ALIVE
In Alive, Read establishes the characters and their dependence on their religion becomes apparent at a very early stage. As the plane heads towards the mountain, most of the passengers are praying and on impact, two of the boys Gustavo and Carlitos are praying out loud. Canessa (a second year medical student) does not pray but calculates the speed and potential force of impact. His logical mind and strong personality come to the forefront as the plot develops. Read develops the theme that through the religious beliefs and prays of the survivors that there is hope of rescue but this is soon dashed when they hear on a radio that the search for them has been called off. They still through their faith have hopes that they might be found. Read describes in great detail the efforts that are made to survive in the hostile environment of the Andes during the severe winter months. They show great ingenuity but with no supply of medicine and very little food, they lose the weaker members. The bodies of the dead are moved outside where the do not deteriorate because of the extreme cold.
The next stage of the novel revolves round the necessity for food for them to survive. Water is plentiful – melted snow – but food that was available soon runs out. If they are to survive it becomes inevitable that the only potential source of food is their dead companions. The first reference to the possibility of eating human flesh is made in jest by Nando who suggests that he should eat the pilots for getting them into the mess. Read crystallises the situation: It was a ghastly prospect. The corpses around the plane in the snow, preserved by the intense cold in the state in which they had died. While the thought of cutting flesh from those who had been friends was repugnant to them all, a lucid appreciation of their predicament led them to consider it. Canessa was the first to broach the subject using a two-pronged argument. He stressed firstly the absolute need for food, pointing out how their bodies’ reserves were being depleted and soon they would not have the strength to butcher their dead friends. The second part of his argument was that the survivors had a moral right to stay alive by any means possible – even cannibalism. He stressed the fact that the corpses were now just a source of food: “It is meat” he said “That’s all it is. The souls have left their bodies and are in heaven with God. All that is left here are carcasses, which are no more human beings than the dead flesh of cattle we eat at home.”
The argument progressed and Marcelo questions what they must have done for God to make eat the bodies of their dead friends. Zerbino then asks “ But what do you think they would have thought?” to which Marcelo has no reply. Zerbino completes his argument: “ I know that if my dead body could help you stay alive, the I’d certainly want you to use it. In fact, if I do die and you don’t eat me, then I’ll come back from wherever I am and give you a good kick in the arse.” This statement leads to the boys making a mutual pact that in the event of death their bodies should be used to help others survive.
This train of thought is continues in a letter that Gustavo writes to his girlfriend: One thing that will seem incredible to you – it seems unbelievable to me – is that today we started to cut up the dead in order to eat them. There is nothing else to do. I prayed to God that this day would never come, but it has and we have to face it with courage and faith. He continues his letter expounding the theory that God gave them the dead bodies in order that they survive.
The cannibalism taboo is further extended with the survivors’ unwillingness to eat organs such as the heart and liver but again logic prevails and they realise that the organs must be consumed to gain the nutrients to live.
During the daily prayers, Fito maintains his silence claiming to be agnostic but he returns to his faith at the threat of a second avalanche. The faith in their religion is instrumental in their day-to-day survival in the most adverse of circumstances. This faith is also a cause of great strength when coping with the loss of friends as the story progresses.
In the second half of the book, the courage and leadership qualities of Nando become apparent. His motivational powers using both logical and religious argument become apparent as he drives his companions forward towards their ultimate rescue. The joint management skills of Nando and Canessa organise the survivors into a routine, albeit not to demanding, which takes their minds off the grim situation they are in. Read shows clever writing skills also when establishing the characters of the other survivors.
The overall picture of cannibalism established thoughtfully during the novel by Read is its acceptance in extreme circumstances to ensure survival. This parallels the overall picture in nature described in the opening paragraph. His religious justification is also skilfully managed.
A MODEST PROPOSAL
Jonathon Swift’s interpretation of cannibalism is different but again carefully established in his well-researched satirical essay. The full title of his piece, A MODEST PRPOSAL for preventing the children of the poor people in Ireland from being a burden to their parents and country, and for making them beneficial to the public, hardly prepares the reader for the way Swift proposes to deal with the situation. The serious title belies the dark humour the Swift uses to develop his ideas.
