After a long journey, the priest has finally arrived to a place where he is appreciated. It seems to be a town close to the border Guatemala. When he arrives, the priest is shocked to find a place where religion is not persecuted. " 'A church?' The priest ran his hands incredulously over the wall like a blind man trying to recognize a particular house, but he was too tired to feel anything at all. He heard the man with the gun babbling out of sight , 'Such an honour, father. The bell must be rung...' and he sat down suddenly on the rain-drenched grass, and leaning his head against the white wall, he fell asleep, with home behind his shoulder blades. His dream was full of a jangle of cheerful noise (The Power & The Glory, Part II, Chapter 4, pg. 158-159)." It's incredible that after all the priest has been through -almost been caught twice- he finds a place like this town. Maybe Greene wanted to give the reader a bit of tranquility because something really important or catastrophic is going to happen. I believe this is the reason why the reader gets a break from the persecution. Up until know we've noticed that this book is thriller, always making one tense thinking on what's going to happen next. It's been really hard to read this book because I haven't really enjoyed it as much as The Stranger or The Soccer War.
Connecting this part of the book was really simple. Instead of a movie, a book or song, I've decided to make a personal connection. The priest is going through a rough moment in his life. He's being hunted down like an animal and even worse has lost every ones respect because of his reputation as a whiskey priest. "He whispered wearily, 'Drink is only the beginning...' he found he had no lesson he could draw against even that common vice unless it was himself smelling of brandy in the stable. He gave out the penance, quickly, harshly, mechanically. The man would go away, saying, 'A bad priest,' feeling no encouragement, no interest...(The Power & The Glory, Part III, Chapter 1, pg. 172)." During this part of the book we notice how people look at the priest and feel no respect towards him, no love or enthusiasm to see him. One could even say the people feel pity and that is why the ransom hasn't been collected. The personal experience I connected to this part of the book is similar, but not 100% the same. At some point in our lives we feel prosecuted by something or someone, in my case it would be the idea of growing up and having to deal with problems that I haven't faced before. It's no that I don't want to grow up ever, it frightens me to think that in a few years I'm going to have to get a job to survive and most of the times I believe I'll suck so badly that I won't get where I want to and most probably be a complete failure in life. The good thing is I still have time to react and lead myself far away from failure as much as possible. This makes me feel tranquil, but as well gives me the urge to prepare. The psychological feeling of been chased by something or someone is what I share with the priest in this moment.
One of the questions I asked last time was if the priest would have some luck as he had in Concepcion and the answer was yes he does. Later on he finds this small town where practicing religion is not illegal or at least the people in the town allow it and some of them practice religious acts. The story about the churches in the North Mountains is true and the priest sees them, but they are abandoned. Up until now I believe that the priest will never see his 'wife' and daughter again, because he has decided to follow the mestizo into enemy territory.
- Will the priest be caught or killed?
- If the he is caught what will be done with him?
- Is the mestizo a good or bad character?
- Where is Tench? Will we ever see him again?
- What will happen to the priest if he is not caught or killed? Will he leave Mexico?
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