The Power and the Glory: Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

Mr. Tench sits down to write a letter to his estranged wife, wishing to let her know that he is still alive. He believes she is living in Westcliff, a town on the east coast of England. However, as he begins composing the letter, he realizes that he does not have anything to say. His life is unremarkable, so he feels he has little to report and questions the purpose of writing the letter in the first place. He also realizes that he cannot remember what his wife looks like. The sound of the General Obregon returning to the local port interrupts Mr. Tench. The boat reminds Mr. Tench of the stranger (the whisky priest) he met, and he wonders what happened him.

In his town, Padre José walks through a cemetery, which everyone called the Garden of God before the Red Shirts rose to power. Padre José visits the cemetery regularly because he finds it is a good place to think. As a former priest, there are many people in the cemetery he watched be lowered into the ground. In the cemetery, Padre José finds a family burying a young child. An elderly man, the child’s grandfather, entreats Padre José to lead a prayer. Though it pains him, Padre José denies the request. No one receives prayers before they are buried anymore, and he worries the family will tell others what he has done for them. Furthermore, Padre José worries that the prayer will lead him back to performing other similar rites for people, which would put his life in significant danger.

Meanwhile, Luis’s mother reads more stories about the martyr Juan to Luis and his siblings. Once again, Luis’s younger sisters enjoy the stories and cling to their mother’s every word. However, Luis grows increasingly irritated. He has an outburst where he tells his mother that the stories of Juan—a seemingly perfect man—are not true. Upset, Luis’s mother sends her son to speak with his father. Luis’s father asks Luis to take it easy on his mother; she enjoys the stories because they remind her of a better time, when the church still help power. Luis asks his father why he is not angry at him like his mother. His father responds, “It’s not your fault. We have been deserted.”

Elsewhere, Mrs. Fellows gives Coral her daily lessons using books she acquired from an educational institution in England. However, after some time, she has to stop because she has a headache, which happens often. Coral asks Mrs. Fellows whether she believes in the teachings of Catholicism. Mrs. Fellows says that she does, though the question unsettles her. She asks Coral who she has been speaking with. Coral claims she has just been pondering the question herself.

Mrs. Fellows asks Coral if Mr. Fellows has taken the bananas to the quay. The family lives on a plantation and sells their bananas to make a living. Coral is unsure, so she goes to check. Coral finds that her father, who is out in the fields working, has not delivered the bananas to the quay as he was supposed to, so she sets about doing the task herself. While doing so, she has a terrible pain in her stomach, but she keeps working anyway. When she is finished, she sees that the whisky priest drew crosses on the wall of the barn in chalk. She assumes doing so must have brought him some small comfort.

In a nearby town, the lieutenant meets with the police chief, who is playing billiards as usual. The lieutenant once again asks if he can start taking hostages to lure out the whisky priest. The chief gives the lieutenant full authority to do what he pleases. However, he warns the lieutenant that the higher ups will punish them both if the lieutenant fails. The lieutenant assures the police chief that he will begin taking hostages and kill as many people as he needs to until the whisky priest is found.

As the lieutenant returns home, a bottle smashes at his feet. He looks around to find who threw it. A teenage boy, Luis, admits to throwing it, though he assures the lieutenant it was meant for a “gringo.” The lieutenant tells Luis that they are on the same side and shows him his weapon. The gun gets Luis and the other boys with him excited. Internally, the lieutenant thinks about how he will stop at nothing to destroy the Church and its supporters. He suspects he will even have to get rid of the police chief eventually.