HaCKeRz Kr0nlcKLeZ 1/HaCKeRz Kr0nlcKLeZ.iso/anarchy/essays/schoolsucks/tenth.txt

Text File | 1996-04-27 | 10.1 KB | 299 lines

-- THE TENTH MAN
   THE TENTH MAN BY GRAHAM GREENE

                                         The Tenth Man   by Graham Greene

            The book The Tenth Man by Graham Greene takes place in France
in the 1940s during

the German occupation of France during the second world war.  It starts
of in a German prison

with the narrator talking about the prisoners singling out two specific
characters, the Mayor of

Bourge and Pierre an engine driver.  Through a situation concerning these
two we are introduced

to the main character, Jean-Louis Chavel who changes his  last name to
Charlot.  The narrator

goes on to describe who the prisoner can here executions ever night.  One
night a German was

killed so for punishment three prisoners were to be killed from each
shed.  To be fair the cell

where the story starts the men drew marked paper from a shoe.  Chavel
drew the last marked

slip which condemned him to death and went into histeria.  In his
histeria he offered to give every

thing he owned to someone if they died for him.  A man named Janvier,
thinking of his sister and

mother, spoke up and took his offer.  After the agreement Janvier drew up
a will leaving

everything he now owned to his sister and mother.  The next morning he
was executed.  The
story

then shifts to months later in Paris where Chavel, who name has been
changed to Charlot, is

looking for a job since he gave every thing he had away.  Charlot then
returned to his old home

where he meets Janviers's sister and mother.  Because Janvier's sister,
Therese, did not now

who he relay was, she gave him a job because he knew her brother.  While
working at the

house Charlot had several run-ins with many childhood and adult friends
but managed to fool

them in some way or a another.  Later, a beggar comes along and acts as
if he is the real Chavel

to escape persecution for being a collaborator with the Germans during
the occupation.


vividly he explains the whole story pretty well and convinces Therese
that he is the real Chavel.

Charlot allows him to stay the night and finds out he knew the story and
what he wanted.  As a

plan to get all the land and money that Therese got from her brother, the
impostor Chavel

convinces Therese that Charlot made him look bad and her brother proposed
the deal to him.

While proving that the impostor was infact an impostor Charlot was shot
and killed.  Before he

died he made sure that Therese would receive no trouble about the
property and money by

leaving it to her in his will.

             One moral issue in this book was the willingness to give up
your life for another and the

motives for doing so.  People sometimes sacrifice their life for another
when that other person is

faced with death.  I think the author put this in the book because in
today's society very little

people are willing to give up their life to save another, and if they are
willing they usually would

do it for the wrong reasons.  For example in the book Janvier gave up his
life for another but his

motive was unclear.  He could have done it for his own personal glory
because he would have

died a rich man what should not be important to you.  He could have also
done it for his family

so they didn't have to live the rest of their life in a struggle to
survive.  He could have also done it

to save Chavel life because he thought it was the right thing to do.
Also in the end of the book

Chavel gave up his life so Therese would have no problems with land
arguments and because he

loved her. In present day life I believe that most people would hesitate
to save someone else if

they could end up dying or getting seriously injured.  For example if
someone was going to get

hit by a car and another person had a chance to push the other person out
of the way  but they

may injure or kill themselves in the process, I don't think they will try
to save them.  People

today have the attitude that someone else will do it or I am not going to
do it because I don't like

that person.   If people are willing to try and save the person they will
do it for the the wrong

reason.   People today are looking for some way to become the great hero
so they can have

their picture on the news and everybody will remember who they were.
Another reason people

would try and save someone else would be because of money or some other
form of reward.

There are some people who would do it for what I think are the right
reasons.  I believe if you

do it because you care for some else or for that other persons well-being
you are doing it for the

right reasons .   If you do it because you are trying to get into heaven
you are also doing it for the

right reason, because after all our goal in life  is to go to heaven
because we are promised a

better life once we get there.  I don't know if would try and save some
one if I know I would die

trying.  I am unsure because at the time I would probably not have chance
to way the situation

and would the consequences of my actions would be.  I can not also speak
about what I would

do in this situation because I was never in one, I presume that instinct
would take over and

probably do what would be needed to be done to help that person in their
time of need.

            Another moral value in the book was giving up your values to
save your own live not

thinking of others in any way what so ever.  People who believe in
something, when faced with

problem or difficulty take the values of the people imposing the problem
on them.  I think the

author included this issue in the book because In today's world people
sell out what ever they

believe in just so they can get a little ahead in life.  In the book they
talk of collaborates who sold

out o the Germans and agreed to follow their rules just so they would not
be killed.  What they

didn't think about is the many people who died trying to fight for what
they believed in and what

the many people who were now forced to live under these rules would have
to go through

because they were scared and wouldn't stand up for what they believed in.
 In today's society,

especially in the business world people disregard what they value because
they want that better

job or that raise or just to get on the bosses good side.   This is not
excluded to the business

world though, many people lie about what they believe just to belong to a
group are to impress

someone.  This is a real problem among children they give up in what they
believe in because

they friends ridicule or mock them because of that.   I am not immune to
this problem I have

changed some of my values because  my friends made fun of me because I
believed in what I

did Through the years I have done this less and less because I learned to
hold fast to what  I

believe  in and not change because I am jeered.

            One more moral value in The Tenth Man was not to take
advantage of some one who is

depressed, hurt, injured, etc. in any way.   Alot of people use someone
who has just gone

through a loss to take advantage of them.  Once again the author put this
in the book because it

is a pre prevalent problem in the world throughout it's history.  He also
include this issue because

it can lead to more serious problems because these people were already
hurt and now they are

hurt worse.  In the book after Therese's mother died she was very upset
as any child would be,

and Chavel felt an attraction towards here.  He was warned by the priest
not to take advantage

of  her.  He made the right decision in the book by not mentioning it and
taking it to his grave.

In society today many people prey on people who have been hurt or
depressed for one reason

or another and take advantage of them.  These people win these weak
people's love and then

take them for everything they have.  The right thing to do in these
situations would be to care for

the person who is hurt or down and get them through their problem.  Once
they are stable you

can tell them how you feel towards them or anything else.  I have never
to my knowledge

taken advantage of someone who was in no shape to be told any thing that
could make their

condition worse then it already was.

             Deceiving someone else about who you truly are is another
moral issue in the book.
People deliberately lie about their identity or other information to take
advantage of another
person and to hide information from that person that they don't want them
to find out about.  The
author included this in the story to teach that deception is wrong in any
way you look at.  In the
story Chavel pretended that he was Charlot.  He did so  so that Therese
would not find out that
he was responsible for her brother' demise.  In the end it back fired and
caused more problems
then it solved.   Many people do not tell important information of
themselves to other people so
it does not cause friction between them or others.   One main example of
this is when applying
for a job you are asked if you were ever arrested.   Many people lie and
say no so they get the
job but lying causes them to not get the job because the employer will
find out one way or
another.
            One moral that was not  given right out in the open but could
be received indirectly
was about war.  I think the author was for war if the cause was a fair
one as was World War

2.   This is still an area of controversy today.  In all the wars we have
fought since WW2 we
have
questioned if it was really necessary.   I believe that you should not be
forced to fight in any war
that you do not believe that we should be fighting in as a nation
              The book portrayed many morals that society of today needs
to learn.   If society
learns these morals this place will be a very better place to live of
everyone and everything.