author's note: This is a responce about the mestizo, to the novel by Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory.
In the novel The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene, an unnamed priest journeyed to Carmen to escape from the lieutenant, a man who feels nothingness, and on the priest's journey, he spotted an uncanny man alongside the road. His name was Mestizo. "He had only two teeth left, canines which stick yellowly out at either end of his mouth like the teeth you find enclosed in clay which have belonged to long-extinct animals." (84) This man lived in a disgusting environment, and lived like an animal. The two teeth in the Mestizo's mouth were canines, and canine means dog. This man's personality is pure irony because he is a human that lived in his own dirt, a human that lived like an animal, a human that lived like a dog. When the lieutenant finally captured the priest, he finally encounters the eccentric man, Mestizo. As the priest glances down to the ground, he saw him with his toes settling in the mud and his foot lying right next to vomit. This is a perfect example of living like a dog.
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The Mestizo is a character that gives us a message and the message is there is no human that has lower class than Mestizo. The priest was sitting in jail with the Mestizo and realized that Mestizo was standing-- with one foot wiggling in the dirt, and one lying next to vomit-- minding his own business, like it was no big deal. Mestizo, is pure irony because everyday he lived exactly like a dog. What Graham Greene is trying to teach us is, that human beings are more valuable than a dog, and no human being is dog.
