From Friend to Enemy Rationale For my creative piece, I decided to write a poem based on chapters one to nine from Children of Men. From Friend to Enemy illustrates the change Theodore Faron exhibits after meeting Julian, Rolf, Miriam and Gascoigne as well as witnessing the Quietus. The character development portrayed in the poem is Theodore’s change in opinion, from admiring and looking up to Xan to doubting and even despising him. In the first stanza of the poem, Theodore ponders on the state of the human race after losing the ability to reproduce. In the first and second line, Theodore explains that the inability to have children is causing chaos and mayhem, and has nearly destroyed human civilization. In the third and forth line, Theodore compares humanity to a tree being burned from its roots. The leaves near the top have no choice but to watch as the flames climb up the tree destroying everything in its path, just like humans having to witness the last days of their species. The inspiration for this stanza comes from this quote: “we are outraged and demoralized less by the impending end of our species, less even by our inability to prevent it, than by our failure to …show more content…
The first and second line shows Theodore doubting the nature of the Quietus. After seeing the elderly being put into ankle restraints and seemingly drugged, he no longer believes that they are there according to their own will. In the third and forth line, Theodore is convinced that Xan lied about the Quietus being voluntary when an elderly women tried to escape and was killed by a vicious strike to the head. The inspiration of this stanza comes from these quotes: “one of the soldiers leapt into the water from the jetty and, with the butt of his pistol, struck her viciously on the side of the head…there was a brief stain of red before the next wave came” (James