Themes in The Tenth Man, by Graham Greene

Moral themes are prevalent in the novel The Tenth Man by Graham Greene. One moral theme in this book was the willingness to give up your life for another and the motives for doing so. People sometimes sacrifice their life for another. Perhaps the author put this in the book because in today's society very few people are willing to give up their life to save another, and if they are willing they usually would do it for the wrong reasons. For example in the book Janvier gave up his life for another but his motive was unclear. He could have done it for his own personal glory because he would have died a rich man what should not be important to you. He could have also done it for his family so they didn't have to live the rest of their life in a struggle to survive. He could have also done it to save Chavel life because he thought it was the right thing to do.

Also in the end of the book Chavel gave up his life so Therese would have no problems with land arguments and because he loved her. In present day life I believe that most people would hesitate to save someone else if they could end up dying or getting seriously injured. For example if someone was going to get hit by a car and another person had a chance to push the other person out of the way but they may injure or kill themselves in the process, I don't think they will try to save them. People today have the attitude that someone else will do it or I am not going to do it because I don't like that person. If people are willing to try and save the person they will do it for the the wrong reason. People today are looking for some way to become the great hero so they can have their picture on the news and everybody will remember who they were. Another reason people would try and save someone else would be because of money or some other form of reward.

There are some people who would do it for what I think are the right reasons. I believe if you do it because you care for some else or for that other persons well-being you are doing it for the right reasons .