Dr. Ramirez
Graham Greene. The Power and the Glory
Ch. 4 - III Ch. 1-2

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Themes: Greene uses Darwinist ideas in his novel.

• Fighting the dog for a bone
• The fastest priests survive; those who linger face danger
• Representation of Indians as weaker, unable to resist the hegemony of the Mexican government
• Distrust of hybrid--mestizo
• Survival of the Church through small pockets of resistance--spread power and disseminate and therefore ensure its survival
• Tension between the grotesque physicality of life and the evasive spiritual life
• The vultures are part of the chain of life
• In stripping the finer things in life, we return to the essence of being
• Reason and faith

Chapter 4

• Ambivalence
• Difference between humans and (other) animals is that animals don't know despair; they keep holding onto life
• British literature unfamiliar to the priest; he doesn't recognize the Whigs and Tories
• The priest fights with the dog over a bone; he uses his survival instincts
• English verse turns on his lips; seems too advanced for a child
• Greene represents Indians as both primitive and inscrutable--he doesn't misread their blankness of expression as lack of feeling
• Priest experiences the burden of prayer after the child dies
• Storm: represents cleansing and danger and partakes in the Bible's deluvian imagery
• Indian mother totes her son; this makes visible the burden of life and death
• Chapter ends in hope

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Chapter 1:

• Greene invokes through the Lehrs the idea that Catholics aren't real Christians (162)
• The priest gives into temptation by drinking with brandy from Pedro 169
• Miss Lehr more receptive to the priest, but must hide her devotion from her stricter brother 175
• The Yankee is Catholic, a new twist 178
• Half caste meets the priest and takes him to the Americano

Chapter 2
Priest tries to offer absolution, a sense of clarity that he doesn't have.