The Tenth Man Essay -- essays research papers

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 w... ...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.