1

Name:

Instructor:

Course:

Course Code:

Date:

The story "The truth is a Cave in The Black Mountains" by Neil Gaiman Analysis

The story by Neil Gaiman describes several events and narratives that involve evil and human

situations. The manifestation of evil in this novel is expressed through murder, mystery,

greed, and deception; and the dwarf in the quest for Gold is the protagonist in the story. While

in his search for Gold, he comes across the black mountain. The story represents the diversity

of human nature that expresses how heinous human deeds can be because of greed. To convey

the evils of human nature, the author uses locales and other terms.

The author portrays the black mountain as an evil place that is a dwelling place of

curses. It is within the caves found on the black mountain that the evil dwells. As they are

described in the story while traveling together, the two friends share some of the secrets about

the mountain. Although the two are treading together, they do not trust each other, which is

why they are taking t5he initiative of hiding skeletons in the closets. The author aims to use

the two companions to express the nature of human beings' hypocrite and confidentiality. This

is also why every person in society has a secret that he can never disclose to anyone.

Considering this behavior, this can be regarded as an evil mind whose dwelling place is

humankind. This sinful lead humankind to have distrust among themselves.

When the two men are walking across the land, they are filled with fear because they

well understood the dangers that could befall them in their search for the treasure they wanted.
 2

Although the two men are walking together with a common goal, hypocrisy in each of them

shows how evil invades humanity. The two of them could not trust each other, and yet they

were on the same journey with the common goal of getting the treasure. This kind of evil can

best be described as betrayal within the concept of fake friendship. When they finally got into

the cave, the writings on the walls shocked them because they came to know everything about

the cave (p.20). It is interesting to know that the two men are traveling together to get the

treasure. However, neither of them trusts the other. But they know the risks of the journey and

the benefits if they happen to succeed. The author, at this point, wants us to see the evil that

we have over each other although we pretend to be friends.

The undertones and mysteries in the entire story are complex for the reader to explain.

The3 author wanted to show the gravity of the black mountain and the evils dwelling in the

heart of humankind. To hide his identity, the main character masks himself so that nobody can

recognize him (p.38). The author is trying to let the reader understand that this is the nature of

evildoers who never want their identity revealed. The point at which the reader can

understand the evils in the story is when Calum is explaining to his partner why people could

not enter into the cave although they toured to come and enter(p.49). This act can be

interpreted as the cave being human mind, and when we try to understand the mind of the

other person, they give back evil reasons to us that consume and destroy our soul. So, the cave

is where no one could tour and come back the same way. However, the cave could be

demonized by those who knew the treasure in it so that no one could attempt going there.

The symbolism used in this story is the Gold. The author uses Gold to develop the

central theme of meditation. There are several aspects of reflections in the story: good and

evil, money and property. Gold is the good meant for humankind's prosperity, while the cave

is the heart. It is within the heart that Gold can be obtained. But the evils in the world are so

many that getting into the heart is very hard. A point has come that it is very hard to know
 3

your true friend. As seen in the story, the two men are touring together for a joint mission, but

each has an evil plan for the other. From the story, when the revelation of Gold is known, it

seems that there is no justice done. Also, it is observed after the revelation of Gold became

open, they were no absolute satisfaction. Contrary, much more evils are orchestrated to block

others from benefiting from Gold.

Work cited

http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/The+Truth+Is+a+Cave+in+the+Black+Mountains

%3A+A+Tale+of+Travel+and+Darkness+with+Pictures+of+All+Kinds/