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

his defense of Darwin’s theory of evolution, and the most important theme, racism through hateful remarks to blacks such as his friend, Jimmy.
Will’s defense of Darwin’s theory of evolution towards Mr. Durning and Ray’s, his father, letter to Will about religionists serves to show Will’s pragmatism and open mindedness that is unlike the conservative minds from the South and also to show that religion does not ultimately lead to morality in humans. During Mr. Durning’s biology class, he begins to comment on how “nonsense” and “untrue” the theory of evolution is. (pg 30) Will begins to oppose his teachings and defend the scientific community. This shows Will’s practicality and acceptance rather than empty explanations from Mr. Durning. However, this is ironic because throughout the book Will constantly attends church and listens to the preachers or priests and their conservative beliefs. This shows that Will is a believer of God, however has doubts. This signifies his growth and ability to shift away from religion and form his own opinions and beliefs away from his mother and teachers. Will’s father, an engineer that leans on science, writes a letter to Will while on a trip to Chittagong, explaining how “this country is filled with religionists, but I have yet to meet a religious person here.” (pg 249) This ironic statement from his father serves to show the impact of religion on humans however, not the moral consequence. This also alludes to the complete destruction and atrocities that ironically can come by religion and the immorality of religionists.
Will is incessantly being abused or hurt by his teachers like Coach Don Knight or by Gary for being a “nigger lover” which leads him to have trouble with love whether it’s with Joy or Carmen because of his habit of hate.

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

violent.” (pg179) Will juxtaposes pleasure with pain in order to show the intensity of their love which leads him to distress over her disappearance.
Racism, the most important theme of the book, is constantly brought up by teachers such as Mr.

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

norm.
The theme of racism is most important because it shows the type of impact it has on humans and our destructive forces to be inhumane and immoral. Wallis serves to show our hate and violence to be unjust and our human ability to think freely to not always be beneficial. Wallis also depicts human morality to be questionable and further advocates kindness and altruism through the protagonist, Will Falke.