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Deliverance | Introduction

When James Dickey's Deliverance was published in 1970, it was an immediate critical and popular hit. Critics and the general public also applauded the movie that was adapted from the novel by Dickey and released two years later. These two accomplishments were considered outstanding achievements for a writer who before Deliverance was known for his poetry. Like a poet, Dickey identified themes and images in his novel that resonate throughout the American psyche. His novel consists of adventure, suspicion, and murder in a natural setting.

In the book, four ordinary suburban men take a canoe trip through the wild hills of north Georgia, hoping to get away from their regulated, sterile lives for a weekend. Along the way they are accosted by uncivilized backwoods dwellers, and the travelers soon find themselves dealing with murder, a cover-up, and more murder and deceit. With sweeping descriptions and precise details, Dickey portrays the development of the novel's narrator, Ed Gentry, as he learns the ways of the forest and the river in his fight for his own survival. As he becomes more primitive, Ed finds himself grateful for this opportunity to live life to its fullest.

Deliverance Summary

Before
James Dickey's novel Deliverance is about a canoeing trip that four men from suburban Atlanta
take through the hills in the northern part of Georgia, where they encounter clannish, primitive people and hazardous natural conditions. Those who survive return to civilization feeling transformed by their experience. The novel starts out the day before the trip, with the four principal characters meeting in a bar to finalize their plans. Lewis Med-ford is the most dynamic of the group, the out-doorsman who has been to this river before, an avid hunter and fisherman. Bobby Trippe is a salesman of mutual funds, an amiable bachelor with a sarcastic sense of humor who enjoys comfort more than conquest. Drew Ballinger is a family man and a devoted employee of a huge soda pop company modeled on Coca-Cola. The narrator of the book is Ed Gentry, he is somewhat of an outdoorsman, in that he fires arrows for target practice with Lewis, but he is also a family man and a businessman, co-owner of an advertising firm. At the initial meeting all of the men agree to join Lewis, but each wants to bring one possession. Ed wants to bring his bow and arrows. Drew wants to bring his old Martin guitar. Bobby wants to bring liquor.

Ed goes back to his office, where he has to shoot photographs for a new ad layout. The ad, for a line of women's underwear, is to feature a young model wearing nothing but the underwear and holding a cat. While positioning her for the picture. Ed notices a peculiarity in her eye, a golden glow. As soon as it stakes him, "she changed completely: she looked like someone who had come to womanhood in less than a minute."

September 14th
The first day of the trip starts with Ed waking in bed next to his wife, Martha. She questions whether it is her fault that he is going, if she is the reason he feels discontent with his ordinary life, and so they make love. Lewis comes soon after to pick him up, and they take off for the river. "Here we go," Lewis says as they take off, setting the tone for what's to come, "out of the sleep of mild people, into the wild rippling water." On the drive, they have a long discussion about their differing philosophies of life For Lewis, life is a series of physical challenges, preparing himself for the day that society will break down and he and his family will have to survive on the canned goods and few other items that they have packed away in their fallout shelter. Ed explains his way of life as "sliding": living with the least friction, the most comfort.

In Oree, where they plan to take off, Bobby and Drew join them. They stop at a small country store to buy supplies and to hire someone to drive the cars down river so that they'll be there when the tap is done. At the store they meet a strange-looking albino boy, whose eyes look off in different directions. The boy plays a duet with Drew on his banjo, and gives the impression that he lacks intelligence, but he plays beautifully, providing a sign that something more artistic than intelligence is valued by the mountain people. At Griner Brothers' Garage, they are met with some hostility while trying to negotiate a price for having their cars delivered. Lewis is rough in offering less than what Griner is asking, but he also is confident in the honesty of these rural people and he fully expects the cars to be in the right place the next day. Both the old man at the grocery store and Griner express some skepticism as to why anyone would want to take a trip down the Cahulawasse River.

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