Heather Baskins
Cline
English 102
November 4, 2011
Cannibals
Flesh eating, bloodthirsty animals- is that what defines a cannibal? According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, cannibalism is “ritualistic eating of human flesh by humans” (Encyclopedia Britannica, pg. 326). Cannibals are not animals at all but rather humans hunting or feasting on humans. A scary thought indeed, which makes cannibals or the ritual of cannibalism a desired characteristic for a monster. What can cannibals or the act portray for a character? Desperation in society, a new form of law and order with a terrifying end result.
The first example of a cannibal being used to create desperation and a new form of order for a group of people is in the book The Cannibals. The Cannibals focuses on two young men being held as prisoners on a boat for a crime that neither of them committed. The main character Tom Tin is in a unique situation, his father is the captain of the boat but he cannot let his own son go free because of the other shipmates and their desire to keep Tom a prisoner until they reach land and he heads to trial. He and his father hatch a plan to let Tom and his friend leave the ship in the middle of the night in the small rescue boat attached to the side. Tom and his friend have done their research and know the small islands around them that they can escape to. But, Tom’s father knows, cannibals await them on these islands:
“Then there’s the cannibals, and they’re worse than the headhunters. They live here and, here,” he said, jabbing at the islands on the chart. “here and here, and maybe here as well. You can’t tell by looking if they’re cannibals or not. Each man you meet, you’ll wonder: will he help you on your way or put you in a stew?” There had been no cannibals in Midgley’s book. Even the word put fear inside me (The Cannibals, pg. 12).
Tom was in a desperate situation, stay as a prisoner and head to a legal fate that was not his or head to an island with cannibals lurking that he may not be able to identify. Using a cannibal as a threat in this case created a sense of fear and doom for Tom, his friend and his father. The hope of being set free to live on an island and escape, but then to find out he could lose it all to man eating enemies- cannibals created a desperate situation that was inescapable and worse than being found guilty for something he did not do.
Continuing in The Cannibals, the threat of reaching the island and meeting up with cannibals took over the remainder of the book. The giant crocodiles, crashing waves and poor weather were not met with as much fear and intimidation as the threat of cannibals lurking to eat them at any turn. It can be deduced, law and order was not in tact or just for Tom when he would approach land with his father, but the law of cannibalism was another form on his island of escape, just in a more terrifying way. Would you rather sit in a jail for a crime you have not committed or be eaten by your own kind? Katherine Biber reflected on the same such belief when she wrote in the Sydney Law Review, “So cannibalism produced law, just as law…produced a cannibalism that had hitherto not been there" (Sydney Law Review, pg. 624).
Another example of cannibals being used as a form of desperation and law and order is in the book The Enemy. The Enemy focuses on a group of children ages 16 and younger who are trying to survive the effects of their parents and all people being turned into zombie cannibals. With no explanation of how it has happened to them, the children are left alone and fighting for their lives in a brutal and disgusting world with filth, garbage, a constant hunt for food, and the threat of cannibal “grown-ups” lurking at every turn. The mere thought of children being left to fend for themselves creates a sense of desperation, fear, and lack of order. Using cannibals to enforce the fact that order has completely been abandoned solidifies this. As the children noted, “A parent might have grounded you, a teacher might have kept you in after school, and the police might have arrested you, but none of them would have tried to eat you, like the grown-ups who wandered the streets these days” (The Enemy, pg. 40). The children in the book recognized the need for law and order and without it in a normal fashion it was being forced upon them in a brutal and deathly way by their own kind, “grown-ups.” Phillip Ardagh of The Guardian recognized this point in his review of the book when he said, “We are left with the possibility that, even in a post-apocalyptic world, humans- whether boys or girls- are their own worst enemies” (The Guardian). The most terrifying thing that could happen to a child would be for their parents or guardians to be taken from them- all of them, with no help for food, clothing, shelter and protection. Naturally, some children would be more rebellious, who will take care of the victims of the bullies? Without order from adults, where will they be? Enter the fear of “grown-ups” in a deadly cannibalistic manner setting their own version of law and order for the children- fight for your life.
A third example of cannibalism as a final act of desperation and law and order is from The Bible. Cannibalism was used as a threat of punishment to the Israelites if they failed to be obedient, creating a new form of law and order but also a terrifying punishment. The Israelites were told what would happen if they disobeyed:
53-And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee. 57- And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in they gates (The Holy Bible, pg. 161-162)
Using the threat of cannibalism as a form of punishment is a fearful and disgusting one. To tell a group of people if they do not do something they will be forced to eat their own children is a form of law and order based on fear. They would need to obey all that they had been commanded to do within a structured law and order, or suffer the consequences of being disobedient, and creating a detestable law that caused death, destruction and cannibalism. This passage of the Bible shows how horrendous of an act cannibalism is and could be consider something that is at the last straw and would be considered desperate. An online source words it this way, “The close association of cannibalism with the final stages of judgment from God also identifies it as the loathsome and evil thing it is” (Gotquestions.org).
Cannibals as characters can be used to portray desperation and a new form of law and order. As noted in the texts, The Enemy and The Cannibals, characters were in fear of cannibals causing desperation and also their new form of order- one ending with them being the meal. As The Bible stated in Deuteronomy, cannibalism was used as a threat of punishment for a group of people. Ruling by fear and causing the Israelites to obey the rules, or be forced into cannibalism and eating their own children was disgusting and created a fear based law and order that would bring the people to their own destruction at their own mouths. Cannibals may dine on human flesh but they cause fear, desperation, and a threat of law and order that no one wants to be ruled by.
Works Cited
Ardagh, Phillip. The Enemy by Charlie Higson. The Guardian. October 3, 2009.
Web. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oct/03/the-enemy-charlie-higson-review
Biber, Katherine. Cannibals and Colonialism. Sydney Law Review. Vol. 27, 2005.
Web. http://sydney.edu.au/law/slr/slr27_4/Biber.pdf
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.
Chicago, IL, USA: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2006. p 326.
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/yavapai/Doc?id=10270935&ppg=339
GotQuestions.org. Web. November 2, 2011.
http://www.gotquestions.org/cannibalism-Bible.html
Higson, Charlie. The Enemy. Hyperion. New York. 2009. Print. (iPad version was
used for research in this essay).
Lawrence, Iain. The Cannibals. Laurel-Leafe. New York. 2005. Print. (iPad version
was used for research in this essay).
The Holy Bible. American Bible Society. D. Fanshaw. 1840. Google Books.
http://books.google.com/books?id=JAMVAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22American+Bible+Society%22&hl=en&ei=Xhq0TuXiKbH8iQK3qdBc&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CFQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Deuteronomy%2028&f=false
