Juan in this novel represents the quintessential saint and martyr Essay Example

Juan in this novel represents the quintessential saint and martyr Essay Example Juan in this novel represents the quintessential saint and martyr Essay Juan in this novel represents the quintessential saint and martyr Essay Essay Topic: Fight Club Novel In The Power and the Glory, Greene presents us with a very unconventional protagonist: a fugitive whisky priest, the father of a bastard child, on the run from an overzealous lieutenant in a world where religion is illegal. Struggling to survive, he meets a scheming Mestizo, a Judas, who he knowingly follows into the hands of the lieutenant, and is subsequently executed. The novel examines the concepts of duty, persecution, compassion, and the idea of sainthood. The world of Mexico that Greene creates is a decaying, merciless, ungodly place, a place where one would not necessarily expect to find a typical saint. The storybook heroic saint in the novel, Juan, embodies all of the saintly stereotypes, whereas the priest does not. Greene is not interested in the typical, formulaic saint: he is far more concerned with the idea of finding spirituality in unexpected places, a good example of which is the prison scene.The prison scene is presented by Greene as being a microcosm of the world: This place was very like the world: overcrowded with lust and crime and unhappy love, it stank to heaven. This shows us Greenes acceptance of the world, overcrowded with inevitable human flaws, with the repetition of and increasing the pace of reading, giving a tone of relentlessness. The word crime linking the prison and the outside world implies that, just as the prison is full of criminals, so too is the world. Lust is a reference to the pair copulating in the prison, and the wider implication of this is that the world is full of such lust, which Greene accepts, as we are but humans. Indeed, the priest himself succumbed to lust, in conceiving Brigitta, his illegitimate daughter. Unhappy love in itself is an interesting binary pair, as one usually associates love with happiness; Greene is here subverting our expectations associated with the word love, perhaps suggesting that the archetypal connotations of love are often illusory.The priests time in prison also gives us an insight into his own views on martyrdom; when a prisoner suggests he is a martyr, he replies I dont think martyrs are like this Martyrs are holy men. The fact that he giggles first shows us that hes no Juan; giggling is a childish, unmanly thing to do. This shows us that he does not believe himself to be a holy man; he is in a state of mortal sin. This is because he has fathered a bastard child, which fills him with a miserable happiness, reminiscent of the unhappy love in the prison. He continues his self-deprecation, saying you must never think the holy martyrs are like me. I am a whisky priest. His repeated use of the word holy, and his dissociation from it, shows that the priest is humble, modest, and aware that he is not the typical holy man. The fact that he accepts the whisky priest label, whilst avoiding the label of martyr shows that he is modest, but also encourages the reader to question the nature of martyrdom; could a whisky priest also be a martyr?A martyr, or saint, in the p riests eyes should see beauty in suffering: Saints talk about the beauty of suffering. Well, we are not saints, you and I. This is regarding the people having sex in the prison, when he is discussing it with the pious woman. He says he is a bad priest and knows from experience how much beauty Satan carried. That he acknowledges beauty in sin goes against traditional Catholic ideals regarding sin; he has a more realistic attitude to life, discarding the idealistic view of sin as being ugly, accepting that it can be beautiful. Of course, Greene is subtly implying that the priest does possess saintly qualities, in that he knows what a saint should see. Indeed, even though he doesnt find beauty in suffering here, he finds peace, clarity and an irrational affection for the inhabitants of the prison: love.Love is something the priest values highly, and in the religious sense love is paramount. It is notable that in his innocence, he had felt no love for anyone; now in his corruption he h ad learnt Here, Greene shows us that the priests previous, pious, innocent way of life had been devoid of true love. Now, through suffering and corruption, he learns love, giving him a somewhat saintly quality. Typically, saints should learn through suffering alone, not corruption; but we know that the priest is no typical saint. Indeed, presenting us with a priest whose love stems from corruption questions the traditional nature of sainthood as epitomised by Juan.The way that the novel is written encourages the reader to sympathise with the whisky priest, in spite of his flaws. The priest shuffles in and out of scenes, with an air of nervous hilarity. He is diminutive, lacks presence, and refers to himself as a bad priest. This is in stark contrast with Juan, who was noted for his humility and piety; but yet, even the pious Catholic mother who is reading the story of Juan admits that the whisky priest is not despicable. The same cannot be said for Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, though, whom she does refer to as being a despicable man.Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ represents cowardice, abandonment of faith, and selfishness. In the graveyard, he refuses to pray for a couples dead child, confessing I am unworthy. Cant you see? I am a coward. This aspect of Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ is made clear on numerous occasions, and his life seems to be dictated by fear. The word coward rings true, as Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, unlike the whisky priest, gave in to public humiliation, marriage, in order to save himself. He is described by Greene as having given in to the unforgivable sin despair. Contrastingly, the whisky priest never yields to despair, and has an underlying moral code and sense of duty he puts his duty before his fear, unlike Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. It is no coincidence, then, that the priest who converted Greene to Catholicism, Father Trollope, was described by Greene in A Sort of Life, as driven further by some inner compulsion to the priesthood; it is clear to see that the whisky priest reflects this com pulsion Greene writes that the whisky priest had given into despair five years ago, when he conceived his child, and he returns to the scene of his despair with a curious lightening of the heart. For he had got over despair too. This is crucial, as it is the pivotal difference between him and Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½; Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ is unable to get over despair.Despair is a common theme in the novel, which is unsurprising given the setting. The Mexico Greene describes is one with blazing Mexican sun and bleaching dust. The words blazing and bleaching are very negative; blazing conjures up imagery of fire, and bleaching carries connotations of bones and arid land. Greene uses a filmic narrative technique, describing the visual aspects of the novel in detail; as Evelyn Waugh writes, His technical mastery has never been better manifested in his statement of the scene It is the cameras eye recording significant detail. It is this which gives the reader a clearer image of just how bleak the set ting is to live in.Living in such a place, despair seems almost inevitable for most, which creates a need for escapism. The story of Juan provides such escapism for the girls who listen intently to it: One of the little girls licked her lips secretively. This was life. Obviously, the story of Juan is not life at all; Greene is being ironic here, as the idealistic world of the tale is far removed from the harsh realities of life. It is also ironic that the mother says Juan was a true young Mexican boy, as children in this novel are typically cynical (such as Coral Fellows, Brigitta, and Luis, the boy who idolises the lieutenant), or in the case of the girls, gullible. These harsh realities outline the absurdities of Juans clearly fictitious world, and highlight the sheer dreadfulness of the world Greene has set the novel in, a world in which the word life was taboo: it reminded you of death. By telling the audience that the people of this place associate the word life only with death , Greene is emphasising the bleakness of the world, and the nihilistic attitudes of many that live there. In such a world, a heroic such as Juan seems ill-fitting and unrealistic: the whisky priest is a flawed, corrupted hero, for a flawed, corrupted world.This flawed hero, however, was not well-received by all of Greenes contemporaries; George Orwell wrote that Greene appears to share the idea, which has been floating around ever since Baudelaire, that there is something rather distinguà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ in being damned; Hell is a sort of high-class nightclub, entry to which is reserved for Catholics only. Here, Orwell is trivialising the novel; the word floating is rather condescending, and the use of distinguà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ seems rather dismissive, and implies that the idea is somewhat pretentious. Mention of a nightclub further trivialises the novels message. Orwell is clearly accusing Greene of being unoriginal and pretentious, and the whisky priest as being nothing new. However, I disa gree; with the direct comparisons to sainthood and martyrdom between Juan and the priest, Greene puts this idea into a newer, more realistic and contemporary context.The world in which the novel takes place is one of people who doubt the priest: That is what everyone says all the time you do no good I can see them saying it all over the world. The fact that the priest is told this all the time shows that the opposition he faces is relentless, but he still does not give into despair. You do no good shows that his work is viewed as futile by the population. This is reminiscent of the nihilistic view expressed by philosopher Aleister Crowley in Towards The Golden Dawn, being appalled by the futility of all human endeavour. However, instead of being appalled by this futility, the priest acts in spite of it this is where his strength lies.Whilst nihilistic attitudes permeate many layers of this Mexican society, the priest seems to be determined, strong and stoic in his outlook,. He kno ws that his efforts are futile, that the easiest thing to do would be to hand himself in yet carries on regardless. He shows faith and courage, defies despair, and struggles on. Indeed, when he visits his home village, he realises that When he was gone it would be as if God in all this space ceased to exist, and finds himself shaken with the enormity of the problem, but still continues on regardless, driven by a sense of duty. That God would effectively cease to exist in the area without the priest outlines the magnitude of his responsibility: an immense load of responsibility: it was indistinguishable from love. This love is very like the love he feels for his fellow inmates in the prison scene.In the prison scene, the priest describes saints as people who see beauty in suffering, but doesnt see himself as such a saint. However, he certainly has a saintly appreciation of suffering. An excellent example of this is when he is about to leave his home town: He cried out stubbornly in a voice of authority, That is why I tell you that heaven is here: this is a part of heaven just as pain is a part of pleasure. He said, Pray that you will suffer more and more and more. Never get tired of suffering. The fact that he is stubborn shows how resilient and determined he is, and again gives us the idea that he is defiant in the face of despair. In his modesty, he proclaims himself not [a] saint in prison, yet clearly does appreciate the beauty in suffering. He links suffering to heaven, clearly associated with beauty, and his repetition of the word suffering shows us how passionate he is on the subject. It seems Greene is deliberately making the audience aware of the priests stance on suffering, so that we remember this moment when he later talks about sainthood in the prison. This is a technique Greene uses effectively, as we see the priest as humble and modest, yet