How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph.)
Quote #1
"Going in her?"
The little man seemed to evade the question, but then as if some explanation were required: "I was just looking," he said. "I suppose she'll be sailing soon?" (1.1.22-23)
The priest, called the little man here, intends to board the boat and escape the area. If he would be doing so openly, albeit without revealing his identity, why evade the question? Does his evasion make him seem more suspicious or less?
Quote #2
[…] one man had conformed to the Governor's law that all priests must marry. He lived now near the river with his housekeeper. That, of course, was the best solution of all, to leave the living witness to the weakness of their faith. It showed the deception they had practiced all these years. For if they really believed in heaven or hell, they wouldn't mind a little pain now, in return for what immensities… (1.2.50)
Notice how the married priest, Padre José, functions as an anti-martyr—he's a witness to the lies of the faith he practiced. As we learn elsewhere, he thinks of himself as the biggest martyr of all because he'll have to suffer indefinitely. Where the executed priests blink and get executed, he gets to continue living in this sick sad world. No, he's not a giant like Fezzik from The Princess Bride. He's the star witness of the secular state: the living testament that Catholicism is a lie.
Quote #3
"[…] I don't believe all that they write in these books. We are human." (1.2.81)
We wonder if this is Graham Greene secretly voicing his opinion about popular books about saints, which tend to highlight their heroism while keeping the less savory aspects of their lives in the dark. We might call The Power and the Glory an attempt to write a more human saint story.