Deliverance Essay, Research Paper

Crystal Leonguerrero

Moore period 8th

English III

Report on Deliverance By James Dickey

In the novel, Deliverance by James Dickey, he reveals a thrilling adventure of four guys in the wild. Whose moral beliefs vanish as their survial skills take over. Where one weekend of camping, hunting, and relaxing turn into a game of hunting against two mountain men.

In Deliverance there are four business men, Bobby, Lewis, Drew, and Ed. These men decided to leave their lives behind to become one with nature by canoeing down the Chattooga River, before it was forever flooded by the construction of a new damn. When they arrived at the northern Georgia’s wilderness, where the river was found, they come across a family of hillbillies. One of the highlights of the novel was a dual banjo performance with Drew and a retarded, deformed, albino hillbilly youngster whom belongs with the family. Lewis, the leader of the men, made a deal with the family to buy their two broken down cars for fifty dollars the husband of the family agreed to the deal. As a result the four men leave their cars there to be watched so they would not damage their cars by taking them to the river. The men loaded up the two old cars and headed on their way to river where they began a unforgettable adventure.

When they arrived at the river Lewis, the adventerous mucho man, and Drew, the overweight not so courageous, got in one of the canoes together. The other canoe consist of Ed, the family man with a wife and son, and Bobby, the cautious always scared one. As they went down the river they encountered strong rapids and mountainous rocks. About an hour down the river they saw the hillbilly boy that played the banjo with Drew sitting on a bridge above the river as though he was watching the four men. As the sunset the men pulled their canoes to the side for camp to sleep. For dinner Lewis caught a fish with his bow and arrows in the river. As the night went by Drew played his banjo through the night hoping that the boy would come and play with him once again.

Futhermore as the sun rose upon their second day of their canoe trip while everyone was a sleep, Ed quietly took Lewis’ bow and went hunting. Ed spotted a deer from a distance. He reached for his bow and arrrow but at the end he found himself not able to keep a steady hand because he was scared and ended up shooting the tree beside the deer. This shows Ed’s weakness to kill anything. The men ended up eating fish again for breakfast. After they ate, the men headed back up the river.

As the men headed down the river Ed and Drew who were in one of the canoes got head of Lewis and Bobby about a few miles. As a result of their lead in front of Lewis and Bobby they encounter two mountain men. The men jumped out of the woods and made Ed and Drew pull their canoe to the shore. As Ed and Drew where held at gun point by the two montain men, one who was toothless and another who was younger, tied Ed up to a tree by his own belt. While the toothless man watched Ed, the other man made Drew strip off his clothes. When the mountainman was done sexually assulting Drew, the other man the toothless one decides to sexually assult Ed but as Ed kneels he noticed Lewis and Bobby coming up the river he gets Lewis’ attention. Lewis then uses his bow and pierces the younger mountain man in the heart. The other man ran in fear of his life toward the deep wilderness. Not realizing that Lewis killed the other man Bobby and Lewis run to their friends in need. As Bobby walks toward the body and checks his pulse, when there was no pulse they realized that they have killed another human and this is where their morality begins to change.

After a few minutes go by of asking why he shot him in the heart and argueing, the four men decide to bury the body in the woods.?