Graham Greene actually worked for the British secret service in Sierra Leone during World War II, so he had some real life experience to back up his stories of Africa and espionage.

In The Human Factor, Agent Castle spent some time in South Africa, but now he’s back home in London, working in an intelligence office deciphering intercepted messages. As I mentioned before, Graham Greene converted to Catholicism for his wife, and like Greene, Castle also makes certain sacrifices in his life for love. He’s bored in his office job, but that’s what he gets for marrying an African, right?

There’s a job opening up in Sierra Leone, but he won’t get it. He and his wife simply wouldn’t do to represent the British government in Africa. Besides, it’s just too dangerous. They’d be too hard to protect.

The black woman and the white man create a visual symbol of love that unites across diversity. So, Greene was a Protestant and his wife a Catholic. Love found more common ground, something deeper and more meaningful than those outward labels.

And yet, he dwells on the sacrifice. It certainly makes for interesting fiction, though.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Africa, UK and Ireland, losing my religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.