THE SENSE OF DIALECTICS IN GRAHAM GREENE'S THE POWER AND THE GLORY AND A BURNT-OUT CASE

Abstract

Graham Greene is a very talented writer of the twentieth century. He writes about life in the modern changing society. He has succeeded in thrilling his readers with his intriguing stories and at the same time engaging them in a debate on religion and humanity. In almost all his books religion, particularly Roman Catholicism is featured as an integral part. However, he is not a writer of religious books but one who uses religion as a vehicle to express his imagination. He has been able to fuse elements of entertainment and the serious considerations of religion and philosophy in his novels. The plots, settings and characterisations are credits in themselves but I would argue that they play a subsidiary function to the more important role of the dialectics in the stories. I have selected two of his novels, The Power and the Glory and A Burnt-out Case to look at the way different elements of the novel are arranged. It becomes clear to me that his artistic imagination is primarily expressed in his dialectics. I hope to show that his other aspects of the story - plot, setting and characters are organised so that they bring the dialectics to the fore. Furthermore the dialectics is structured to bring out and discuss the protagonist's dilemma and leave the conclusion to the reader. In Chapter One I will deal with Greene's style and ideas, setting, plot and characters. In Chapters Two and Three I will study the dialectical structures in the two novels. I will conclude my dissertation by discussing Greene's ideas and values.