Authors Note: A response to the acts of the lowly mestizo in The Power and the Glory.
Down the road the man rides, knowing by his side stands the dealer of his death, but as in the eyes of the Lord the priest gives him grace and hospitality to walk along side. Throughout his traveling, the whisky priest encounters many decisions in which he is challenged against his faith, but by far the mestizo provided the greatest challenge in choosing the right path. "It was for this world that Christ had died; the more evil you saw and heard about you, the greater glory lay around the death. It was too easy to die for what was good or beautiful, for home or children or a civilization - it needed a God to die for the halfhearted and the corrupt." (97)
Such a decision made by the priest is incredible, but just as important is the symbolism represented by the mestizo and the life that he lives. He is as low as they come, stooping to incredible lows as he cheats and lies his way through life. He is even referred to as the dregs of society, showing that truly he has nothing to lose. For that reason he is the Judas figure who the priest knows will inevitably betray him and lead him to his death. There will always be that one person, that one lazy no good fool who relies on others for everything and will live solely for the well-being of himself and in this novel that person is the mestizo.
