ickey, 59-60)Ironically, it is this peaceful and innocent man who reaches his demise on this perilous trip. Drew's innocence and morality is truly displayed when he is the only one among these four men who wants to report the death of the local man to the police. He does not want to be part of any wrong; however, he is given no heed due to the immorality of the others. Here comes into play the parallelism of this novel to the occurrence of the Vietnam War. For in the Vietnam War, all common moralities and values were thrown away to fit the environment in which we were fighting. Here, all the men except Drew disregard the morals of the civilized world to survive in this unfamiliar territory where they have willingly placed themselves. That may be one reason that Drew is the one to be shot and drowned alone and later discovered: he dies because he cannot survive - it is, in essence, the survival of the fittest. Here is another parallel to the Vietnam era in that Drew's death is used as a lie and as an excuse. His death is used as a cover up, an event occurring often during the war. Because he is the moral central of the group, his death is a deep loss. It is a loss because Drew is the best of them all; he is the most genuine. Bobby Trippe was very social and seemed to enjoy the life he led, as did Drew. It is this social man however; who is the victim of forced sodomy by local river people. However, it is because of this social nature that Bobby recoups to his former self after the conclusion of the adventure. Perhaps also, Bobby is in a state of denial of this event because it is embarrassing to him. He [Bobby] got up, twenty years older, and walked over to the dead man. Then, in an explosion so sudden that it was like somethingbursting through from another world, he kicked thebody in the face, and again.(Dickey, 124)Lewis, at the beginning of this trip is the egotistical man who serves as the true epitome of mid-life c...
