Major Themes in Deliverance by J. Dickey - Research Paper Example

20 March Synthesis Research Paper Introduction: The novel Deliverence was written by James Dickey and it was published in the year 1970. The Novel is “an adventure story of a three-day canoe trip in the rugged wilderness of southern Appalachia, in which four sub-urbanites are brutalized both by the sheer force of the river and by violent and generate mountain men” (Deliverance par.1). The most dangerous game is a famous short story which was written by Richard Connell and it got published in the year 1924. And it deals with the story of a big game hunter and he is trapped in an island with a fellow hunter who is not interested in the stereotypical prey hunting and he considerer’s humans as the only prey who is suited to his skills. The Serpent of Paradise was written by Edward Abbey. And in this work he focuses on his experience like a park ranger in the south-eastern Utah’s Arches National Monument. The most important themes of Edward Abbey are- exploitation’s of pristine environment by the tourists and People’s kinship towards the animals. The Themes Present in the Works: “The deliverance considered as the engaging, suspenseful, full of fast-paced mystery and beautiful prose describing the natural environment that will soon be destroyed by a power company’s dam” (Cusatis p.110). The main theme of Deliverance is that of the survival in the nature against its overpowering odds. And the main themes that are present in the Serpents of Paradise are- exploitation’s of pristine environment by the tourists and People’s kinship towards the animals. Some of the other themes as present in the Most Dangerous game are; Arrogance: Rainsford, an arrogant animal hunter and he have no pain or fear. And Zaroff, another arrogant hunter and he feel that in order to entertain himself, he should hunt humans. Violence: It relates to the behavior of characters towards each other and also towards the surrounding animals. Degradation of man: “The final and most prevalent theme is the Degradation of Man” (Marin p.5). It deals with the degradation of man from being a mere animal hunter to being a hunter of man and the changes from being hunter to that of a murderer. The Common Themes in these Works: While comparing the works of The Deliverance, The Serpents of Paradise and The Most Dangerous Game; we can find a common theme which is present in all these works i.e., the attitude of humans towards the nature. Man’s struggle and survival in the wilderness. All these works focus on this particular theme and the author portrays this theme with various incidents In Deliverance, James Dickey represents the theme in such a way that before the journey starts, the three among the four travellers does not have any experience in the journey through the forest. Lewis Medlock who is one among the four is a survivalist and seasoned outdoorsmen who really plans the journey and guides the group. The centerpiece of the novel is that of the sexual assault and the attack by two mountaineers in the river bank and which leads to a sequence of murder. During the journey they faced a lot of conflicts from the nature and from men. And they struggled a lot to overcome these difficulties that is, during their canoe ride they confronted with the Rough River and also they confronted a conflict with the two hillbillies. Even though one among the four died and they tried to have a struggle with the local men in the wood and they were able to escape from it. All these incidents show that man struggles for survival and they all learn an experience from this journey. In the beginning of the story, Ed was lacking the knowledge about the nature and after facing all the difficulties through the journey, their attitude toward the journey have changed a lot and they consider nature as more powerful and as a result they opinioned that respect should be given to the nature. In the Serpents of Paradise by Edward Abbey, he is viewing the Arches national park as wilderness. This work gives the Elitist view of the nature by Edward Abbey. As he encounters the rattlesnake; he already knew that the safety of his is in jeopardy and also the mice in the house will attract the rattlesnake to come back and also other snakes be coming towards the home, if he allows the rattlesnake to live. Even though Abbey is threatened but still he is ready to put his life to risk in the wild. And this decision helps him to feel that the rattlesnake, the unforeseeable and unknown future too will not daunt him. As he is a park ranger in the Arches National park he has to confront with lot of threats from the nature. And he decides to risk that for his survival. And by saying these words ‘on earth all things are kindred’ he ends his risky encounters. Further, in the works like- The Most Dangerous Game, Rainsford, the animal hunter who is been hunted by Zaroff, as he is interested in hunting men. Also, Zaroff enjoys hunting human beings and he creates lot of troubles for Rainsford. Rainsford struggles to escape from Zaroff and also for surviving he changes his identity from a mere animal hunter to being a human hunter and he defeats Zaroff for his own survival. Like the other two works, here also the author portrays the