, Research Paper

Den of Lions by Terry AndersonWhat is it like to be for seven old ages in darkness and ironss, non cognizing from one twenty-four hours to the following how much longer you will be a captive? Or if you will be released from imprisonment the following twenty-four hours or killed.In his autobiography Den of Lions, Terry Anderson efforts to reply some of these inquiries. He tells of how his hope got him through those seven atrocious old ages he was held confined. He tells of how he was physically imprisoned, crush, and treated as an object instead than a human being. Terry Anderson was a newsman that was covering the part of Johannesburg for a really long clip. On one of his trips to Lebanon he saw what he recalled as & # 8220 ; unbelievable violence. & # 8221 ; He found it really tickle pinking to avoid danger and convey the intelligence back to the United States. In April of 1983, Anderson became main Middle East Correspondent. He moved to Beirut in 1984 and stayed there in malice of the danger that he was confronting. While on a auto drive with his friend Don Mell, he encountered four guards with guns. He was pulled out of his auto and pushed to the floor of his kidnapers auto. He was unable to see anything because they had tied a blindfold around his eyes, nevertheless he was able to experience guns being pushed into his cervix. Terry Anderson recalls that after he was kidnapped, he ended up in a half-finished flat edifice in Beirut, Lebanon. The day of the month was March 16, 1985. The guards that kidnapped him, taped up his eyes so that it was really hard for him to see what was go oning to him. As the guards dragged him, his caput bounced off the walls and the floor. After they arrived to Terry s unknown finish, they dumped him on a steel fingerstall and chained him up so tight that he was non even able to sit up. He was blindfolded and told if the blindfold comes off he would be killed. As he impotently lay at that place, he is told about the regulations of his new and awful being. He is non allowed to speak or travel. He was non even allowed to travel from side to side to assist alleviate the hurting from his hurting musculuss. Anderson kept path of the yearss by rubing a line next to his caput on the wall. After about 24 yearss, he asked the guard for a bible. The guard was agreeable plenty to give him an old Bible. He was given 30 proceedingss to read each dark. However, he was still required to have on his blindfold, so the bible truly was no aid. It was about April 9, 1985, when they moved him to another fingerstall with a drape around it. This clip he was allowed to take his blindfold off when the drapes were shut, so he would be able to read. He was told nevertheless, that if he saw one of the guards he would be shot. He remembered the yearss, and how they fell into a sort of modus operandi: Sleepless darks, watching the morning light grow easy on the ceiling, switching and turning, and seeking to ease the stiffness and hurting from lying on the bed for 24 hours a twenty-four hours. The most merriment he had for these yearss was watching the roaches seeking to mount the wall and falling off when they reached the top. The guards besides liked to divert themselves. One guard named Sayeed tells him, & # 8220 ; You go home now! & # 8221 ; and unfastens the ironss. When Anderson attempts to sit up he is pushed back down and rechained. Then the guard laughs for about 15 proceedingss so goes to kip. Sometime in July of 1985 Anderson is moved to another room. In this room another captive was at that place with him and they were permitted to speak softly. They start inquiring each other inquiries and Anderson learns that the adult males name is Jacobsen. While in the new room the two captives are given clip to exert and rinse themselves. The guards are besides allowed to give them books and magazines to read and assist go through the long hours that they are likely to pass at that place. Throughout the following hebdomad the captives hear much banging and loud bangs. By inquiring the guards, Anderson learns that there will be a new captive in the following room named Father Jenco. The guard tells them that he is some sort of faith instructor. Anderson understood what the guard meant and corrected him by stating him that Father Jenco is a Catholic Priest. Sometime in September of the twelvemonth 1985 Anderson is allowed to hold a pen and paper. He was now able to maintain a journal, which he put in a missive to his married woman Madeleine. Every twenty-four hours he would compose a few paragraphs. He knew he would non be able to get off the missive nevertheless, he wanted to maintain path of the things that has happened to him over the past few months. On October 29, 1985, the guards brought in a little black and white telecasting demoing Anderson s household and kids. They besides mentioned how long he had been in imprisonment, so far, two hundred and 27 yearss. The captives stayed in that same topographic point for the following nine months. Sometime during the terminal of July they were moved to another edifice in Beirut. This room nevertheless contains three more captives. There is barely adequate room to kip and the ceiling is merely six pess high. All the captives are able to make is put on their mattresses for hours on terminal and speak softly. Following October the guards brought Anderson a birthday bar, and wished him a happy birthday. They gave him some fruit and a

