Graham Green was born on October 2, 1904, in Berhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, Greene was one of six children. He attended Berhamsted public school, where his father was the headmaster. Most students harassed Greene because his father was the headmaster of the school in which he attended. He preferred reading rather than physical activity, which helped aid in his alienation. He read mostly adventure books by such authors as Rider Haggard and R. M. Ballantyne. These authors had a great impact on his method of writing. He then attended Balliol College at Oxford in 1922 where he was able to earn a Bachelors degree in modern hist

The other character that Greene uses well is that of the Lieutenant. To represent the opposing world view, Greene used the lieutenant in pursuit of the priest to embody the secular order(DeVitis 91). The lieutenant, who also remains nameless throughout the novel, is described as "a theologian going back over the errors of the past to destroy them again" (Greene 24). The lieutenant promises "food, clothing, and security" contrary to the priest's ideology of "misery, poverty, and superstition" (DeVitis 92). Although Greene portrays the role of the lieutenant as that of being superior to the priest, one could decide to believe that his true beliefs are revealed in the conflict between the two views with his use of the priest and the lieutenant. Near the end of the book when the lieutenant is planning for the priest’s death, he falls asleep and has a dream. Greene uses the dream to suggest that the lieutenant is the prisoner and the laughter is the priest's “celebrating the release of a captive human soul from punishment and its entrance into paradise" (Hynes 67). Only after the priest's execution is the lieutenant forced to realize his own emptiness and does Greene reveal his religious compassion.

The Power and the Glory was arguably Greene’s best work. It was acclaimed as being the Hawthornden Prize Winner in 1941. However, this fine work was not without its criticism. It was condemned by the Vatican, although that criticism did come 14 years after the book was published. In gaining an understanding of Graham Greene, there was much to be discovered about this man and author. Greene had the inherent ability to take his many life experiences and apply them to this thought provoking novel that, at times, seems to challenge mainstream religion and government politics.

Although often criticized for being "chiefly Roman Catholic," The Power and the Glory masterfully illustrates the intense conflict between the secular and religious world views (Hynes 70). By developing complex symbolic characters, Greene achieves an almost myth-like quality.

Greene deals masterfully with the mystery of God, and with people's beliefs. It is a story in which religion is represented by the priest, and the politics by the communist police lieutenant (Greene). In The Power and the Glory Greene illustrates God's kindness as it defies the government and all those that wish harm upon him. Because of the faith of ordinary people, who all have made mistakes, does the religion’s ability to continue thrive. And as communism began to spread all over the world, Greene's book assured the reader that there is a God. No matter what your religion or faith, your God will never leave you, and that evil will never win. It just so happens that the lieutenant's views of this situation coincide with that of the state. The lieutenant wants to wipe out Catholicism and create a better, communistic society. He does not believe in God or an afterlife as implied by the lieutenant when saying, "No, I don't fight against a fiction [God] and Death's a fact.

Some topics in this essay:
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