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In De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage, what is the function of George?

In the novel De Niro’s Game,George functions as a symbol of how power though illegal means (and especially during war) can corrupt the young.  Within the friendship of George and Bassam, it is the character of George that functions as the instigator.  George also turns friendship into betrayal in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war.  Bassam is drawn into criminal ways only through George.  It is not long before George has initiated his friend...

In the novel De Niro’s Game, George functions as a symbol of how power though illegal means (and especially during war) can corrupt the young.  Within the friendship of George and Bassam, it is the character of George that functions as the instigator.  George also turns friendship into betrayal in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war.  Bassam is drawn into criminal ways only through George.  It is not long before George has initiated his friend into the world of smuggling both drugs and alcohol.  While Bassam loses his nerve, George gains power in the militia.  Unfortunately, he loses his morality at the same time.  George eventually participates in the Phalangist massacre and kills Laurent Aoudeh after a strange sexual escapade.  He also mercilessly allows Bassam to take the heat for George’s own crimes (while at the same time stealing Bassam’s girlfriend, Rana).  As Bassam begins to stalk George, Bassam finds that George is even more into political corruption than once thought.  Just as George’s own character shows how power can truly corrupt and lead to death, the game of Russian roulette (otherwise known as “De Niro’s Game”) the two play together ends with George being the unlucky one, killing himself by a bullet through the head.  Bassam then struggles to remain moral in an immoral world of war.

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