His initial assessment of the situation in his adopted country is damning citing beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children on every corner. There is lack of opportunity for all and Swift suggests that the only future for the children is as thieves, mercenaries or slaves. He then proposes a fair, cheap and easy method to rectify the situation having considered several other schemes that had also been proposed.
Swift’s proposal at its simplest involved the culling of a percentage of Irish children at the age of one and selling the carcasses to the wealthy as food. Children under one, he argued were little burden to mother or state as they were cheap to maintain whilst still breast-fed and did not hinder mother from begging. His formula for the numbers to be culled was as follows:
Irish population……………………………………………1,500,000
Breeding couples…….……………………………………...200,000
LESS breeding couples who can afford children…………… 30.000
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170,000
LESS couples who lose children by miscarriage or disease…50,000
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Actual breeding couples…………………………………….120,000
Swift realises that to perpetuate his scheme will require a certain number of children to become future breeders and suggests that the number required is twenty thousand in the proportion of one male to four females. The ratio four to one is justified by comparison to agricultural practice with sheep, black- cattle or swine. Hence he suggests that the 100,000 children culled will generate (at 10 shillings per carcass) £50,000 pounds that will go directly via the parents into the Irish economy
Swift enhances his proposal with several statements, which illustrate the satirical nature of the piece. He likens the Irish people to a commercial herd of animals referring to fertile female as breeders. He further advances the theory by suggesting that the optimum age for culling is one as he was assured by an American acquaintance that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing and wholesome food whether stewed, roasted, baked or boiled. With heavy sarcasm, Swift suggests his scheme will prevent those voluntary abortions and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children. A more unusual benefit quoted is that it would be a great inducement to marriage and men would become as fond of their wives during the time of their pregnancy, as they are now of their mares in foal, their cows in calf or their sows when they are ready to farrow.
There are several references to Roman Catholics in this piece starting with his reference to people leaving Ireland to fight for the Pretenders in Spain. He postulates that this scheme will drastically reduce the number of Roman Catholics who might be at odds with their English Protestant masters citing them as the principal breeders of the nation and the number of Popish infants is at least three to one in this country.
This logical train of thought dealing with both financial and social aspects of Swift’s outrageous cannibalistic scheme and adds credibility to his suggestions. Swift makes several references to American friends, which would seem to indicate that they were not averse to cannibal practice.
The actual underlying message that Swift conveys in his pamphlet is the absolute futile situation that the Irish found themselves with their English masters and is largely summed up in just one paragraph. The population was largely unemployed, child labour was abused and the general standard of health was very low. He states: Some people of a desponding spirit are in great concern about that vast number of poor people, who are aged, diseased or maimed and goes on it is well known that they are every day dying, and rotting, by cold, and famine, and filth, and vermin. He further states that the young are so weak with hunger that they are incapable of working. He concludes that no one is in the situation to turn things around and quickly returns to his original theme: I have too long digressed, and therefore shall return to my subject. In a subsequent paragraph, Swift intimates some of the possible solutions to the Irish problem but discounts them as incomplete solutions returning again to his theory, which he claims can incur no danger in disobliging England.
My initial response to Alive was that it a well-written novel with interesting subject matter. Piers Paul Read develops his characters skilfully and the problems that they face are addressed with great thought. He succeeds in justifying the survivors’ acts of cannibalism in spite of initial misgivings and the problems with their Catholic faith. A Modest Proposal was, on first reading, superficial but closer examination revealed Swift’s hidden agenda. His theme of cannibalism covers up attacks on the system that is destroying the country he loves. The theme of cannibalism serves both authors well and their individual approaches to a difficult problem are very interesting. Both author’s work can be justified by the zoological definition in the first paragraph but their major task has been justifying this in light of their faith.
Having read both pieces in question, I was initially drawn to Piers Paul Reads beautifully written novel but having gained a greater understanding of the historical background to Swift’s work, I think I prefer the clever way in which he uses black humour to make his important underlying statement.
