Reading this book is like being on a roller coaster, it has parts where you don't want to stop reading and other's where you loose interest completely. Up until know the third part has been the most exciting of the whole book, but it could still be a lot better. During this passage of the book, we learn that the priest has gone back to 'enemy territory' so he can reunite with the gringo who has sent him a letter asking the priest to forgive his sins before he dies. At first the 'Yankee' is very rude to the priest telling him to leave, but later we find that he acts this way so the priest doesn't get caught by the lieutenant. "I know what you want to tell me. I know it, do you understand? Let that be. Remember you are dying. Don't depend too much on God's mercy. He has given you this chance. He may not give you another. What sort of a life have you led all these years? Does it seem so grand now? You've killed a lot of people -that's about all. Anybody can do that for a while, and then he is killed too. Just as you are killed. Nothing left except pain (The Power & The Glory, Part III, Chapter 2, pg. 188)." After telling this to the gringo, he decides to tell the priest that he should take care and that their is gun under his arm but it isn't there, so he is given a knife just in case he need a way to protect or defend himself. As soon as the gringo dies, the priest turns around and the lieutenant is standing behind him and asks the priest if he is amazed to see him and the priest responds that no, that he has been expecting him. Since a storm is approaching, the lieutenant orders one of the officers or policeman to bring two boxes inside the hut and a candle so they can sit. Both the priest and the lieutenant begin to talk and the priest is spoken to horribly by the officer. To change the subject the priest takes out a pair of cards that Mr. Lehr gave him and starts showing tricks and games to the lieutenant. After this the scene becomes tense because this man starts accusing the priest of several things done by the church. " 'The trickery.' He broke out furiously with the one hand on his gun, as though it had crossed his mind that it would be better to eliminate this beast, now, at this instant, for ever (The Power & The Glory, Part III, Chapter 2, pg. 193)." Later on the storm leaves the area and the priest is taken by the lieutenant, most probably to jail while they wait for his 'trial.'
To connect this part of the book, I decided to take the part where the priest finds himself with his prosecutor (the lieutenant) inside the hut. "A VOICE said, 'Well, have you finished now?' The priest got up and made a small scared gesture of assent. He recognized the police officer who had given him money at the prison, a dark smart figure in the doorway with the storm light glinting in his leggings. He had one hand on his revolver and he frowned sourly in at the dead gunman. 'You didn't expect to see me,' he said. 'Oh, but I did,' the priest said (The Power & The Glory, Part III, Chapter 3, pg. 190)." The relation I'm going to make is with a book I once read called All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. This book takes place in Germany during the First World War. It's a about a bunch of friends who decided to fight in the German army because it sounds like 'fun.' The story shows how the main character Paul Bäumer goes through change and sees the reality of the war, pure horror. He engages himself into a new fight which will be against hate. There is a passage in this book where Paul describes being inside an abandoned house alone and how the enemy comes in and starts looking for survivors, but he hides and is not caught. This tense moment is also shared by the priest, so that is why they can be closely related. "-Terror can be endured so long as a man simply ducks; -but it kills, if a man thinks about it (All Quiet on the Western Front, Chapter 7, pg. 138)."
Up until know we know that the priest has been caught, we don't know if his going to be killed (although it seems like it) or sent to jail. The mestizo is a bad character because while the priest is pardoning the gringo's sins he gets lost and most probably he does so to tell the lieutenant and get the reward.
- Is the priest going to be judged and killed?
- Where did the mestizo go?
- Why does the lieutenant hate the church so much?
- Will the priest see his 'family' again?
- What happened to Padre José?
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