Despite its structural simplicity, The Tenth Man is a combination of profound themes and philosophies pertaining to the choices an individual makes in life. Discuss.
“I suppose people of our generation aren’t able to
die for good causes any longer. We had all that done
for us, in the thirties and forties, when we were still
kids. There aren’t any good, brave causes left. If the
big bang does come, and we all get killed off, it won’t
for the Brave New-nothing-very-much-thank-you.
About as pointless and inglorious as stepping in front
of a bus”.
(John Osborne, Look Back in Anger. London: Faber and Faber, 1957, pp. 84–5)
Graham Greene’s The Tenth Man is the product of both Post War and Post Modern literature. In its true sense it portrays the characteristics that were prevalent in societies after the demise of World Wars. Written in a colloquial language with simple structure, without breaking unities Greene has given the detailed overview of the horrors of war, its aftermaths and its effects on individual human lives. Moreover inner working of thoughts of every character is brought forward through the use of omniscient narrator. Greene’s fiction is occupied with the notion that human circumstances changes according to the life dynamism or to their fate. A blink of optimism is present in his work. While he explores the human decay he also preserves a certain hope and faith in man’s possibilities to revive. His characters are ordinary people who confront hardships of everyday life.
Greene’s main concern in his fictional works was to recover the lost importance of human act and human person. In order to reestablish the reality as well as the fictional beings and their behavior it was important to restore the link with religious consciousness which early 20th century fiction does not have. Life itself has become a rare commodity when it comes to situation where people face a constant experience of death, violence and suicide. It is one of the main features of Post War era that people became disillusioned due to mass destruction. They lost their faith in all metanarratives and religion being one of them was also seen with a skeptical eye. Greene through his characters also show the same degree of confusion but his novel does not end on a cynical note. “A crowning justice saw to it that he was no troubled. Even a lawyer’s meticulous conscience was allowed to rest in peace” (Greene 154). Here Greene has released the mercy of God from strict conventional religion and rendered it attainable for even a worst sinner, so that a lawyer like Chavel can also enjoy the same degree of salvation. With the death of Chavel the process of salvation was completed, his soul transcend beyond his personal self “he felt simply a certain pity, gentleness, and the tenderness one can feel for a stranger’s misfortune” ( Greene 156). Burden of taking one’s life has gone to ashes at the moment of sacrifice and his soul attains peace and contentment when he dies. Death remains the ultimate reality which defines life “ Death was like an operation performed urgently without the proper attendants __ or like a child birth. One expect at any moment to hear the wail of the newborn, but what one heard at last was simple silent” (Greene 148). Here crying stands for life and death stands for simple silence and stoppage. Death brings humility and feeling of oneness in mind. A sense of fulfillment has been created through the concept of redemption. The process of purgation has been completed through suffering. Greene’s novel is a symbolic journey of man from ignorance to enlightenment. Following the existentialist idea of existence precedes essence Greene has placed the main character Chavel in a situation where his actions constructs his afterlife.
The concept of time holds an important place in his novel. Greene has defined sense of being in terms of material manifestation of time. Time is a symbol of authority, discipline and order and means of controlling reality. A power contest has been created between the two characters, the Mayor of Bourge and an engine driver called Pierre who possessed the authority of time. “Time they consider belong to them and not to the twenty-eight other man”( Greene 40). Time also gives a sense of direction and orientation to the characters. Greene has focused on the plurality of reality. For him reality is situational there is no absolute truth and meanings are localized in general settings. Greene has personalized time which used to be a universal absolute truth and deconstructs the idea of transcendental signified. “ This is my time”, the mayor said sharply. It was indeed his time: from now on he could recognize even the faintest possibility of error__ his time could not be wrong because he created it” (Greene 43-44).
In The Tenth Man time is controlling reality. Greene has taken Heidegger account of time, which rejected the traditional definition of time as a moveable image of eternity. The phenomenon of time can only be understood from final vantage point that is death. According to Heidegger time finds its meaning in time, he assert that “Time itself is meaningless; time is temporal” (Heidegger, 1992: 21E) . Time is a complete integration of past, present and future. “As philosophers say that past, present and future exist simultaneously”( Greene 60). A human subjective intuition is associated with time in which characters when lost their control over time faces metaphorical death.
Greene has developed a deep understanding of the psychological working of his characters and their lives. He illustrates the unpredictable human nature by showing how the outer circumstances shape the behavior and attitudes of the people. Portrayal of essential human nature is shown through the concept of class distinction, jealousy and contempt for upper class which still prevails in the confines of prison. “Most of the other prisoners regarded him as an oddity; even a joke __a lawyer was not somebody with whom one lived” (Greene 41). On the other hand attitude of Chavel who belonged to upper class towards other prisoners was that he called them ‘natural prisoners’ while he “himself was a prisoner by mistake” (Greene 44). His gentility was all that he had which he was afraid of losing. “ But the lawyer was afraid of losing anything which stamped him as a gentleman, a man of position and property” (Greene 45). Later on paradox in the phrase gentleman is brought forward through the cowardice of Chavel. “They did not judge him by their own standards: he belonged to an unaccountable class and they did not at first even attach the idea of cowardice to his actions” (Greene 53). Here Greene has highlighted moral ethical depravity of elite class by Chavel’s hysterical outburst.
Another important factor that Greene has discussed in his work is the deceitful nature of man especially those people who own authority and manipulate the circumstances in their own favor by playing on the trust of common people. As Chavel trades the life of Janvier because he was a “man of property”, here Greene has highlighted the shameful undignified attitude of Chavel.
Loss of identity which is a central dilemma of modern man in postwar society is another important theme in Greene’s work. In the post war society identity was associated with documents; trust in man was transferred to trust in paper. “In France at this moment such a document was of more value than legal paper” (Greene 69). Chavel lost his identity when he barters his property from Janvier, this was the moment of realization for him, that he is now left with nothing. Initially the qualities given to Chavel were related to his self-consciousness regarding his roots and class. His arrogance, his pride and his cowardice in letting somebody die in his place. His identity took a shift when he drops himself at the level of a common man with no place to live and no livelihood to earn. “He was one of them now, a man without money or position” (Greene 67).
Greene has also stress on the important aspect of loneliness and lack of communication. Chavel’s true representation of the horrors of war and lack of communication reveals his inability to enter into any kind of relationship with lower class. He tends out to be the central figure and others are at the periphery. Through his character Greene stresses on loneliness and lack of reliable good friend. “No city was more crowded than their cell, and week by week Chavel learned the lesson that one can be unbearably lonely in the city” (Greene 45) . The condition of prison is even worse than anything else; it is occupied by more prisoners than its capacity. Chavel soon realizes that how a person can be lonely even in the presence of so many people around him. Hence loneliness becomes an internal state in which each character is lonely in his own sphere.
“ Charlot had never felt their loneliness so complete. It was as if the death had already occurred, and they were face to face with the situation” (Greene 130).
Chavel’s connection with his home is another important aspect. He develops a sense of security with his home which later on turns out to be a sign of recovery for him in which he finds solace and comfort. Chavel’s return to his home restores the regenerative process for the search of lost identity.
The novel is melodramatic in nature in which all the essential elements of post war era are present. His novel explores the fragility and suffering of the human condition. It also has a strong Catholic leaning, which explains a man’s journey from faithlessness to faith.
Work Cited
Desmond, John F, “Religion and Literature”. JSTOR, Vol. 23. No. 2, 1991; pp. 115-122.
Web.
Lewis, R. W. B, “The Fiction of Graham Greene Between the Horror and the Glory”.
JSTOR, Vol. 19, No.1, 1957; pp. 56-57. Web.
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