Deliverance

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate November 2001

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Deliver Man From Himself or Evil? Dickey's Deliverance I. The Georgia wilderness, the Cahulawassee River, and four middle-aged men about to embark on a journey that each man, will in his own way, never forget. "It was gray-green, very clear and yet with a milkiness, too; it looked as though it would turn white and foam at rocks more easily than other water. It was about forty yards wide, and shallow, about two and a half or three feet deep," as explained by the narrator in the film Deliverance. This is the river, the setting, and the time in which man and nature will be in conflict. During this conflict man must forget all civilization and return to the basic human nature and instincts. Man must use knives and bows and test his manhood against nature itself. "Rights of passage," as the old Indians called it. This is a ritual that every young man looks forward to.

This is when the young brave becomes a warrior. This is when the brave must test himself against the wilderness, the other warriors, and himself. These four were already men, but this was a test of inner bravery, very similar to the Indians, finding the courage to stand up to the unknown. This type of inner conflict offers the readers a basic understanding that every man goes through during each stage in life. The reader can relate this conflict with real life situations of their own, whether it is a flat tire on the highway, conflict with other people, or camping in the wilderness We can compare the men to Adam, as does R.W.B. Lewis in the book The American Adam. In this book Lewis explains the theory of the American Adam. "Where for Americans, one of the most persistent variations of the...