DeliveranceA Bobby who sees life as something hedoes
DeliveranceA true survivor can only depend on himself. The novel Deliverance is a storyabout four characters each with different views on surviving. Every man in theworld can relate to one of the three secondary characters in the novelDeliverance. Men can relate to Lewis Medlock for his primitive views, Drew forhis rationality, or Bobby for his lack of ability to survive. Many people saythat Lewis is the man that most men want to be like, Drew is the man that mostmen are like, and Bobby is the man that most men fear becoming. Lewis is theman most men want to be because he does not depend on anyone or anything.
Heloves a challenge and will do anything he can to live life to its fullest extent.Ed Gentry, the central character, represents all in the way he looks up toLewis and strives to be like him. Most men fall into the same category as Drewbecause their ability to survive has been clouded by rational thoughts. Thenthere is Bobby. Most men do not want to be linked with Bobby because he can notlive without help from civilization. Even though these characters posses manyof the same traits, their main differences are in their ability to survive life.They also have different views on life.
Lewis sees life as a game that you mustconstantly challenge if you are to survive. Drew sees life as a struggle thatshould never be challenged. Then there is Bobby who sees life as something hedoes not have to worry about because their will always be someone their to helphim through it. All three of these characters possess traits that can beidentified in every man.First there is Lewis, a middle aged man that is at the prime of his life, andfears nothing. He is the strongest character in the book.
He is, ” aphysical-conditioning perfectionist with misplaces survival-of-the-fittestinstincts and cave-man yearnings”(Warren). Lewis is the man that most men wantto be like because he needs no one to survive but himself. He constantlydemonstrates a primitive life-style that no longer exists.
The primitive life-style he demonstrates is one of survival. Lewis is an attractive character formales because of his need for no one. He needs no one to life his life for him.
He knows that the only way to fully enjoy life is to take chances. He alsofeels that live is a game that you must constantly play or you will die (Graham).Because he sees life in this manner he believes that he must constantlychallenge himself just to make sure he is self sufficient. “He’s nuts aboutroughing it” (Warren). Even though Lewis has a strong ability to survivewhatever life might bring upon him, he is not blind to the fact that he canstill be hurt even with help from others. This is most evident when he says,”But I believe in survival. All kinds.
Every time I come up here, I believein it more. You know, with all this so-called modern conveniences, a man canstill fall down”(50). Lewis does not believe it is right for man to letmachines take our independence away from us. He believes that it will be betterif we all began to depend on ourselves instead of others. Lewis is the onlytrue survivor out of the characters.
Next there is Drew, the man that most men are like. Drew is a rational man thathas just begun to lose his ability to survive. Drew unlike Lewis does not seelife as a game, but instead as a struggle that will pass you by as long as youto do not interfere.
He is a normal man with a lovely family, a delightfulsuburban house, and a good job. Drew is often seen as a self-made-man that hasbeen living in the city too long and has forgotten how to be independent. Hehas spent so much of his time using rational thought that he can no longer usehis primitive survival skills. This is most evident after they kill the firstmountain man.
Drew says, “Put the body in one of the canoes and take it down toAintry and turn it over to the highway patrol” (121). Drew believe that theyshould go to the police, and depend on them to do the right thing; however, theothers know that if they do that they will all be faced with murder charges, andmight go to jail. Drew can not believe that they want to hide the body from thepolice because it is not the rational thing to do. This scene shows Drew’sinability to be independent. He represents the first stages of man’s loss ofhis ability to survive. At the beginning of the book Ed’s survival skillsresemble Drew’s inability to survive.
However, because of Ed’s trials andtribulations he takes a different path, and by the end of the book is completelyindependent. Drew represents a majority of the population because he lets hisrational thoughts cloud his ability to survive.Finally there is Bobby, who represents the man we all fear of becoming. Bobbyis completely dependent on other people and machines. Without either he wouldnot be able to survive.
Bobby, unlike Lewis and Drew, sees life without anydangers, and because he does not see the dangers he walks blindly through life.He has a weak mind and is easily persuaded. He is unlike Drew and Lewis in thefact that he has never been forced to depend only upon himself. During hisentire life he has had someone to take care of him.
The scene after they findDrew’s body shows Bobby’s inability to survive. After seeing Drew’s body, Bobbybegan to hide his head, and loses control of his mind. Bobby represents thefuture of mankind. He represents a man of the future that has become sodependent on other people and machines that he can no longer function. Evertime he is faced with a dilemma he turns to either Ed or to Lewis for the answer.
When Lewis breaks his leg and either Bobby or Lewis must climb the cliff tokill the second mountain man, Bobby is the first to let Ed know that he can notdo it because, “I can’t even shoot a bow” (155). This cowardly position, again,shows Bobby’s dependence upon others. Bobby is the man most men fear becomingbecause he is unable to depend on himself therefore he is unable to survive.
IfEd had not been delivered on the river then there is a chance that he would haveended up like Bobby.In conclusion, every man can be linked to one of the characters in the book. ToEd, Lewis seems to be a super human being that is not afraid of anything. Hewill challenge anything or anybody to prove he can survive.
Drew is the mostrational man and the man that most men can relate to. In the beginning of thenovel Ed did not know how he felt about Drew, but by the end of the book herealized that Drew was, “The only decent one; the only sane one” (220). Finallythere is Bobby, who Ed sees as a friend at the beginning of the trip, but by theend he has seen that Bobby is helpless.
It is ironic that the only one whowalked away from the adventure without any physical wounds is Bobby. This couldbe due to the fact that he depended on other people to take care of him and inthe process they got hurt. These four men went down the river to test theirsurvival skill, and, ” to break the ho-hum-ness of their suburbanite weekendsby taking a canoe trip down a dangerous river.” The book deliverance is almosta prophesy of things to come if man does not stop relying on other people somuch.Works CitedWarren, Eyster. James Dickey.
Computer Software. Discovering Authors, 1995.Graham, Keith S. “‘Deliverance’: 20 years after”. The Atlanta Journal andConstitution 18 March 1990Moorhead, Michael.
“Dickey’s Deliverance”. Explicator Summer 1993: 247-248Dickey, James. Deliverance. New York: Delta, 1970.a
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