The Forgiven

Murder in the Desert

The dramatic tale set in Morocco in the novel, The Forgiven, by Lawrence Osborne was not my usual choice of literature. I tend to lean towards biographies or history however; this mysterious and dramatic fictional book dragged me in. I commend Lawrence Osborne for this engaging and suspenseful tale of a tragic trip to Africa. However, I personally hated the main character of the book, David Henniger. He embodies everything a quality person much less a doctor should not be. When I began to read, I thought I was going to relate quite well to the Henningers due to both having lived in London and taking a vacation to Morocco. I could understand the feeling of wanting to escape the cement jungle of London; London is a melting

The Forgiven appears to be a normal mysterious book however; Lawrence Osborne uses David and Jo as symbols to reveal Western societal issues.

It is prominent that David Henniger believes in white supremacy. Lawrence Osborne put in the constant racial slurs and derogatory mindset of David to show the culture clash. Even in the beginning of the book, David’s racism is exposed. David’s description of the native Moroccans is offensive and crude. Countless times he describes other human beings as “wild eyed men” (12) or “towel-heads” (77) just because they are not what he is accustom to. This is just the start of my dislike for David’s testy personality. I believe Mr. Henniger is the perfect example of the self-entitled elites that populate society today. He thinks he is perfect and better than anyone else thus, the Moroccans and the rest of the world need David’s help. This is shown when David “thought of himself as a cleansing agent, a purifier of other people’s prejudice”(9). David is just so pure and saint-like that he has to help others become just like him. Furthermore, David is one of the “Les visiteurs” (17) yet he acts like he himself founded

I grew to hate David and his lack of penitence for his endless sins. Nonetheless, I believe David was just a face and name for today’s society. Osborne shows how the ideal that white people are superior makes all of us look foolish. Since David’s actions towards the Moroccans and Muslims almost seem funny for how outlandish they are. However, every one has bit of David Henninger within them. I mean that every Westerner whether American or European unconsciously are told they are greater than the rest of the world. But by identifying that mindset within yourself, you are taking the possible steps to change the global prejudice. I believe that was the main reasoning for Lawrence Osborne’s use of David’s racism. Lastly, the degrading of women give even more of a reason to hate David. In spite, as I said David is just a spitting image of how society acts as a whole. The Forgiven is a beautiful novel, which uses the main characters’ defects to show how the rest of the world treats each