Reading #11 Question 1

[Nojai]

In "The Lives of the Dead" O'Brien experiences his "first look at a
real body" (O'Brien 227). "The place was deserted-no people...and the
only confirmed kill was an old man who lay face-up...at center of the
village" (226). O'Brien states that "one by one" the soldiers shook
the dead man's hand and Dave Jensen, noticing O'Brien's fear of the
dead body, approaches him and tells him to "introduce himself [and]
show respect for his elders" (226). O'Brien expresses that the death
was "too real" and continued on but, "Jensen kept after [him]" (226).
Even later, Jensen asks O'Brien if "[he] had a toast in mind [because
it's] never too late for manners." (227)

Do you think that, that was a way that Dave Jensen was trying to
introduce O'Brien to the reality of the war since he was relatively
new or just being a bully? Do you think that Jensen was just trying to
get into O'Brien's head? How does O'Brien handle watching the soldiers
partake in pretending that the dead man was real? How would you react?

[Trey Smith]

Jenson and the others perform this puzzling action to deter the
emotional pain of ending the life of another human being. O'Brien was
confused when, "Dave Jensen went over and shook the old man's
hand," (O'Brien 226). The other soldiers followed suit. The process
enjoined the acceptance of the old man's death in their minds. By not
allowing themselves to acknowledge the death, they are able to dismiss
the thoughts of murder and gratuitous death. Making death seem to be
something other than what it is is the easiest way to cope. Until one
finally does realize what has occurred. This was the case for Varnado
Simpson.

[Rolph Recto]

I somewhat agree with your sentiment, Trey, but I don't think the soldiers make themselves ignore the fact that the old man is dead; it goes beyond feigning ignorance. Even the title - "The Lives of the Dead" - hint as much. O'Brien explains thus: "The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and in this way memory and imagination and language combine to make spirits in the head. There is the illusion of aliveness" (230). By acting as though the old man is alive, by pouring a toast to him and celebrating the story of his life in this world and his newfound life after death, the soldiers are actively resurrecting him - not physically, but as a "spirit in the head." One can view this as a form of self-deception, but it does prove to be an effective coping mechanism for the soldiers. Thus, they are beyond ignoring the death of the old man; they actively pretend he is alive. In other words, the old man is dead in "happening-truth," but very much alive in "story-truth."

As for O'Brien's reaction to the act, it is obvious that he is shaken by it; the desecration of a corpse is an utter taboo. However, in retrospect, he understands that shaking the old man's hand is just another way of telling a story; thus the narrator O'Brien (not the soldier O'Brien) doesn't indict the soldiers. How can he, when it is his profession to create illusions as a way to cope? How can he, when he tries to resurrect Linda by dreaming of her? For him to indict the soldiers would be to deprive them of "story-truth"; thus, if he did so, he would have no right to tell the story in the first place. And without the story, the old man - and possibly the soldiers - would remain dead, ceasing to exist not just physically but also ceasing to exist in human memory.

--
Rolph Recto 

Louisa County High School

"And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure... and your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them, 'Yes, the stars always make me laugh!' And they will think you are crazy. It will be a very shabby trick that I shall have played on you..."

[Kevin]

I agree with Trey, I think Jensen was trying to introduce O'Brien to
war, not mess with him. By introducing him to one of the coping
mechanisms of war he tries to remove the uneasy and awkward feeling of
the first dead body O'Brien sees. However, it just makes it a little
bit worse for O'Brien because of all the prodding and the sight of the
dead body as well. "I felt a moist sickness rise up in my throat. I
sat down beside the pigpen, closed my eyes, put my head between by
knees," (O'Brien 226) This is how O'Brien is able to cope with the
body, because the mockery and taunting of the body just makes him even
more uneasy. I would probably have done the same as O'Brien because
the taunts would just make the sight of the body even worse for me
than if they hadn't done anything to it.

[Natese]

Jensen was preparing O'Brien for the war. He knew that they were going
to come across dead bodies because they were in a war zone. Jensen
believed that intoducing the dead to O'Brien would make him more
comfortable for the new recruit, and what better way than to come up
to the dead body face-to-face and shake it's hand. Although the act
was slightly gruesome, it helped the soldiers to believe the war
wasn't as bad as it seemed and the dead were just as alive as the
living were as they "drank to the old man's family and ancestors, his
many grandchildren, [and] his newfound life after death"(O'Brien 227).

On Feb 23, 8:26 pm, Nojai <lav3n...@aol.com> wrote: