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Question 2: Why did so many residents of Jonestown choose to stay when their life there was so harsh and punishing? (300-500 words)

Charismatic leadership: A Followers Perspective Deborah Layton grew up in a house of secrets. She was 16 before her parents told her she was Jewish. Later they informed her that the grandmother who supposedly died of a heart attack actually committed suicide, and her mother had fled Nazi Germany. She was sent to a British boarding school to curb her adolescent rebellion. These early experi- ences resulted in lack of trust and extreme feelings of insecurity in Deborah. When she was 17 and on summer vaca- tion, her brother Larry introduced her to Jim Jones at the first People's Temple in northern California. Larry was already a member of Temple were really good people. They were innocent. They were nave. ... They were looking for something larger than them- selves to be involved in." Deborah joined the People's Temple and became a trusted financial officer for Jones. He later told her You are the only one I can really trust." But she began to learn about another side of Jim Jones and the People's Temple. Beatings of members who disagreed with Jones and fake healings were increasingly common. When the Temple was moved to Jonestown, a jungle encampment 250 miles from the capital of Guyana she knew she had antored n rinor the Temple, and he believed it would help him survive the atomic war he expected. Jones wore dark glasses indoors and out, his hair was glossy black, he wore sweeping robes, and liked to be called Father of his flock. Deborah describes herself at this time as "young and unanchored. She was charmed when Jones fixed his penetrating brown eyes on her and warmly invited her to "join me and my family of all races." He claimed to have "hundreds of followers working to feed the hungry, house the home- less and help addicts get clean." She further states, The people that joined the People's Finally on November 17, a group of reporters and concerned family members arrived, led by U.S. Representative Leo Ryan. They toured Jonestown and spent the night. The next day, as they were about to board their plane to leave with about 20 defectors, they were ambushed. Ryan and four others were killed. Deborah's brother, Larry, was posing as a defector and was one of the shooters. He is now serving a life sen- tence in federal prison. In Jonestown, Jim Jones was orchestrat- ing the mass suicide of all its residents. Poison punch was squirted into babies' mouths. Then adults were instructed to drink the poison. Some were shot by secu- rity guards. Jones was shot through the head. In all, over 900 of Jones' followers died. I Guyana, she knew she had entered a prison. In Jonestown, the residents who were able worked the fields, and the population sub- sisted on rice. "Dissent was unthinkable. Offenders sweltered in 'The Box,' a 6-by-4- foot underground enclosure. Misbehaving children were dangled head-first into the well late at night. ... Loudspeakers broad- cast Jones' voice at all hours." Once he barked out the warning, White night! This meant they were about to be attacked and everyone was to take poison punch. Deborah escaped in May 1978 when she was chaperoning a youth group in the capi- tal city. She spread the alarm that Jones was planning a mass suicide, but few listened. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Discuss this incident in groups and answer the following questions: 1. What situational or personal characteristics caused Deborah Layton to become a follower of Jim Jones' charismatic leadership? 2. Why did so many residents of Jonestown choose to stay when their life there was so harsh and punishing