1. International Islamic University Islamabad
POST WAR LITERATURE
Assignment No: 1
Submitted To: Ms. AsmaMansoor
Submitted by: HummeraMasood
HasnaShabbir
Date of Submission: 3-31-2013

2. Despite its structural simplicity, The Tenth Man is a combination of profound themes and
philosophies pertaining to the choices an individual makes in life. Discuss.
“I suppose people of our generation aren‟t able to
die for good causes any longer. We had all that done
for us, in the thirties and forties, when we were still
kids. There aren‟t any good, brave causes left. If the
big bang does come, and we all get killed off, it won‟t
be in aid of the old-fashioned grand design. It‟ll just be
for the Brave New-nothing-very-much-thank-you.
About as pointless and inglorious as stepping in front
of a bus”.
(John Osborne, Look Back in Anger. London:Faber and Faber, 1957, pp. 84–5)
Graham Greene‟sThe Tenth Man is the product of both Post War and Post Modern literature. In
its true sense it portrays the characteristics that were prevalent in societies after the demise of
World Wars.Written in a colloquial language with simple structure, without breaking unities
Greene has given the detailed overview of the horrors of war, its aftermaths and its effects on
individual human lives. Moreover inner working of thoughts of every character is brought
forward through the use of omniscient narrator. Greene‟s fiction is occupied with the notion that
human circumstances changes according to the life dynamism or to their fate. A blink of
optimism is present in his work. While he explores the human decay he also preserves a certain
hope and faith in man‟s possibilities to revive.His characters are ordinary people who confront
hardships of everyday life.
Greene‟s main concern in his fictional works was to recover the lost importance of human act
and human person. In order to reestablish the reality as well as the fictional beings and their
behavior it was important to restore the link with religious consciousness which early 20th
century fiction does not have. Life itself has become a rare commodity when it comes to
situation where people face a constant experience of death, violence and suicide. It is one of the
main features of Post War era that people became disillusioned due to mass destruction. They
lost their faith in all metanarratives and religion being one of them was also seen with a skeptical
eye. Greene through his characters also show the same degree of confusion but his novel does
not end on a cynical note. “A crowning justice saw to it that he was no troubled. Even a lawyer‟s
meticulous conscience was allowed to rest in peace” (Greene 154). Here Greene has released the
mercy of God from strict conventional religion and rendered it attainable for even a worst sinner,

3. so that a lawyer like Chavel can also enjoy the same degree of salvation. With the death of
Chavel the process of salvation was completed, his soul transcend beyond his personal self “he
felt simply a certain pity, gentleness, and the tenderness one can feel for a stranger‟s misfortune”
( Greene 156). Burden of taking one‟s life has gone to ashes at the moment of sacrifice and his
soul attains peace and contentment when he dies. Death remains the ultimate reality which
defines life “ Death was like an operation performed urgently without the proper attendants __ or
like a child birth. One expect at any moment to hear the wail of the newborn, but what one heard
at last was simple silent” (Greene 148). Here crying stands for life and death stands for simple
silence and stoppage. Death brings humility and feeling of oneness in mind. A sense of
fulfillment has been created through the concept of redemption. The process of purgation has
been completed through suffering. Greene‟s novel is a symbolic journey of man from ignorance
to enlightenment. Following the existentialist idea of existence precedes essence Greene has
placed the main character Chavel in a situation where his actions constructs his afterlife.
The concept of time holds an important place in his novel. Greene has defined sense of being in
terms of material manifestation of time. Time is a symbol of authority, discipline and order and
means of controlling reality. A power contest has been created between the two characters, the
Mayor of Bourge and an engine driver called Pierre who possessed the authority of time. “Time
they consider belong to them and not to the twenty-eight other man”( Greene 40). Time also
gives a sense of direction and orientation to the characters. Greene has focused on the plurality of
reality. For him reality is situational there is no absolute truth and meanings are localized in
general settings. Greene has personalized time which used to be a universal absolute truth and
deconstructs the idea of transcendental signified. “ This is my time”, the mayor said sharply. It
was indeed his time: from now on he could recognize even the faintest possibility of error__ his
time could not be wrong because he created it” (Greene 43-44).
InThe Tenth Man time is controlling reality. Greene has taken Heideggeraccount of time, which
rejected the traditional definition of time as a moveable image of eternity. The phenomenon of
time can only be understood from final vantage point that is death. According to Heidegger time
finds its meaning in time, he assert that “Time itself is meaningless; time is temporal”
(Heidegger, 1992: 21E) .Time is a complete integration of past, present and future. “As
philosophers say that past, present and future exist simultaneously”( Greene 60). A human

4. subjective intuition is associated with time in which characters when lost their control over time
faces metaphorical death.
Greene has developed a deep understanding of the psychological working of his characters and
their lives. Heillustrates the unpredictable human nature by showing how the outer circumstances
shape the behavior and attitudes of the people. Portrayal of essential human nature is shown
through the concept of class distinction, jealousy and contempt for upper class which still
prevails in the confines of prison. “Most of the other prisoners regarded him as an oddity; even a
joke __a lawyer was not somebody with whom one lived” (Greene 41). On the other hand
attitude of Chavel who belonged to upper class towards other prisoners was that he called them
„natural prisoners‟ while he “himself was a prisoner by mistake” (Greene 44). His gentility was
all that he had which he was afraid of losing.“ But the lawyer was afraid of losing anything
which stamped him as a gentleman, a man of position and property” (Greene 45). Later on
paradox in the phrase gentleman is brought forward through the cowardice of Chavel. “They did
not judge him by their own standards: he belonged to an unaccountable class and they did not at
first even attach the idea of cowardice to his actions” (Greene 53). Here Greene has highlighted
moral ethical depravity of elite class by Chavel‟s hysterical outburst.
Another important factor that Greene has discussed in his work is the deceitful nature of man
especially those people who own authority and manipulate the circumstances in their own favor
by playing on the trust of common people. As Chavel trades the life of Janvier because he was a
“man of property”, here Greene has highlighted the shameful undignified attitude of Chavel.
Loss of identity which is a central dilemma of modern man in postwar society is another
important theme in Greene‟s work. In the post war society identity was associated with
documents; trust in man was transferred to trust in paper. “In France at this moment such a
document was of more value than legal paper” (Greene 69). Chavel lost his identity when he
barters his property from Janvier, this was the moment of realization for him, that he is now left
with nothing. Initially the qualities given to Chavel were related to his self-consciousness
regarding his roots and class. His arrogance, his pride and his cowardice in letting somebody die
in his place. His identity took a shift when he drops himself at the level of a common man with
no place to live and no livelihood to earn. “He was one of them now, a man without money or
position” (Greene 67).

5. Greene has also stress on the important aspect of loneliness and lack of communication. Chavel‟s
true representation of the horrors of war and lack of communication reveals his inability to enter
into any kind of relationship with lower class. He tends out to be the central figure and others are
at the periphery. Through his character Greene stresses on loneliness and lack of reliable good
friend. “No city was more crowded than their cell, and week by week Chavel learned the lesson
that one can be unbearably lonely in the city” (Greene 45) .The condition of prison is even worse
than anything else; it is occupied by more prisoners than its capacity. Chavel soon realizes that
how a person can be lonely even in the presence of so many people around him. Hence
loneliness becomes an internal state in which each character is lonely in his own sphere.
“ Charlot had never felt their loneliness so complete. It was as if the death had already occurred,
and they were face to face with the situation” (Greene 130).
Chavel‟s connection with his home is another important aspect. He develops a sense of security
with his home which later on turns out to be a sign of recovery for him in which he finds solace
and comfort. Chavel‟s return to his home restores the regenerative process for the search of lost
identity.
The novel is melodramatic in nature in which all the essential elements of post war era are
present.His novel explores the fragility and suffering of the human condition. It also has a strong
Catholic leaning, which explains a man‟s journey from faithlessness to faith.

6. Work Cited
Desmond, John F, “Religion and Literature”.JSTOR, Vol. 23. No. 2, 1991; pp. 115-122.
Web.
Lewis, R. W. B,“The Fiction of Graham Greene Between the Horror and theGlory”.
JSTOR, Vol. 19, No.1, 1957; pp. 56-57. Web.