The Young Lieutenant

While reading Guests of the Nation, there was an interesting debate that came up. Should the Young Lieutenant feel guilty? Should soldiers feel remorse? Should anyone feel guilty if they were committing their active 'duty?' Of course they should they are human, and if you not the least bit of sadness for taking another's life then I would be worried you had no soul. I feel that in a time of war it makes the situation tough, and I am not saying you should not fulfill your duties for the betterment of the nation; however, I do believe you should feel something for you actions. The murder you perform causes a lot more damage, and emotional conflict with the victim's family, friends, and country as well. Therefore, I think they should take in consideration that they are not just killing an enemy, but they are killing perhaps a father, son, friend, or husband and that impacts people. A duty is a duty, in a militia standpoint you do need to perform it if told to do, but you have options. You could rebel and say no, alter the actions in someway, or you can perform them. The choice is yours, but when faced with the action of taking another person's life in my hands, I would feel a lot of remorse and feel guilty. You are playing a key factor in that person's fate, and they will no longer have a chance to live a full life. That is a lot to take in when it comes to a decision, and that would be a life altering one at that.

Freedom and Confinement

I'd like to start of this week's blog with a couple of lines out of "Guests of the Nation." "Nobel says he saw everything ten times the size, as though there were nothing in the whole world but that little patch of bog with the two Englishmen stiffening into it, but with me it was as if the patch of bog where the Englishmen were was a million miles away, and even Nobel and the old woman, mumbling behind me, and the birds and the bloody stars were all far away, and I was somehow very small and very lost and lonely like a child astray in the snow.  And anything that happened to me afterwards. I never felt the same about again," states the narrator.  This ending somehow struck out to me, and just made me think how deep words can go when spoken with that much emotion. "And anything that happened to me afterwords.  I never felt the same about again," is such a passionate, complex line, for the story changes him in such away that it takes a bit of his soul with it.  He will never be the same after what he has witnessed tonight, and that just shows the intensity of the situation. It has to be a dramatic, impacting even for something to change you in such a way that you know in your mind you can never fully recover to your old self.  Therefore, O'Connor has put together a good story, but what really caught my eye was the last 2 sentences!

A Touch of English During Spring Break. . .

It is a beautiful Sunday for Spring Break, and not too bad of a day to write my post for the week. However, I will say the story I want to write about may put a damper on your day. "The Penal Colony," was a very interesting story, for it goes back in time to a colony that has no standards when it comes to punishment.  The colonial of the story is so obsessed and mesmerized by this 'apparatus,' he is always concerned with how it works, and is in love with explaining how it works to the explorer. The old commandant of the colony was the mastermind behind this machine and his method of punishment was a hierarchy of power. He had the colonial handle his dirty work with the execution and he is in charge to processed with the prosecution. It is an unusual method, for they don't even have a trial for the prisoner in the story, but they just accuse him and send him to die.  The famous 'apparatus,' basically engraves or tattoos the crime you committed onto your body, but you don't die instantly.  The process takes about 6-12 hours to take its effect, and then the machine just throws you into a large pit to bury.  In the end of explaining this to the explorer, the colonial partially asks him what he thinks and he sort of believes it is cruel and unusual.  His opinion is what triggers an odd reaction for the colonial, for that was the answer I guess he was dreading to face. The new commandant had been trying to get rid of the apparatus, but the colonial must have just needed to hear it from someone else. The colonial then gave his life to the machine he loved, and died with the machine not operating correctly.