“He thought of how the world organizes its affairs so that civilization every day commits crimes for which any individual would be imprisoned for life. And how people accept this either by ignoring it and calling it current affairs or politics or war.”
The statement illustrates Dorrigo’s opinion regarding the war and war crimes of which he has been a first-hand witness, participant, and victim. The novel chronicles the horrific deaths and brutal violence that Dorrigo witnesses in World War II, especially when he is taken as a prisoner of war. The novel demonstrates the gory nature of warfare in detail to show how war is a dangerous thing for the human mind. He makes a direct contrast of war and society revealing the absurdity of warfare in that war crimes go unnoticed because they are done in the name of political affairs.
“How empty is the world when you lose the one you love.”
One of the main themes in the narrative is true love and how it directly impacts the protagonist. Dorrigo shares true love with Amy. However, when he returns from war, he finds out that she is dead and hence settles with Ella. Although he loves Ella too, he still truly loves Amy and always feels the emptiness that her absence brings him. This sentiment is further accentuated when he finds out that Amy is not actually dead. Dorrigo continues to chase the fantasy of true love and cannot feel contented with the union he already has.
“In trying to escape the fatality of memory, he discovered with an immense sadness that pursuing the past inevitably only leads to greater loss.”
Dorrigo is an individual whose past still haunts him if it is not the trauma of war it is the lost love of his life. He suffers from post-trauma and seems to be unable to mentally walk away from the memories of warfare and violence. In the assertion, the narrator alludes to the pain of dwelling in the past or trying to relive the past especially in regard to lost love. Moreover, the statement also expresses the protagonist’s need to escape the past memories during the war. It comprehends the hardship that victims of past trauma go through in trying to forget.
