"Deliverance" everyman can relate to one man is th
Uploaded by playerdnice908 on Oct 30, 2005
A true survivor can only depend on himself. The novel Deliverance is a story about
four characters each with different views on surviving. Every man in the world can relate to
one of the three secondary characters in the novel Deliverance. Men can relate to Lewis
Medlock for his primitive views, Drew for his rationality, or Bobby for his lack of ability to
survive. Many people say that Lewis is the man that most men want to be , Drew is the man that
most men are like, and Bobby is the man that most men fear becoming. Lewis is the man most
men want to be because he does not depend on anyone or anything. He loves 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 to Lewis and strives to be like him. Most men fall into
the same category as Drew Because their ability to survive has been clouded by rational
thoughts. Then there is Bobby. Most men do not want to be linked with Bobby because he can
not live without help from civilization. Even though these characters posses many of the same
traits, their main differences are in their ability to survive life. They also have different vies on
life. Lewis sees life as a game that you must constantly challenge if you are to survive. Drew
sees life as a struggle that should never be challenged. Then there is Bobby who sees life as
something he does not have to worry about because there will always be someone there to help
him through it. All three of these characters possess traits that can be identified in every man.
First there is Lewis , a middle aged man that is at the prime of his life, and fears nothing.
He is the strongest character in the book. He is,”... a physical-conditioning perfectionist with
misplaced survival-of-the-fittest instincts and cave-man yearnings”(Warren). Lewis is the man
that most men want to be like because he needs no one to survive but himself. He constantly
demonstrates a primitive life-style which is one of survival. Lewis is an attractive
character for males because of his need for no one. He needs no one to live his life for him.
He knows that the only way to fully...