Violence And Violence In Warrant Glen, Will Falke

The marginalization of the blacks during the 1960’s lead to hateful crime and violence to the hopeless people. The irony of it all was the conservative Christians that were the most immoral and destructive. “God is dead” by Friedrich Nietzsche shows that Christianity and Western society has failed and its morals are no longer practiced. In William Wallis’s Warrant Glen, Will Falke, the protagonist, struggles to live in a society of prevalent abuse and prejudice. His character of being open minded and accepting leads him to further issues of violence and hate. Three themes that are evident in Warrant Glen are violence and hate through fighting with his peers and abuse from his teachers, questioning of his religion and beliefs through

During Coach Don’s lecture, the class begins to be disruptive and throws spitballs at his chalk board. For retaliation Coach “struck him six times, hard and fast with the slender belt.” (pg 47) This shows the common practice of abuse and violence even in school during this time period. This also alludes to spreading this type of violence and hate from teachers to students. Tommy begins to explain our habit of violence as a “necessary consequence of our natures.” (pg190) This signifies humans ability to think abstractly but to also form unpleasant expressions and it is within our nature to behave in such malignant manners. This leads Will to have trouble in his love life such as with Joy when he first says “I love you”, he begins to question whether he knows what love is because “he said I love you rarely, almost never” and “he felt that he was capable of hate.” (pg 153) This signifies the impact of hatred in his life and how it has affected his love with Joy. It also shows his incapability to love someone because of his tendency to hate rather than love. Even with his other love, Carmen, he felt “the memory of their shared struggle toward a pleasure so intense it was closed to pain. The freedom has all been so sudden and irresistible, insistent - in a way

Watson or his peers such as Gary which alludes to the inhumanity and prejudice that was prevalent in the South during the 60’s. After Will’s performance of his first musical number, he encounters Mr. Watson who critiques Will as “jumpin’ around and singin’ like an ape or a nigger,” and that he “didn’t enjoy that part all that much.” (pg 44) This shows that instead of his appraisal and elevation to Will after seeing his performance, he criticizes him on acting like an animal or a black person. This also alludes to how Mr. Watson believes that black people are of animal descent instead of human which further brings down Will. Will’s affiliation to black people such as Jimmy lead him to come across violent encounters with Gary because Will has been “riding around with niggers.” (pg 157) This shows the inability for two different races to befriend as a result of social standards in the South. This also signifies not only violence towards blacks but also whites who support black people. The dehumanization of black people lead to Will’s physical pain because he goes against the