# Violence and Sacrifice in The Place Called Dagon

> Theme guide for The Place Called Dagon by Herbert Gorman.

The plot involves murder, ritual sacrifice, and brutal acts (like pegs driven into eye-sockets), showing how the cult's practices lead to physical and psychological violence.

## Where it surfaces

- [The Place Called Dagon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_place_called_dagon_se/chapters/the-place-called-dagon): The Esbat ceremony involves elements of sacrifice and violence, as the cult's dark rites unfold.
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_place_called_dagon_se/chapters/i): The discovery of the sacrificial chicken and the plan to sacrifice Deborah highlight the theme of ritual violence.
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_place_called_dagon_se/chapters/i): The burning farmhouse, the gunshot that felled Burroughs, and the rescue of Deborah from the sacrificial stone.
- [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_place_called_dagon_se/chapters/ii): The fire consumes the house and a man within it, a violent act that seems to cleanse the valley of an old horror.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_place_called_dagon_se/themes/violence_and_sacrifice
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_place_called_dagon_se/themes