The Whiskey Priest of Power and the Glory
The Whiskey Priest – The Power and The Glory
The Power and the Glory, as already visible from its very title, relies heavily on the complex dialectics of pairs of dual terms which go beyond their apparent contradiction to offer complementary affiliations. The characters, especially the whisky priest, have a dilemma: they live and voice paradoxes and navigate between extremes, an example of which is the states of purity and impurity. Impurity is obviously perceptible in the dirty, infected and contaminated state of Tabasco characterized by putrefaction and corruption, be it material, physical, political, or religious. Theoretically, within the conflict between the political and the religious poles, both the lieutenant and the priest consider that they are endowed with a pure, perfect mission, but unfortunately, neither’s mission is absolutely “pure”. Those who are supposed to bring comfort to the world and eradicate imperfection are not pure and worthy themselves. The reader is constantly lead to wonder which of the two has a better ideal and who is more likely to win this competition for people’s salvation: a sinful priest or a morally good man with no religious faith? The two characters are both noble and flawed at the same time; they share the same virtues and goals, and they have their own vices. However, only the priest seems to undergo a sort of spiritual purification. The Power and the Glory could therefore be considered as a novel retracing the priest’s journey from an impure state of greed, ambition and pride to humility and understanding. The priest’s progress, despite all the religious resonances emanating even from the title, is contained in a perfectly entertaining format which incites the reader to follow the hero’s “labyrinthine ways”. 2The prevalent atmosphere of The Power and the Glory is characterized by dirty and decaying surroundings in a spiritually soiled and impure environment. The sordid universe proliferates with crawling insects and
The Power and the Glory, as already visible from its very title, relies heavily on the complex dialectics of pairs of dual terms which go beyond their apparent contradiction to offer complementary affiliations. The characters, especially the whisky priest, have a dilemma: they live and voice paradoxes and navigate between extremes, an example of which is the states of purity and impurity. Impurity is obviously perceptible in the dirty, infected and contaminated state of Tabasco characterized by putrefaction and corruption, be it material, physical, political, or religious. Theoretically, within the conflict between the political and the religious poles, both the lieutenant and the priest consider that they are endowed with a pure, perfect mission, but unfortunately, neither’s mission is absolutely “pure”. Those who are supposed to bring comfort to the world and eradicate imperfection are not pure and worthy themselves. The reader is constantly lead to wonder which of the two has a better ideal and who is more likely to win this competition for people’s salvation: a sinful priest or a morally good man with no religious faith? The two characters are both noble and flawed at the same time; they share the same virtues and goals, and they have their own vices. However, only the priest seems to undergo a sort of spiritual purification. The Power and the Glory could therefore be considered as a novel retracing the priest’s journey from an impure state of greed, ambition and pride to humility and understanding. The priest’s progress, despite all the religious resonances emanating even from the title, is contained in a perfectly entertaining format which incites the reader to follow the hero’s “labyrinthine ways”. 2The prevalent atmosphere of The Power and the Glory is characterized by dirty and decaying surroundings in a spiritually soiled and impure environment. The sordid universe proliferates with crawling insects and