4/24 - TPatG I

First off, I guess I should say that this book is probably my favorite out of all the previous novels we've read. It's relatively simple, descriptive, and has a straightforward narrative that I can only hope will get better as the pages keep turning (and they most assuredly will).

The structure that Greene molds this story with is an interesting one - he has a variety of characters (with the more central one being the NoName Priest), and he tells different accounts of interacting with NoName from the ancillary characters' points of view. Doing this is an interesting choice - you're seeing the main character who you are supposed to be feeling sympathy for, but for various sections of the novel (at least what I read), you are experiencing him from the viewpoint of other characters. It's interesting that Greene chose to do this, to give us as readers a sense of how this protagonist works and functions in regards to others while later focusing in on how his mind actually works. I really do enjoy that seeing that there is a method to this NoName's madness (obviously that is just a turn of phrase, he is not mad. Not in a way that I can tell, anyway). The way that Greene does this is by sectioning off different parts of the narrative so that each one deals with one (or in some cases a group) character's storyline and then moving on to another. This for the most part works, but there were a couple spots that I was kind of confused, mainly because he began those sections with a lot of description and not enough naming of the characters. But obviously reading on (to where individuals are mentioned) sorted out my confused state.

One small thing that I thought was very interesting involved our friend the dentist, the English Mr. Tench (I cannot remember if a first name is given - I do not think so, but I might be wrong). When he was contemplating writing a letter to his estranged wife (though estranged may be too harsh a word, he just has not spoken to her for quite some time, that does not necessarily mean their relationship is strained. It probably is, I reckon.), he found it difficult because though he knew what person to write to, he could not actually remember her AS a person, he could only remember the various hats she wore. While this section is fairly humorous, it got me thinking about the times when this same thing has happened to me. Sometimes when I have gone a long (or sometimes short) time without speaking or seeing my significant other or a family member, I try to recall what they look like but fail to create a concrete image - I can only see the little things that were insignificant at the time. The sunglasses they wore, the bracelet(s) they wore that jingled and jangled as they walked, maybe the color of the shirt they wore the last time I saw them. Even if I am able to create in my minds-eye an image that suits them, it troubles me that I cannot remember what their voice sounded like (and the replacements I try to fit into the puzzle are either not right at all or are just not quite right to hit the mark).

Reading on a bit further, it was interesting to see the character (and I use that term both in its literary sense and in the sense that the person is indeed quite a character) that NoName deals with on his way to Carmen. This "mestizo" (which I learned is someone of European and American Indian ancestry) who tags along, while quite an annoyance to NoName, piqued the interest in my reader's mind. First of all, this guy only has two teeth and both of them are canines - what? That is such an interesting choice to make this guy, is what I thought first off, but then I tried to make an image in my head and everything I came up with was sort of snake-like because of those two teeth which probably looked like fangs when he opened his mouth at all. But is this just a coincidence? Could this mestizo be a snake-in-waiting for NoName? Perhaps his eagerness to know NoName is just a ruse to out him as a priest, or maybe this man, being of mixed race is also of importance. I mean, if this guy is mixed with European he probably has fairly light skin, so perhaps (and this is a big grasping at straws moment) he is the gringo that the authorities are looking for? Like I mentioned, I'm probably just making random conjectures that go nowhere, but it would be an interesting bit of irony for these two men on the run to meet by happenstance.