incidents of the man’s struggle for survival. Conflict Element in these Works: In each society there may be a variation in the opinions on all significant matters. This variation occurs because of collective or personal reason. The conflict arises only when the competitive groups or individuals make an effort to conquer the subordinates and try to destroy them in order to accomplish some particular objectives. Conflict is a result of the people’s competition for the products that are non -material and are only for scarce material. Conflict is the purposeful effort to resist, oppose or compel the will of others. Internal Conflicts: It is commonly referred to as “Man vs. Self” and it is related to a character that has to overcome and make changes in his/her life form in which they are quite under pressure to begin with. Will, overcoming fears and ego-laws are the general types of internal conflicts. These conflicts are hard to attach and they rely greatly on the emotions. External Conflicts: The identification of conflict becomes easier when the conflict has shifted to outside that of the character. The pure ranges of conflicts are external and also it expands. Man vs. Man: It is the general expressions for all the conflicts in which a character is straightforwardly opposed by all the other characters or character. Antagonist-protagonist relationship is the most general form of this conflict. In the case of each action movies that prevailed in past decades are antagonist versus protagonists. Man vs. Nature: It is the third, in which it is also referred as the classic conflicts and in this conflict some components are of the world- a great distance, harsh terrain or inclement weather that are the sources of conflict. An example is storm in perfect sea, which acts as an external conflict for the people who are fishing in the vessel. Man vs. Other There are other three small conflicts which are found in genre and place of works. Society, technology and supernatural are the conflicts which are under the banner of- Man vs. Other. In order to distinguish the different types of conflict that is within the individual novel. It is necessary to look at or know the different forms of conflict. The deliverance is a story about the four city men and their want to “canoe a white water river in a remote section of Georgia before the wilderness will be lost to a dam & civilization” (Noble p. 130). And they met an old man in the woods when they try to place their canoes in water. The man looked like a strange person and he was spotting hands that trembled. And when Bobby, one among the four tells to the old man that he liked the way he wore the hat. At that same time the man took off his hat and carefully looked at it. There was no remarks about this but when the man wore back the hat, he looked at the hat quite “curious awkward-arrogant tip” (Noble p.) he said that they would find the hat only in southern country. Then, he changed the position of the hat to backside and asked to Bobby whether he knows anything. Drew, one among the four told the old man that they don’t know about the rivers or forests and it became clear when they experience the terror and horror of the trip. There also occurred a conflict which they had to face as they had no idea about the rivers and forests. While noticing the conversation between Bobby and the old man, Bobby courts danger by shooting the mouth off. i.e., the words that Bobby tells to the man may be a compliment but it was an insult to the old man and through the old man’s words the author indicates that later on Bobby would be victimized. The author tries to focus the fact that Bobby doesn’t know anything about the people in the forest and wilderness. It is evident that later the mountain men set upon them and would sexually abuse the travelers and their intention are to kill them and their prime target is Bobby. From the conversation of old man we cannot imagine what will happen in later stages but by listening to the words of old man an alert reader will sense conflict and danger. The most Dangerous Game deals with the story of big game hunter and he is trapped in an island by a fellow hunter. The conflict elements in the most dangerous game are; Internal conflict: The internal conflicts in this story are Rainsford think about that “should he stay on the island and possibly be killed by the general, or flee the island and attempt to survive on his own?” (Short Story Conflicts, n.d.) External conflict: The external conflicts faced by the character are- Human versus human in such a way that he has to die or outlast Zaroff. Zaroff forced Rainsford to become his prey. “Animals bore him now; they have become too easy of game, so he has resorted to hunting the only species that could match his own wits. Since Rainsford has fallen in to the ship-trap of ship-trap Island, he must participate in this hunt” (Short Story Conflicts). Human versus Nature is in such a way that Rainford had to face the elements in the jungle like the quicksand, dangerous animals and traps in the jungle. The conflict faced by the character in Serpents of Paradise is: Internal conflict: He has to face the problem of protecting the wild animals as well as man’s life in such a way that when the rattlesnake comes to