Heaven By Mr. Tench Summary

The setting is 1930s Mexico, religion is outlaw in the state, more specifically Catholicism. Priests have fled to not receive punishment like persecution. The society is rampant with violence, alcohol, sin, and corruption. Police believe priests are just as corrupt and they dismiss the poor. There is some truth to this statement with priests disobeying the ways of Catholicism. The protagonist of this story is a lost priest who is struggling find his way and escape the authorities.
First, the story starts out with a man named Mr. Tench, an Englishman, and a stranger at a waiting at capital city for a boat. Mr. Tench is looking for a ether cylinder and the stranger is looking for booze. Mr. Tench invites the man to his home to share a drink of brandy and discuss. Their discussion is interrupted by a boy who says he has dying mother. The stranger leaves to help the boy and misses his boat. …show more content…
However the lieutenant is more worried about a priest because he inflicts more harm to the state than the gringo does. In the same time, a mother her child read the story of Juan, the martyr, who was murdered because he believed in god. The same boy who is who said had a dying mother is not dying at all. The mom talks about the whiskey priest, the stranger who left. In the meantime, Padre Jose a former priest is thinking about his life he thinks he is a coward for leaving his faith.
Third, Captain Fellows, an American, his wife, and his daughter run the “Central American Banana Company.” His daughter had hidden the whiskey priest in the barn. When the lieutenant comes to check the premises Captain Fellows gets rid of him. After he asks the priest to leave and he does so. Fourthly, the townspeople go about their day and responds to the presence of piest or absence of priests in their