Study on the structure of The Power and The Glory, Graham Greene.
Introduction:the overall story of ''The Power and The Glory'' is organized under the number four. The book is divided into four parts, three of those parts are clearly divided into four chapters, while the last part is composed of four sub-parts which are not numbered, but clearly separated by four paragraphs. What does these systematic divisions and subdivisions in four mean?We have to consider two possible interpretations. First, the number four corresponds to God's divine order. At the beginning God, whose name has four letters ''YHVH'', created the four elements, the four rivers, the four winds, the four seasons, the four dimensions (length, width, height, and time) and the four points representing the four directions (the cardinal points of a compass). We should not forget that the anonymous priest explores all directions and all borders of his province (the harbor, the mountains, the rivers, and the forests) to escape or to find shelter.
The universal message expressed in the four cardinal points is reflected in the four branches of the cross, symbol of Jesus Christ's martyrdom and also symbol of the fugitive priest.
Secondly, there are four Gospel accounts in the new testament: ''Matthew'',''Mark''',''Luke'', and ''John''.
There are traces in different proportion of the four Gospels in the ''Power and the Glory''. Even if it remains difficult to match each part of the novel with one of the Gospel, the fact is there, the Christ's message is entirely contained in these scriptures and by the the presence of the four Gospels in Greene's novel, the book becomes a modern bearer of the biblical message. Whatever the catholic heterodoxy that Greene had, the endorsement of the Gospel message appears to be written down in the very structure of the novel.
If the novel's architecture is in a visibly quaternary sequence, it is essentially because the number four allows for additions, associations, and connections two by two. Thus, the first and last parts go together
The universal message expressed in the four cardinal points is reflected in the four branches of the cross, symbol of Jesus Christ's martyrdom and also symbol of the fugitive priest.
Secondly, there are four Gospel accounts in the new testament: ''Matthew'',''Mark''',''Luke'', and ''John''.
There are traces in different proportion of the four Gospels in the ''Power and the Glory''. Even if it remains difficult to match each part of the novel with one of the Gospel, the fact is there, the Christ's message is entirely contained in these scriptures and by the the presence of the four Gospels in Greene's novel, the book becomes a modern bearer of the biblical message. Whatever the catholic heterodoxy that Greene had, the endorsement of the Gospel message appears to be written down in the very structure of the novel.
If the novel's architecture is in a visibly quaternary sequence, it is essentially because the number four allows for additions, associations, and connections two by two. Thus, the first and last parts go together