the house, there are two things which passes through his mind that is whether to kill the rattlesnake or to let them live and not considering his safety. He thinks that “duty as park ranger to protect, preserve and defend all living things within the park boundaries, making no exceptions” (Cloud 19 par.5). External conflict: The external conflict is faced by the character is Man versus Nature i.e., he has to face the threat from the animals in the wild life sanctuary. And Abbeys encounter with the rattlesnake is horrible. Abbey struggles and killing the snake so close range. When the two gopher snakes make performance for him, he watches closely through the eyes of a snake. And he does not have any fear while he is very close to them. He doesn’t move when the snakes noticed him and move towards his direction and he is “paralyzed by wonder” (Cloud 19 par.5). CHANGES IN THE CHARACTERS: In the work of Deliverance, the four journeymen got some knowledge about the nature. After breaking Lewis’s leg he realized that the nature is always in control but not his. Lewis believed that he was in total control before the journey began. The ways of the city was only known to Bobby and he understood the way of the forest after the attack of hillbillies. Drew never learns anything from the nature because he dies and from him the other men learnt. From the perspective of other men, they realized that Drew was the best among them and in order to become like Drew they should struggle even more. The adventure of the novel took the travelers through an education journey. Travelers learned about their new weaknesses and strengths. They realized that nature has its own control. Some faced the challenge and succeeded it but some of them had failed. In the story, the Most Dangerous Game the changes in the characters are shown in such a way that Sanger Rainsford was considered as the changing character for the story. From the very beginning of the story, Zaroff and Rainsford are considered as equals. Both of them are skillful big game-hunters. When the story unfolds their roles also changes. Rainsford would like to be in the position of the hunted. And he tries to challenge the game by making a trap for the hunter. The Rainsfords hunting is somewhat passive and Zaroff’s is active. In Edward Abbey’s- “The Serpents of Paradise” Abbey is always inclined towards the nature and he enjoys the beauty of nature. Even though he likes and enjoys the beauty of nature but still, he faces conflicts and an intention of killing the rattlesnake which passes throughout his mind. And he had taken the decision to face the biggest risk in his life by living in the wild. And finally he realizes that on Earth, all the animals are kindred. CONCLUSION: The works –“Deliverance” by James Dickey, The Serpents of Paradise and The Most Dangerous Game are mainly focusing on the theme of man’s struggle for survival against the overwhelming odds of nature. The authors of these three works created a number of incidents to show the struggles between men. And the authors tried to represent the power of nature and the explotation of nature by man. In all the stories, man is try to exploit the nature but at the end of the story they realized that the power of nature when they faced nature in its true form. While comparing all these stories, we can understand that from the viewpoint of three authors and their works that it is almost quite similar and they tried to give in some kind of inspiration for the readers who are struggling against their difficulties. Works Cited Cusatis, John. Research Guide to American Literature Volume 6. New York. 2010. Web. 21 March 2013. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=YsD3_EGyqSEC&pg=PA110&dq=the+deliverance+considered+as+an+engaging,suspenseful,full+of+fast-paced+mystery+and+beautiful&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fJhKUcLdEIHmrAeTtoCoDA&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=the%20deliverance%20considered%20as%20an%20engaging%2Csuspenseful%2Cfull%20of%20fast-paced%20mystery%20and%20beautiful&f=false Cloud 19. 2009. Web. 21 March 2013. http://mattbohn.blogspot.in/2009/09/serpents-of-paradise.html Conflicts in Story. Grade Saver. 2011. Web. 21 March 2013. http://www.gradesaver.com/the-most-dangerous-game/q-and-a/conflicts-in-history-55985/ Deliverance. The New Georgia Encyclopedia. 2004. Web. 21 March 2013. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-969 Jackson, Ellen. Conflict and Change. n.d. Web. 21 March 2013. http://www.ellenjackson.net/conflict_61472.htm Marin, Lucian. E. Richard Connel- Writing Style. Word Press.com. 2012. Web. 21 March 2013. http://richardconnelthemostdangerousgame.wordpress.com/writing-style/ Noble, William. Elements of Fiction Writing: Conflict, Action and Suspense. 1994. Web. 21 March 2013. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=kLe5bRwPcxIC&pg=PA130&dq=the+deliverance+is+a+story+about+the+four+citymen+and+their+want+to+canoe+a+white+water+river+i&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fZtKUYUvx4mtB8CVgKAD&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=the%20deliverance%20is%20a%20story%20about%20the%20four%20citymen%20and%20their%20want%20to%20canoe%20a%20white%20water%20river%20i&f=false Read More