still sees the world as a saint by his own definition; seeing beauty in suffering.The priest is in many wa ys a pathetic character, with his shambling from place to place, and his degradation. He is, in many situations, a powerless victim of circumstance. For example, when the wine he works so hard to purchase is drunk by the chief of police, he starts crying, and says he sees all the hope of the world draining away. Here, we see the pathetic side of the priest not only because he is crying, but because he is beginning to despair, and is a powerless victim of circumstance. However, this is by no means his most pathetic, undignified moment; this is without doubt when he fights with a dog over a scrap of meat. The absurdity of the situation is not lost on the priest, either: suddenly he laughed: this was human dignity disputing with a bitch over a bone. The phrase human dignity is clearly intended by Greene to be ironic, as the priest has lost any dignity he may have once had by fighting with the crippled bitch over a bone. He is clearly not a macho, true Mexican [man], unlike Juan Greene gives us such situations to show that humans Gods image will do what is necessary to survive, which should not affect their role as saints. He challenges the traditional view of sainthood, where upholding ones dignity is expected.A sense of responsibility clearly drives the priest to continue his struggle, his suffering; he knowingly walks into the mestizos trap He was quite certain that this was a trap probably the half-caste had suggested it but it was a fact that the American was there, dying. This fact gives the priest a sense of responsibility, even though hes heading to his death, which displays immense courage. Interestingly, the priest fails to see his own worth in this regard; after coming across the Native American woman, he thought God forgive me. I have no sense of responsibility: what can you expect of a whisky priest?.Greene makes it clear to the reader, by examples such as missing the boat at the start and following Judas into the trap at the end, that the pries t does have a sense of responsibility, despite being a whisky priest; this defies the stereotypes one might associate with the term, and shows that the priest has determination and courage. Of course, the priest is not completely courageous; he fears pain, and still fears death hes only human, unlike the seemingly supernatural Juan; he thinks you needed to be a little drunk to die, showing his flaws of alcoholism and fear. Juan, of course, was quite calm and happy when he knew he was about to die, and prayed for his enemies.Praying for his enemies, however, is something that the priest does, to an extent, share with Juan he pities the mestizo, thinking it was really shocking bad luck for the poor devil that he was to be burdened with a sin of such magnitude. Indeed, in his cell, the priest tries to pray for the half-caste, the lieutenant but in the moment of prayer he switched back to his child beside the rubbish dump, and he knew it was for her only that he prayed. The fact that he is unable to do as Juan and pray for his enemies is largely unimportant, as he at least attempts to pray for his enemies, and it is a sign of his flaws that he can think only of his daughter. He himself thinks that the people deserved a saint [but] God hadnt thought fit to send them one. Just by saying this, Greene is encouraging the reader to compare the priest to a saint, and is clearly challenging the preconceptions regarding sainthood.The priest, before death, thinks it would have been quite easy to have been a saint. It would only have needed a little self-restraint and a little courage. Here, Greene uses the word little twice, to show how the priest, by his own measure, has only missed sainthood by a small way. This encourages the reader to view the priest as a saint, and dismiss his sins as being too little, too trivial, to mar his piety. The mother of Luis even says that the whisky priest was a hero, one of the martyrs of the Church, and may be one of the saints. That eve n she considers him to be as such conveys Greenes message that sainthood need not be restricted to the absolutely, unattainably perfect. However, Greene seems to almost mock established ideas of sainthood when the mother says Of course, before we know he is a saint, there will have to be miracles and goes on to mention paying for relics. Such concepts seem ludicrous, given the priests own pragmatism, yet still persist. Greene is here questioning the Catholic definition of sainthood, and is satirising it critically.Critic David Lodge wrote that There is a good deal of evidence, internal and external, that in Greenes fiction Catholicism is not a body of belief requiring exposition and demanding categorical assent or dissent, but a system of concepts, a source of situations, and a reservoir of symbols. Clearly, he is supporting the notion that Greene challenges the categorical assent and dissent regarding sainthood, where assent represents the followings of the Catholic teachings, many of which the priest abandons. The assent is embodied by Juan, and the complete dissent by Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, giving into the ultimate sin, despair. The priest lies in the middle ground, representing what V.S. Pritchett refers to as a whole and memorable human being.In conclusion, Greene uses the contrast between Juan and the whisky priest to not only question, but also to criticise and challenge the idealistic Catholic views on sainthood. He uses the priests flaws and self-doubt to present us with a character who would not be considered a traditional saint, but possesses many saintly qualities. Greene gives us the priests ideas of sainthood, such as seeing beauty in suffering and having a sense of responsibility, with the priests own thoughts of how he is not fulfilling them. However, Greene subtly subverts this by having sections in the novel where the priest does fulfil these self-lain expectations of sainthood, allowing the reader to make the connection and realise that the priest is actually a very dedicated and dutiful Christian, even though he himself does not realise it; his humility serves only to augment his saintliness.