Literary Devices in The Power and the Glory
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
The Power and the Glory is loosely set in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco during an anti-Catholic purge. Greene had visited Mexico during this time of religious persecution and had seen its e...
Narrator Point of View
In each section, Greene tends to dwell in the head of just one character, but occasionally he gives us a sneak peek into the minds of multiple individuals. When, for example, the priest is seeking...
Genre
Graham composed The Power and the Glory after taking a trip to Mexico to report on the anti-clericalism taking place. The novel follows a fictional priest, but the regimes and social policies descr...
Tone
Graham Greene would have made a good blogger—he knew how to push buttons and provoke. The Power and the Glory is obviously critical of religious persecution, but Greene seems to hit hardest when...
Writing Style
Like a good preacher's sermon, The Power and the Glory is meant to be heard. We love listening to it, anyway. With brisk dialogue and just enough detail to form a picture, Greene keeps the narrativ...
What's Up With the Title?
The words of the title come from the concluding praises—called a doxology—that sometimes follow the saying of the Our Father. It goes, "For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,...
What's Up With the Epigraph?
"Th' inclosure narrow'd; the sagacious powerOf hounds and death drew nearer every hour." - John Dryden, From "The Hind and the Panther, The Second Part"Sounds like a description of the priest's str...
What's Up With the Ending?
It turns out that the last priest is not the last priest. In the wake of our protagonist's execution, a priest arrives at the home of the faithful mother and is let inside by the once skeptical boy...
Tough-o-Meter
The Power and the Glory is a relatively short novel with only a handful of major characters and the basic plot conventions of a good thriller. You know where you're going. However, you don't always...
Plot Analysis
Danger Is His Middle NameThe last priest in a Mexican state hides from the authorities while doing his best to minister to villagers he meets. If he's caught, he'll be killed. He knows it, the vil...
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
Our protagonist, the whisky priest, has been living in rags for many years. He's a wanted man, not for a specific crime, but simply for being a priest, which seems a little overkill if you ask us...
Three-Act Plot Analysis
In the first act of the novel, the priest alternates between fleeing from the police and ministering to the remaining Catholics who desire his services. The lieutenant keeps on his trail. The mest...
Trivia
Today The Power and the Glory is well read and respected in Catholic circles, but fourteen years after its release, the Holy Office of the Catholic Church—Greene's own Church!—condemned the boo...
Steaminess Rating
When the priest is in jail for possession of alcohol, he's put into a cell crowded with people, two of whom pass the time by having sexual intercourse. Greene describes that act from a distance and...
Allusions
In a subtle reference to Alfred Tennyson's "The Princess," Greene names a school book belonging to Coral Fellows Jewels Five Words Long (2.4.19)The Bible (3.1.46)Nero (1.2.56)Jesus Christ (2.1.300)...