Perverted Patriotism
Describe how patriotism is perverted in After the First Death.Of all ennobling sentiments, patriotism is probably the most easily manipulated. It can give a powerful expression to the best of a nation's character: commitment to principle, strength and devotion. Patriotism can be great, but when taken too far innocence becomes evil. Patriotism can be described as the devotion to the welfare of one's country. In the novel 'After the First Death' by Robert Cormier patriotism is perverted and used as an excuse by both opposing sides: the terrorists (Miro, Artkin, Antibbe, Stroll and Sedeete) and the secret organisation, Inner Delta. The terrorists justify their ruthless acts by excusing themselves as freedom fighters for their country. The head of Inner Delta, General Marchand or assumed identity General Rufus L Briggs takes patriotism to such extremes that he willingly sacrifices his son in order to defeat the terrorists. Thus, it can be said both sides value patriotism over life itself. Inner Delta is a secret government military organisation, which controls and maintains security for the benefit of the American citizen's. It is not fully specified what the agency does, but it can be gathered that it is a type of in
The monitoring of his classes and behaviour however was part of a study of General Marchand's to know exactly how Ben would react in a situation. General Marchand perverts patriotism in After the First Death due to past events that have had a deep impact on him and affected him greatly. This was done so Ben could be used in a situation like that on the bridge. There is no reason to involve innocent children into this conflict of theirs that is on the other side of the globe. The terrorists thought by using the children they could force their view to be heard and have an instant reaction by the government and outrage in society. Ben's father said that this was the greatest patriotism of all: to accept disgrace for the sake of your country. The terrorists kill another child called Raymond due to the shooting and subsequent death of Antibbe. Miro also kills Kate the bus driver, as she no longer serves any purpose. The terrorists kill anybody or anything in their way, while Inner Delta will stop at nothing to save the exposure of their organisation to the world. Another example of General Marchand's perverted patriotism is the total breech of Ben's privacy by the tapping of the telephone and constant monitoring of Ben's classes to provide data for his continuing studies on behavioural syndromes. If this rescue failed and more children were sacrificed scapegoats had been set up to absorb the blame and publicly admit their mistakes. This is why they hijacked the school bus full of innocent children, to let the world become aware of their cause and change their ways. Unofficially, Inner Delta's policy was to storm the bridge and rescue the children.
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