The brief and frightening reign of Phil - Essay Example

In this case, people are focused on stripping the natural resources of Inner Horner (Saunders and Saunders 15). Additionally, the political leadership of the location becomes power-hungry, which leads to grisly political murders in order to hold onto power. The demagogic Phil seizes the chance to assume power of both Outer and Inner Horner. Phil uses unethical strategies such as ruthlessness, flattery and deceit in order to assume to power. The story by Saunders points to human tendencies towards political and social ruthlessness in order to gain power.

In order to highlight these tendencies, Saunders uses allegories and symbolism to express his purpose. The symbolism and allegories used in the story represent real world events. Question 1 Saunders’ main purpose in writing the novel is to highlight human tendencies. The story aims to highlight mass hysteria and series of injustices following the assumption to power of power-hungry and tyrannical Phil. Saunders uses symbolism to describe Phil and the people of Inner Horner, and allegory to describe outer and inner Horner.

For instance, Saunders states that Phil is a despot in a fabulous country in Horner. The citizens of this country are cockamamie fusions of organic substance and machine parts. The author uses symbolism by using elements, animals, places and colors in order to represent Horner and Phil. For instance, Saunders states that Carol, “an Inner Hornerite who resembled a gigantic belt-buckle with a blue dot affixed to it, as if a gigantic belt buckle had been stapled to a tuna fish” motivated Phil to device senseless and cruel systems of leaderships (Saunders and Saunders 22).

The author aims to expose the nature of rulers as jealous and power hungry people. According to the author, citizens of a country deserve leaders they can trust. These leaders should act as reflections of the society. The systems used by Phil focused on depressing citizens through unsustainable tax regimes, genocide and harassment (Saunders and Saunders 31). This compares events in Horner to recent events in countries such as Bosnia and Iraq. Saunders used symbolism by using abstract characters.

Additionally, he uses allegory to create the setting of the story. For instance, the characters in the story are not strictly humans though the story uses the term human. The characters have three arms, legs, unique mechanical parts and organic matter. They have other features such as antlers and additional brains, “one on the side of his neck and one on his hip” (Saunders and Saunders 42). Allegory is seen when the author describes inner Horner as a small place that only one Inner Hornerite could fit.

This means that the other Inner Hornerite had to wait for their opportunity to live in their country. Question 1b This story connects with the ideas of genocide and harassment. Leaders use genocide and harassment to oppress citizens or people deemed as threats to their leadership. Phil’s ascent to leadership was motivated by jealous. He aimed to deprive the region of its natural resources in order to deprive its habitats their livelihood. Phil was jealous because Outer Horner was not blessed with the natural resources of inner Horner.

As a result, he organized supporters from Outer Horner and hired giants in order march to power. He began by instituting unsustainable tax regimes and relentless mining of the natural resources (Saunders and Sa