Who is Thomas McFadden from Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America’s Strangest Jail and what is their importance? | English & Literature Questions & Answers

Thomas McFadden is the book's central character. A black Englishman who speaks with an accent that could be mistaken for Jamaican, he is a charming and persuasive individual who thrives on dangerous and illegal situations. Nothing is divulged of his childhood or family, almost as if his life begins with his trafficking in drugs. Thomas admits to no remorse over being a drug smuggler, and even while he is imprisoned throughout most of the book, he becomes involved in many illegal activities over which he never reveals a troubled bad conscience. Even so, he is capable of close and loving friendships, no only with the woman he meets, Yasheeda, but also with various male friends, including Rusty. In part, Thomas's affection for these people, and to the many backpackers he meets as the prison's tour guide, is driven by his need for companionship and sympathy during his imprisonment. A witty and generally upbeat person, he nevertheless is subject to bouts of depression, and he suffers from an inability to look at himself objectively. For example, he discusses the addiction to cocaine that he develops in prison as an experience that he would not describe as entirely good or bad. This noncommittal attitude is part of a self-delusory viewpoint that allows him to brag about his smuggling exploits as if they were praiseworthy feats, and to never once mention the damage to others that is promoted by his trafficking in cocaine. Only at the end of the book, when he fears that he will be imprisoned even longer on a second drug charge, does Thomas come close to repentance, when he promises God that he will never smuggle or use drugs again if he is freed. Even then, the bargain he tries to strike with God is leveraged with the threat that he will either escape or commit suicide if he is declared guilty. Thomas does not learn much in the course of this story. A likable and basically good individual, he is however fatally flawed by an inability or unwillingness to look honestly at himself.

English & Literature

Who is Thomas McFadden from Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America's Strangest Jail and what is their importance?

1 Answers