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.
No comments:
Post a Comment