instead big piece of bar. They divided up the bar and served the remainder to the other captives. That whole full twenty-four hours they video-taped the captives eating and basking their bar. Anderson has been a captive now for five hundred and 92 yearss. Sometime in March of 1987, Anderson and the remainder of the captives were shipped to southern Lebanon. They were wrapped tightly in plastic so that the lone portion of their organic structure that was demoing was their olfactory organs so that they could take a breath. They were thrown into another wooden box and so thrown into the dorsum of a new wave. They traveled for several hours in this status before they reached their finish.

The same modus operandis continue until April of 1990. The United States is go oning to negociate with Anderson s kidnapers. Conditionss inside the cells got better. Even the captives were acquiring more humanist intervention. President Bush is seeking to assist the Iranians find some of their people who were kidnapped old ages earlier, in hopes that the American captives would be released. By August of 1990 conditions were acquiring even better, with more fresh veggies and meats, more H2O to imbibe, and more freedom in what they were and were non allowed to make. It is now March 16, 1991. Anderson is allowed to hear intelligence studies and he learns that the dialogues are about over and he most probably would be released shortly. Some of the other captives that he had stayed with were speaking on the wireless and mentioned Anderson s name and told him that if he was listening & # 8220 ; Good Luck! & # 8221 ; This was really heartwarming for Anderson. He couldn t aid but acquire into higher liquors. He knew that he was traveling place. The day of the month is now December 4, 1991. Anderson has been a captive for two thousand four 100 and fifty four yearss. Two subchiefs came in and told Anderson the most beautiful words that could hold been spoken to him at the clip. & # 8220 ; You are traveling place tonight! & # 8221 ; They gave him new apparels, places and so left. After a few more hours Anderson is put into a auto. This clip in the back place. After going a few hours the auto eventually stops. Person opens the door, puts his manus on Anderson s shoulder and said, & # 8220 ; I m a Syrian colonel. You re free. & # 8221 ; ReviewOverall I found this book to be really compelling. I found it to be really interesting to larn about how Terry Anderson coped and got through this tragic experience. The manner Anderson gave a description of what happened to him in chronological order gave me a feeling that I was at that place excessively. Anderson made it really easy to understand the ways that they were treated, the good and the bad. Everything was in great item. The manner Anderson wrote the book made me desire to maintain reading to happen out what would go on to him following and after all of it was over, what eventually happened. However at that place besides were some bad points. Until I wholly understood the manner the book worked I was confused. Anderson wrote the book with his partner Madeleine. She wrote every other chapter and gave her position on what happened. It took me a twosome of chapters to understand the manner this worked. Generally I thought this book was great. I would urge it to anyone who is interested in the ways captives are treated in the in-between eastern states. It was really clear how Anderson felt and he fundamentally wrote everything that happened to him. I learned a batch from this book. It taught me how to appreciate the small things in life that most people take for granted. Anderson went through a long period of clip where he was non even able to see. I know for a fact that if I was invariably blindfolded I would travel nuts. After all of this, really few people could understand what it is like to travel through the horror that Terry Anderson went through. I besides learned about the manner faith can step in and take a large portion in peoples lives. Before the snatch, Anderson truly was non a spiritual adult male. He ne’er went to church and ne’er prayed. However after the snatch, he turned to faith. He prayed every twenty-four hours for God to assist him acquire through this experience. He made his ain rosary beads. And he memorized passages out of the bible. Anderson states that faith got him through those seven long atrocious old ages. I besides learned about the faith of the people in Beirut. Most of the guards were Shiites, so faith was a large portion of their lives besides. The lone manner that Anderson was able to do the guards feel compassion for him was to inquire them if God tells them that they are allowed to harm another human being. The guard can ne’er reply the inquiry and normally apologizes for the manner they were handling him. Another thing that I learned was how states negotiate with each other. The United States did every thing that they could perchance make to assist free Anderson. However the lone manner to liberate Anderson was to assist free Iranians that were kidnapped by other states. This was a really educational book in many ways, including societal, political, and spiritual. I plan to read other autobiographies by captives who were imprisoned with Terry Anderson to see how they coped with their calamities. This book has taught me one overall lesson, ne’er allow the small things in life that go incorrect bother you ; life is excessively cherished.