Shadow of Abandonment

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A good vs. evil and an uncertain feeling of pain towards war is mentioned by agent D. “D felt himself touched by an old happiness, as if he were out of time altogether and already belonged to history with the gentleman in the bowler; all the struggle and violence over, wars decided one way or another, out of pain.” (Greene 156-157). Agent D has such strong feelings of uncertainty by just viewing a photograph of a man leaning over a handrail talking to a lady. He explains that the true winner of war is out of pain, when in reality in agent D situation the winner is whoever can receive and bring back coal. Coal is very valuable in his country, its like gold, and whoever obtains it is likely to win war.

Foreshadowing occurred a lot in each chapter of this book which helped the readers follow the themes of this spy fiction novel. Greene states, “He was reminded of an occasion when in the hungry capital a rumor spread that food had arrived: he had watched them swarming down onto the quay, just like this. It hadn’t been food but tanks, and they watched the tanks unloaded with angry indifference”. (Greene 167). The fear of uncertainty in that quote is having the people who swarm down to get into tanks just unload with an angry indifference. The feeling of not knowing where to go or what is happening can leave an unsettled feeling in someone.

In conclusion, “The Confidential Agent” by Graham Greene, leaves his fiction series as a relevant way for readers to understand the uncertain world around them as well as the terrorism occurring. With that being said, the shadow of abandonment plays a huge role in today’s world as well as in the novel for children to realize that with the feeling of being alone it can take you down many uneasy and uncertain paths that are not truly the correct way to handle a situation.

Work Cited:

Bawer, Bruce. "Graham Greene: The Politics." The New Criterion 8.3 (Nov. 1989): 34-41. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler and Elizabeth P. Henry. Vol. 72. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 Dec. 2014.

Coates, John. "Experimenting with the genre: Green and The Confidential Agent." Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 55.1 (2002): 47+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 Dec. 2014.

Greene, Graham. The Confidential Agent. New York: The Viking Press, 1939. Print.

Snyder, Robert Lance. "'Shadow of abandonment': Graham Greene's The Confidential Agent." Texas Studies in Literature and Language 52.2 (2010): 203+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 Dec. 2014.