Fear In Black Hawk Down

Although the book, Black Hawk Down, is based on true events a reader is still able to find a prevalent theme throughout the chapters. The author Mark Bowden recaps an operation based on true events and displays all the things that had went wrong throughout the operation. The operation takes place in Somalia and it was predicted to only last an hour, but to the militia’s surprise the operation took even longer. Bowden often decides to change up the point of view from chapter to chapter, jumping from the different character’s point of view. Bowden shows how the different views of fear can affect different people. Through his different characters the Deltas, The Rangers, and The Somali people, the author further creates an overall theme of fear.

There are many ways to inforce order into the world, there is a peaceful way when everyone is happy, or the enforcer can conjure fear into their victim’s and force them to do as they say. The Deltas use fear to round up all the Somali people, “When crowded house was filled suddenly with explosions, smoke, and flashes of light, those inside were momentarily frightened and disoriented” (Bowden 13). Conversely, by causing fear to the Somali people, The Deltas were able to order them to do whatever The Deltas wanted them to do. Ultimately, one would assume that as a soldier goes into war that they are under constant fear throughout the whole situation due to all the gunfire and the brink of death. However, that is not the case for The Deltas, “Look, for the first ten minutes or so you’re [going to] be scared…after that you’re going to get [so mad that you’ll forget you were ever scared]” (Bowden 40). By expressing this quote through a Delta unit, the author further creates the theme of fear by showing that the Deltas have already put aside their fear and replaced it with anger which motivates them to fight the Somalis even more. At times the use of fear as a tactic to take of a threat may be the only safe option for everyone at any given situation. As seen through a Delta named Nelson who had to take out a threat that covered himself by civilians, “Nelson

As one loses someone close to them they tend to have a heap of intense feelings from anger to sadness and to fear. In chapter 4 of the book, the story takes the perspective of Ali Hassan Mohamed who confront the death of his brother in the battle between the Rangers and the Somali people, “He ran with rage and terror behind the hotel…to his friend’s house, where his AK-47 was hidden” (Bowden 31). As Ali found his dead brother he was filled with anger and fear and used his fear to increase his desire to seek revenge on the Rangers thus further developing the theme of fear. As the need for revenge increases the sight of one owns self is lost. Ali’s need for revenge in his own terror blinds him from his own actions causing him to lose himself in his anger which was conjured from his fear, “[Ali] would shoot a Ranger or die trying” (Bowden 32). The author’s purpose is to express the fear that the Rangers caused in the Somali people thus igniting the Somali resistance. Although there were Somali people who used the fear to encourage their resistance, there were some that fell deep in the fear and followed exactly what the Militia wanted them to do. Somali people who were not able to fight or resist had to follow what the Rangers would tell them to do, “The children began to wail in fright, and Yurek quickly realized he needed to throttle down a notch”