The Power and The Glory Blog # 5

Will the power overcome the glory?

When I started reading The Power and the Glory, I had always wanted to know why it has that title. Every time I had in the book in my hands I asked why it had the title, as soon I finished reading the first few pages I understood the title but I had a question about it. Will the power overcome the glory? I wondered if in this story the power would be so strong that it would take away the importance of the church and the glory itself. Throughout history, glory and church had always been in an important position where they took all the decisions and in some way controlled the people.

In The Power and The Glory, we can see how people realize that the church cant be the major power and we see how the new power overcomes the glory. This answered my question the power does overcome the glory. “The lieutenant said, ‘Is no one willing to help?’ They stood silent beside the decayed bandstand. He said, ‘You heard what happened in Concepcion. I took a hostage there…and when I found out this priest had been in the neighborhood I put the man against the nearest tree. …It’s much safer to speak now. Because I‘m going to take a hostage from here too. …This is your last chance.’” Pg. 76-77. In this passage, power (in this case the lieutenant) causes terror in the towns’ people; he threatens to get a hostage in order to know something about the priest. The lieutenant, overcomes the glory because, even though these towns’ people believe in church and in Christianity they are forced to leave their beliefs in order to stay alive. The lieutenant creates a huge terror amongst the people and they are forced to reject the glory; something in which they have believed all of their lives. Power overcomes the glory in a strong way, even Maria, the priest’s woman, is afraid of the lieutenant, “She said, ‘When you-know-what happened, I was proud. I thought the good days would come back. It’s not everyone who’s a priest’s woman. And the child…I thought you could do a lot for her. But you might as well be a thief for all good…’” Pg. 79. The power takes all the good things from the glory and makes it look as an evil organization and therefore cause the people to accept the power. This way the lieutenant can overcome the glory. The glory, the church and the traditions are being taken away from the major power. This answers my question; the power does overcome the glory.