The Irony of a Jail Cell

Author's Note: a reponse to the jail scene in the novel The Power and the Glory.

In the novel, The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, the "whiskey" priest is thrown inside a dingy, dirty and horrific place. It is dark and the living conditions are almost unbearable, and it is used to hold criminals. The reason the jail in this novel is so nauseating, is to show that villains do not deserve a good wholesome place to be held. When a character by the name of mestizo is introduced, he acts as though the jail is a hotel and as if he is just staying their to pass his time. He is a disgusting individual who has no real reason for anything. Inside the mestizo holding cell, he is standing next to a pile a vomit as though nothing is wrong living like that. In reality, the mere thought of being trapped in a cage with such a fowl substance would make anyone flee. In jail, you live like an animal, and mestizo is a prime example.

The mestizo portrays an animal with only the canine teeth also symbolizing a lack of power, but the idea from the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel that animals should feel secure and have a sense of safety in a zoo should have the same effect on him. Since the mestizo is locked inside a jail cell he is isolated from everything else, which makes he feel comfort. Jail should be a punishment, it should be dreaded and feared, but in the case of the mestizo, it's a dream. This is ironic because humans should be interactive, not closed up and alone. When a person is left without normal human interaction, they begin to lose the feeling of what you are, which is a living, breathing person.