SOURCE: "To Choose a Different Loyalty: Greene's Politics in The Human Factor," in Essays in Literature, Vol. 11, No. 1, Spring, 1984, pp. 59-66.

In the following essay, Storhoff examines Greene's portrayal of the conflicting interests of political action, personal morality, and institutional order in The Human Factor. "For Greene," writes Storhoff, "religion should not take one out of the political world; instead, it should provide one with a coherent moral vision and profound scope that the secular world cannot offer."

In Graham Greene's story "Under the Garden" (1963), the ancient Javitt, instructing the young protagonist on how to succeed in the world, says, "If you have to earn a living, boy, and the price they make you pay is loyalty, be a double agent—and never let either of the two sides know your real name." Javitt's wisdom is adopted by Maurice Castle, the double agent in The Human Factor, which...