A Parallel Story

Authors Note- This is a response to the way Graham Greene parralleled the novel The Power and the Glory to the Passion out of the Bible.

A vision of two individuals traveling down the same path, the one of death, both the only one of their kind, willing to sacrifice everything for their people. Graham Greene incorporates the parallel to the Passion through this novel in hopes that he can show the different paths and choices that can be made here on a sinful world. Throughout the novel a parallel to the Passion story is created in a way that relates to life today and is able to create a vision of the inconceivable events of Christ's life.

From the beginning, the priest being the Christ figure that he is, always feels pulled to the ill so that he may lay his blessing upon them. A perfect instance is in the beginning of the novel when instead of catching a boat that would save his life he went to go help a girl that was dying. This is parallel to Jesus going out and saving different individuals who are on their death beds. He may be a man of conviction to do the right thing but he often strays from his ways and proves to be a man of despair over time. For him it is not the desired life but rather one of uncertainty. This parallels to the passion because Jesus lived a pure life quite opposite of the priest's.

Though he manages to do the right thing he still fits under the title of whisky priest. A man of guilt and sin he still finds a way to go and do the right thing when it matters giving him the name of the whisky priest; a man of values that can be strong as a rock or weak as a feather in the wind. He follows that line throughout the novel just as Jesus lived his life of purity. They may follow their different ways and ideals but a parallel is still formed. Through such a parallel the brickwork for the novel is laid.

Created by the brick is the plot for the entire story which takes many twists and turns but still follows a single path that is shown through the actions of the priest and those around him. As he enters back into his own town he comes on a donkey just as Jesus did but the parallel is not in his arrival but rather departure as he leaves in solitude and without love for his existence. For this situation Greene uses not a similar parallel, but rather an opposite. Not an entrance of gratitude and adoration but an exit of betrayal and hatred.

Not only his life but also his important death is parallel in the novel. He suffers under the chief who will take no action to save him, brought out to the firing range in front of the public and dies. Three days later the next priest began his rise to save the country. So well paralleled by Graham Greene that it can fit into a common Christian phrase. Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilot, was crucified, died, and was buried. Three days later he rose again. A relation such as this gives meaning to the story so that it can be understood by many and a inspiration to others.

From characters to events to actions the story was paralleled and brought into the new times for us to relate life today to life so many years ago. All revolves around the whisky priest representing the Christ figure. From the start it is a clear extended metaphor of the passion with all the decisions and actions forced upon the priest. Different people pose different threats, different styles of life, and all fall into their own place in the Passion.

What We Don't See About Ourselves- Life of Pi by Yann Martel

A desolate expansion of blue, expanding in every direction as far as anyone can see. Death looming in every corner the will to survive must outlast the will to be humane as life shall go to extreme measures to stay alive. Pi is  put into a place that could be found in a nightmare as he sails the seas in his terrible state. Yann Martel created a showing of what we really are as humans through his novel Life of Pi, as Piscine experiences the worst of himself as borders are crossed, values broken and the uniform picture of humanity shattered.
 
Throughout the novel two stories are developed as Martel gives the reader a choice of what they want to believe as the truth due to the horrific scenes and occurrences described in the book. One story describes all these horrific happenings as being the acts of a tiger which is well accepted by the average person and the other has Pi taking the place of the tiger and breaks all the barriers accepted by the human population as he lives like an animal. The question pondered upon by many who read this very novel is which story to believe. Much easier to believe is the acts of the tiger Richard Parker rather than the same things being committed by Pi. However I believe that Pi stretched the limits and created the alternate story of all the animals as a cover for his shame. Even though he has a reason for each and everything that happened in the animals story it is so unlikely that a boat such as he was in could support the life of such beasts for as long as it did.
 
A pair of parallel stories such as created by Yann Martel isn't created for the fun of it, but rather to relay a message to each of it's readers. One of the messages passed on by Martel is one of the reality of human nature. We are not the perfect, clean people that we are thought to be by many. Rather we are a group of controlled killers ready to burst at the slightest inconvenience to our simply lived lives in which we are given everything we need to live our comfortable lives.  A population growing like a moss covering a wide expanse of its habitat with a dirty fungus over all the beautiful nature of the Earth. Slowly nature is falling victim to human nature as we continue to neglect it because of an installation in our minds that we are perfect. All points to the neglecting of our very own impact on everything around us.
 
Our hidden nature as humans brings an interesting topic to the novel but even more so is the question of faith. "If you stumble at mere believability,  what are you living for? Isn't love hard to believe?"(297). Here Martel is trying to express how we as people think about foreign things and happenings that we our selves have not seen or experienced are blocked out by our mind as being impossible.  It will not come easy but believability comes with trust and if you do not trust you will be left from the experience and will never find your way in life. However I am not saying to trust everyone and everything but rather to open your mind to the world around you that is being hidden by a barrier created long ago.
 
Faith and your nature as a person doesn't come simply through a few thoughts but rather values that have been instilled inside you since you were old enough to make a decision. Personal values are barriers never meant to be broken as they make up who you are as a person throughout your life. Pi was pushed to extreme deprivation and to the verge of insanity by the ocean. He broke through even the most widely recognized of taboos, cannibalism. One choice so bad can tumble into many more as now the value has been broken and the reason to stay above such a terrible broken life is gone and life will become a bottomless pit such as what happened to Pi. Values are a way of life and without them a mess is what will soon become your life.
 
Even though we live our lives by the way of value in reality, conventions come along for our moments of unreality. Constantly we look for safety, comfort of the limited world of taboo and convention. Often the things we say, the things we do are dictated by the conventions of what is right created by those before us. Conventions are carried down and passed on so that those older do not see a better life in those that are young and full of life. Still wishing to stay close, to never venture out from the safety of the rail, there is a small few that will take the leap and reap the rewards.
 
Life will challenge, death will loom, and life must go on as some will go to extreme measures to stay alive. Our conventions and values will be broken and our nature as human beings will be brought out into the light with simple challenge to life.

Joe- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

An orange glow illuminating the small room with warmth and comfort of home. Joe beside the great forge with young Pip at his side working the bellows. A scene of brotherly love as well as the small glimpse of a great life that Joe gave to Pip. All throughout the novel Great Expectations Pip is shown love and forgiveness by his sister’s husband Joe only to leave them in the dust and stomp on them with his dirt covered foot once he was given the chance to become higher than them.

Joe never looks for more, never asks more of those around him. He is content with what he has and has no unreal expectations to live by as he will stay by his forge everyday of his life in perfect harmony with the world. In truth he walked in the same all the days of his life. Bringing him happiness was that he didn’t seek revenge but rather forgiveness in every aspect of life. Very easy was the option to shun Pip from the loving, warm, extraordinary family that he left behind for something he thought to be greater but in reality a fake life of fame and money. However Pip’s side was never left and he stayed with him through it all bringing Pip forgiveness when asked for and help when needed.

Forgiveness that relieves the pain of the world and brotherly love given out to Pip isn’t the only wonderful aspect of Joe Gargery’s life as he also shares a shining wisdom hidden deep down in his heart of the life lived by different people. Saying that the life you are given should be the one that you live and simply be yourself to live a content and happy life. Contradicting to this is Pip’s sad fake life that takes away from his life. Dickens throughout the entire novel shows his thoughts that the greatest expectation in life is to love and be loved. Joe finds his love in work and lives fully through that finding great happiness in his work.

Blown away and forgotten, Joe remains loving and forgiving to even the worst of people ready to welcome them back into his wonderful life at any point in time. He becomes the warm welcoming character whome everyone loves, living his life richly and to the fullest with happiness showing everyone the way to live life happily and successfully.