The Ironic Jesus of Our World

An essay response to The Power and the Glory


Jesus Christ was a saint--he committed no sins in his lifetime, had no faults in his lifetime, and had nothing to remorse in his lifetime. The whiskey priest was the antithesis of this, and this showed the ironic parallelism to the Passion. Throughout the novel, The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene uses Jesus Christ and the Passion to parallel the novel with the whiskey priest; demonstrating irony, the priest is a drunken, heinous man--exactly opposite of Jesus.

A conspicuous parallelism to the Passion from The Power and the Glory is Judas to the Mestizo. Graham Greene makes this comparison clear. From the first time the priest met the Mestizo, he knew he was in the presence of Judas. Judas was a disciple of Jesus--one who betrayed Jesus at just the right moment--just like the Mestizo was a follower of the priest. "'I wouldn't betray you. I'm a Christian.'" (91) The Mestizo tagged along with the whiskey priest throughout his journeys; the priest believed that the Mestizo would turn him into the government right away, but just as Judas did, the Mestizo waited for the perfect moment to convict the priest.

As Jesus sacrificed himself for everyone that would set foot on our earth, the priest sacrificed himself for the Lehr's. The Lehr's were Lutherans, while the priest was Catholic, yet they decided to house the priest for a few days and an event similar to the Last Supper took place. When the whiskey priest was about to leave for Las Casas, Mrs. Lehr-- who followed her convictions for one of the first times in her life--offered sandwiches and coffee for the trip. This small gesture helped the priest. It showed the difference that the Priest made in these people's lives, and also symbolized how Jesus changed the lives of many of his followers.

Many people in our world prove themselves to be cowards through actions. When the priest arrives to help an American man, the Mestizo, just as the priest thought, brought the police. "Even a coward has a sense of duty." (190) The Mestizo himself knows that he's a coward, but he does what he feels is necessary in the situation. This same pattern took place during Jesus' betrayal. Although, the irony presents itself when Judas regretted betraying Jesus, while the Mestizo had absolutely no remorse.

Pontius Pilate and the Lieutenant portray similar characteristics because they believed that the criminal they were pursuing was innocent, but eventually fell to the pressure of those around them. John 18:36 says "'What is truth?' Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, 'I find no basis for a charge against him.'" Even though Pontius Pilate believed that Jesus was not guilty, just like peer pressure in today's world, he gave in to the government, while trying to establish peace in the society. The Lieutenant was the same way. As the whiskey priest was standing before the Lieutenant, waiting to be released from jail, he was in front of his wanted picture on the wall. Conspicuously, the lieutenant could see the picture and realized that this man in front of him was wanted by authority--yet he let it go and dismissed the priest for the price of peace in the world and no trouble.

Jesus Christ never sinned because he was perfect: sent down from Heaven by God to sacrifice his life for everyone else. The priest, too, sacrificed his life, but it took him a while longer than Christ to see that this was the way to live. The priest and Jesus were parallel characters throughout The Power and the Glory and the Passion, but they were different in one major way: the priest committed many sins, such as drinking, having an affair, and not following his convictions.

Life of Pi Essay

Seeing Isn't Believing

In the novel Life of Pi, Pi shows that believing is something that comes from inside; sometimes it can take a while to find enough comfort and courage to truly believe in something besides the facts. Some people have a difficult time putting all their trust in something that they are not totally sure of, or something that they can't "see". To believe, you don't have to see--just take a leap of faith and trust that someone, or something, will help you along your journey.

While on the ocean, Pi ran into another blind man on a lifeboat--who seemed to be the light at the end of his tunnel. This man turned out to be a greedy, corrupt person who wanted to take advantage of Pi. In reality, the chances of finding someone in the middle of the ocean is very rare. Pi realized this when he heard the man's voice and thought that he had lost his mind. "I concluded that I had gone mad. Sad but true. Misery loves company, and madness calls it forth." (pg. 242) Even Pi knew of these chances--but because belief is a crucial theme in this novel, Yann Martel placed this other man in the ocean to show what can happen to people who truly believe.

While there are rare chances proven by facts, some people just don't believe things because they have never experienced them--like the two men that Pi talked to in the hospital. "'Tigers exist, lifeboats exist, oceans exist. Because the three have never come together in your narrow, limited experience, you refuse to believe that they might. Yet the plain fact is that the Tsimtsum brought them together and then sank." (pg. 299) Many people in our world are like these Japanese insurance agents--they don't trust that things could happen. These men live in their own worlds with their own conventions and refuse to explore new possibilities. Although many people in our world are like these men, some also fear becoming one, and the only way not to is to trust your instincts, follow your heart, and just believe.

Everyone believes that their own religion is the "right" or "true" one to follow, when in fact, there isn't just one. Muslims think it's Muslim, Hindi people think it's Hindu, and Christians think it's Christian. Pi wasn't raised with a religious background, and when he was old enough he decided to take a chance with these three religions. He believed in all of them and wanted to accept each one with its full potential . Even though many people must see things to believe them, religion is almost a given. Take the Christian religion for example. We follow God, the one and only, according to us. He helps us through dark times, finds us when we are lost, and saves us from evil. Believing is vital to religion; most of the leaders are not visible to the eyes, but to the hearts of those who believe.

When trying to discover the truth, or what we believe is the truth, we get caught up in the facts and can completely lose our beliefs. TV shows claim that they will find the "real thing" by looking at pure facts that they can find about the subject. While, in reality, sometimes believing is worth much more than seeing. If we start believing what's on TV, we can lose our conventions, which shape our lives greatly. Some people would argue that losing all conventions could deeply help our world; this is true in a few ways. When Pi lost his conventions, he showed how this dramatic change can influence your life in a positive way. Though, the negative side is if everyone on this planet left their old lives to find new ones, our world would become an insane, lost place. Everyone would become the same: same looks, same feelings, same actions.

Pi realized that believing is not about seeing when he was placed in a situation where he was forced to believe things that he couldn't "see". With our world becoming more and more corrupt every moment, nobody can find room in their hearts to trust or believe in something that's not conspicuous. Believing is an action that you have to truly complete with all your mind, all your soul, and all your heart.