on a mission to keep his religion alive in Mexico while helping the individuals he meets, and he finally dies because of his faith and sense of duty.
Glory The 1989 film Glory is a classic Civil War film based on the history of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment. The film focuses on the courage displayed by the first black regiment in the Civil War, also known as the “Fighting Fifty-fourth.” The regiment, headed by the admirable Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, Matthew Broderick, must overcome an enormous amount of adversity during the war. The film was daring for filmmakers Zwick and Fields because it was a film not only with “vivid and frightening battle scenes and finely etched dramatic characters, but a film that shattered the great Civil War taboo—it told a story of African Americans (Chadwick).
The pastor views Kate Swift whom he is lusting after as God, and the speaker in the poem lusts after God directly. They both are in conflict with carnal lust and sexual desire for what they believe to be God in some form, which means that God is causing them to sin. God is the one who came to Earth as the flesh so that sin could be erased, but in the short story and poem, God is the one who is causing the two characters to sin. This reverse effect is the basis for the irony in both “The Strength of God” and “Batter My
... This line implies that the drinking will never end and that no one can stop him from drinking no matter what you do. This poem is a poem that has beautiful imagery that consistently connects the reader to what’s going on in the actual poem like these lines from “Country Western Singer”, “And the blood I taste, the blood I swallow / Is as far away from wine / as 5:10 is for the one who dies at 5:09” (37-40). These lines have to do with the final push of the alcoholic and the fact that they lost the battle against alcoholism and did in fact pass away.
Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. Canada: DC Heath and Company, 1990. 584-595.
Black soldiers were among the bravest of those fighting in the Civil War. Both free Blacks in the Union army and escaped slaves from the South rushed to fight for their freedom and they fought with distinction in many major Civil War battles. Many whites thought Blacks could not be soldiers. They were slaves. They were inferior. Many thought that if Blacks could fight in the war it would make them equal to whites and prove the theory of slavery was wrong. Even though Black soldiers had to face much discrimination during the Civil War, they were willing to fight to the death for their freedom. In the movie “Glory“ the director focused on the African Americans in the north that fought in the 54th regiment led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. During the time of the Civil War, the African Americans that fought in the 54th regiment were often treated unfairly but there were always nice people that backed them up.
Tulley, Stephen Richard. “Awakened to the Holy.” Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God! In
2. Wright, James. "Saint Judas." Approaching Poetry, Perspectives and Responses. Ed. Meg Spilleth. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1997. 70.
To begin with the symbolism, there are three holy sacraments that have been twisted by Merrill in the story, one of them is directly related to the primary theme of alcoholism, and the other two are connected to Merrill's addiction, but not as directly as the first. This first sacrament is the Eucharist, commonly known as communion, which involves the partaking of wine in a ceremonial fashion. This sacrament is defamed from the very beginning, when Cheever shows the characters sitting around on Sunday, the day of the Lord, when communion would normally take place, with hangovers. It is ridiculed even more strongly when Cheever includes even the priests themselves in the group of people who say, “I drank too much.” The second two sacraments that Merrill perverts are marriage and baptism. Both of these serve to highlight the theme of alcoholism and its negative effects because alcohol served as the instrument causing the perversion. It was Merrill's alcoholism that ruined his relationshi...
All of humanity, even the one reading this paper, has had thoughts of doing things that are far from that of a saint, and although most do not act upon these thoughts there are those who have; those who kill out of spite, those who commit unspeakable acts against men, women and children, those who to everyone else are frightening and fearful and thus locked away from
In one of his more powerful sermons, Sinner’s in the Hand of an Angry God, Edwards used words of parallelism that moved his listeners. He described his view of a vengeful God and the consequences of sin with such strong emotions and vividness that it was sure to astonish most, if not all of those who had the privilege of hearing or reading it. Edwards clearly portrays an image of a fearful and powerful God in relation to a simple and weak man. Edward's words were potent and astonishing and he was sure to have shaken anyone who came across them.
The martyrs in the document take on the role of mediator between God and man, spreading the Word of God to the masses of people and the relaying to them his holy message, in a sense taking on the role of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Perpetua, one of the martyrs when confronted about her faith by her father retorts, “I am Christian” (para.6). Another martyr, Felicity, confidently defends her faith and proclaims it openly by stating, “Stand fast in the faith, and love you all one another; and be not offended because of our passion” (para.20). This statement portrays to the reader the ...
	Sweetness and Power is a historical study of sugar and its affect on society and economy since it was first discovered. Sugar has had a large impact on society and the economy that is not noticeable unless thoroughly studied. The following is an analysis of the work done by Sidney W. Mintz in his attempt to enlighten the "educated layperson".
Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 200-211.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God , "The God that holds you over the
“The Sound and the Fury” is a novel full of literary devices used to portray the crazy lives of the Compson family. Symbolism is used heavily throughout, and helps to explain what goes through each character’s mind as they trudge through many life experiences. The two symbols that stuck out the most would have to be the clock symbolizing time, and Dilsey symbolizing Jesus.