Eaters Of The Dead Essay -- essays research papers

Applied Intelligence and Knowledge Conquers All In his novel, Eaters of the Dead, author Michael Crichton shows how the Volga Northmen were able to defeat their foes, the wendol, by using their intellect instead of their weapons. This is seen in four aspects. The theme of the novel is that physical courage is not enough to preserve your culture and lifestyle: intelligence and superior knowledge are absolutely essential. Conflict between the wendol and the Northmen shows which group has the intelligence to eliminate the other. Symbolism of wisdom, knowledge, and the lack of such things are used by Crichton to illustrate this moral. The juxtaposition of characters emphasizes the cleverness of the Volga Northmen compared to the Venden Northmen. The theme of the story is that applying intelligence and knowledge is essential in order to keep one’s culture alive. A good proof of this is the lack of knowledge of Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, the narrator of the story. He is an Arab who "knows nothing of the ways of the world" (p. 77) because he has never truly experienced the world before that day, since he does not care for adventure. Having no experience with the world and having no knowledge, Ibn Fadlan slowly learns the Northmen’s way of life. In the end, felt he "had been born a Northman" (p. 152), having spent much time in their company and is no longer the coward he was when he started the trip. His lack of knowledge causes him to be a coward in battle, since he will be battling frightening, mysterious creatures. A better proof of this is that the wendol acts as if they are animals, which are unintelligent. The wendol makes "a low grunting sound, like the rooting of a pig" (p. 97), "h ave hair as long as a hairy dog" (p. 99), and wear the heads of dead animals as masks. They act as if they were brainless and cannot think of ways of attack on the Northmen. The only thing they can think of when they are losing is to retreat. Their ignorance to provide more guards at the second entrance to the thunder cave give the Northmen easy access to kill their leader from the lack of defenses. The best proof of this is that the Northmen are the ones who have the knowledge and intelligence to defeat the wendol. They learn about the second entrance to the cave of thunder, where the mother of the wendol lives, a... ... from Buliwyf. He builds his settlement on a cliff and "dares the gods to strike him down," (p. 77) putting his people in danger because of his vanity, another act that leads to his downfall. Buliwyf is called upon to help and save the settlement of Venden. He leads the people of Venden to build defences, which King Rothgar was unable to do, although he is the king and should have already done so. Buliwyf is the one with the intelligence that eventually drives away the wendol. The pairing of these characters show the stupidity of the Venden royals and nobleman, which causes them so much trouble and requires the help of the Volga Northmen, who are more intelligent. The Northmen arrive at Venden as a group of thirteen and only four remain. All nine who died lost their lives in the battles of physical strength. However, when it comes to the battle of the intelligence and knowledge, all the warriors survived. The lack of intelligence and knowledge of the Venden Northmen and the wendol leads them to a devastating end. From this, it is seen that the intelligence and knowledge one has is truly more important than physical strength, for without the mind, one is useless.