THE TENTH MAN Essay, Research Paper

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.