destroying the entire village of Jeronimo, a recurring chain of events in the novel. Another
instance where this occurs is when the family, now residing on a poor makeshift boat, once again
runs into the missionaries they met early in their journey. The missionaries have set up a camp to
convert the natives to Christianity; something Allie does not agree with. In a desperate attempt to
prove his point, Allie sets fire to their camp and calmly reassures the rest of the family that,
“‘[t]he fire’s under control. No one’s hurt. They won’t miss that plane. Good thing I saw it – did
them a favour’” (Theroux 356). Unlike last time when dealing with the soldier’s, Allie no longer
tries to solve a problem but merely prove a point; something he is just as desperate to
accomplish. In turn the rest of the Fox family starts to view Allie as nothing more than a mad
man living in a terrible excuse for a home. Allie is not the only member of the family who
reaches these points of insanity and desperation though, Jerry also has brief instances where his
actions mirror his father’s. After Allie sets the missionaries plane on fire and forces the family to
flee in their makeshift home, Jerry desperately tries to solve the situation on his own. Luckily for
Allie, Charlie notices that, “Jerry picked up an iron pipe and raised it over Father’s head. I
snatched it away from him and threw it overboard” (Theroux 358). Although Allie’s gradual
steps towards insanity were noticeable every time the family was forced to move locations,
Jerry’s was more subtle than his father’s. But after reaching a limit in the form of Allie
ultimately destroying their last chance at living in a more suitable environment, Jerry goes over
the edge and into insanity; albeit briefly. It shows that if a person’s living environments become
worse consistently enough, their points of insanity and desperation will follow suit. A person
may not always admit this however.
One may deny their insanity depending on how rough their living conditions are.
After leading a terrible expedition to bring ice to local natives around the Mosquito Coast, Allie
returns to Jeronimo to find most of its residents missing. It is revealed by his wife to him that
they left with a missionary they had confronted earlier. Allie does not seem to care though, and
merely remarks, “‘[t]hey’ll be back, as sure as anything. Because this is a happy place, and the
world isn’t’” (Theroux 230). Jeronimo is in terrible condition having its resources thinned by the
failed expedition and lacking in many residents. The other natives have left to go somewhere
with better living standards because of this, and most of the Fox family agrees with this notion.
Allie on the other hand, simply denies this claiming that Jeronimo is “a happy place” despite it
clearly not living up to these claims. After risking the lives of his family members yet again by
blowing up Jeronimo, Allie once more resorts to denying that he had any involvement with how
their home had become even worse. “He sobbed again. ‘It wasn’t me!’” Allie tearfully assures
the family that their now burned and polluted home is not the way it is because of his doing
(Theroux 265). Despite him clearly being the cause of all this destruction, Allie still insists the
family should not think of him as the source of the problem. The already desolate Jeronimo
becoming even worse is just a representation of Allie’s mental state going through the same
thing. The Fox family is then forced to move away from Jeronimo because of its condition, but
this is not a better alternative. Supplies are low, and the rest of the family does not see their
current transportation; a small boat, as a suitable home. Despite what they think, Allie insists that
“‘we’re safe now. This boat, this river — you think it’s precarious but I tell you, we’re looking
good. We’re alive’” (Theroux 275). Yet again Allie continues to prove his insanity by denying
any possibility that the family may be in a tight situation. The boat is obviously not a real home,
and Allie is clearly out of his mind to assume it is. The terrible conditions of the boat clearly
represent Allie’s current sanity level. This is because the harsh conditions of a human’s standard
of living are what contributes to their denial and insanity. If a person were to realize how bad
their living conditions are however; it would be a different story.
When a person does realize how bad their current environment or situation is, their
mental state only becomes worse. During the expedition to bring ice to the natives of the
Mosquito Coast, the group struggles due to lack of food, fire and sleep. The leader of the team
Allie, continues to push them onwards and refuses to acknowledge any of these problems.
Eventually though, even Allie realizes how pitiful progress they’ve made. “‘I want to sleep in my
own bed!’” Allie says when he finally comes to terms with the reality of the group’s current
living standards (Theroux 213). Unfortunately this does not bode well for the group who are
pushed even harder only to fail by the now mentally weakened Allie. Even when he comes to
grip with reality and silently acknowledges his terrible state, it only proves to cause him to
further lose his sanity. Allie also admits that he may be the problem with the family’s terrible
living conditions as well. “‘And I deserved it. Toxic substances – this is no place for them. I’ll
never work with poisons again, and no more flammable gas’” Allie explains as to why Jeronimo
is in the state it is (Theroux 261). Here, Allie not only acknowledges the current situation that
Jeronimo is in, but he admits that he is the problem. Unfortunately this does not bode well for the
rest of the family, as Allie’s mental condition worsens and he forces them into more hazardous
living environments because of this. Mere examples of how a person’s mental state can become
even worse when they realize how terrible their standards of living truly are.
A human’s fall from being sane to insane is represented by their decreasing living
conditions. When someone’s standard of living time and again becomes worse, their state of
desperation and insanity will do the same. How much a person is affected by denial is dependent
on how harsh their living conditions are. When a person does realize how pitiful their current
environment is, their mental state only becomes worse.
