The Playground Of The Gods :: essays research papers

The Playground of The GodsCathy Spellmans, The Playground of The Gods is an exuberant novel whichdeals with murder in a remote tropical paradise that can further be read as anillustration of mans ignorance and invasion of nature."Do it big, or stay in bed."( Larry Kelly). These are words that ThorosGagarian lives by. He is single of the wealthiest men in the world and whenpicking his private paradise, only one place on earth could serve his needs andfantasies. This place is Mora Utu-The playground of the Gods-a jet-propelled plane jewel inthe placid blue expanse of the South Pacific, the most luxurious and seductiveprivate preserve anywhere on the planet. Once his prized-possession has beenfound, Thoros forthwith ships the island natives to a different island andbrings in his construction crews to hurriedly build his paradise in order tohave it ready for a celebratory visit by 12 of his close friends.     In the introduction to the story, Cathy Spell man makes clear the notionthat the protagonist, Thoros Gagarian views himself as an indestructible god.Her descriptions of his haste purchase of his Island paradise shows a man forwhom their is no boundaries. His gravitas is further displayed in his buildingof his compound.Spellmans voice of reason comes from a spiritual Mexican couple who areThoross servants. They not only warn but promise of many consequences to theignorance to which nature is being shown. Nature will not permit alteration onsuch a scale.(Emilio, 114).However, these warnings are ignored by the men who do not appreciate abizarre servant couple speaking of things which money cant buy and power cantcontrol. This is when Spellmans utilization of irony comes into the picture.A segment of the party catches a tropical fever, yet he cant be cured becausethe tree which possesses the antidote was destroyed in the creation of thefacility. This is followed by a lucky chain of events which is climaxed