The Mosquito Coast Essay Thesis Example For Students

The Mosquito Coast Essay Thesis The Mosquito CoastThe Mosquito Coast depicts the story of an unstable, antisocialindividual whose unsubstantiable paranoia causes him to dramatically alter thecourses of his and other peoples lives. The mans continual fear of a nuclearinvasion by an irate, immoral country eventually this man to move himself andhis family to a remote jungle area of Honduras where he planned to establish autopian society of his own design. Some themes that are conveyed through thisstory are the ability of split-second decisions to dramatically alter anybodyslife, and the inability of certain individuals to be able to mentally handle thestressful life of western civilization. Allie Foxx highly opposed the style of life which had developed in theUnited States. He believed religions to be useless, and our government to becorrupted, continually drawing the unwanted attention of other countries tactilemissiles. He saw t.v. and mainstream life as a form of mental poison. Hestrictly raised his children to incorporate the same mental attitude which heheld. He saw himself as the last real man alive. The combination of all thesedelusions eventually prompted him to relocate himself and his family to adifferent country altogether, where he whatever lifestyle he so desired. Charley is the thirteen year old son of Allie. He is naive to thepractices of modern society because of his fathers continual and insistedsheltering from the evils of everyday life. He is very impressionable and seeshis father as the most brilliant man on earth. Jerry is the ten year old younger brother of Charley. He enjoysbettering his brother, and cutting him down. He puts on a guise of valiantbravery, yet inside he is merely a frightened child. Although he immenselyrespects his brother he is unable to relate these emotions for he views them asfeminine. The story begins on a farm in Massachusetts, but quickly shifts to theprimitive, remote jungles of Honduras. It all takes place during the earlynineteen-eighties. The setting corresponds well with the time period and themain character. This period showed many leaps in technological advancement,which Allie refused to be a part of. He instead chose to live a simple,sheltered life. And the remotes of Honduras was essential in attaining thistype of lifestyle. The dialogue of the natives in the story combined with the effects ofthe harsh jungle environment make the author sound as if he knows much of thestyle of life which is typical to the poverty stricken natives of South America. He also seemed fascinated by the effects that unforgiving nature can have on agroup of people. This story does an effective job of immediately fascinating you with theunusual attitude of Allie Foxx, and from that point it never lets your attentionwaver. It also is effective at stimulating emotions as you read. It shows youunusual situations and encourages you to think of how you would handle such asituation. The story also helps you understand why some people think the waythey do, although it seems so unrealistic and idiotic to you or I.