Tuesday, May 1, 2012

"The Ghost Soldiers"

"Jorgenson was no Rat Kiley. He was green and incompetent and scared. So when I got shot the second time, in the butt, along the Song Tra Bong, it took the son of a bitch almost ten minutes to work up the nerve to crawl over to me. By then I was gone with pain. Late I found out I'd almost died of shock."
I like this story a lot, it was evidence that O'Brien and Jorgenson had more in common than the writer would like to believe. Jorgenson said he tried to go over and treat O'Brien's wounds but he was frozen, and just couldn't bring himself to do it. The same way O'Brien knew to tell Jorgenson to treat for shock when he finally go to him, but he was simply unable to. After their experience and the payback that would ensue, to two shared a bit of a bond, a new understanding and appreciation for one another. I think this is typical of most relationships although not many friendships are started this way, it is possible to find some common ground with anyone, even someone who almost cost you your life.

Why did O'Brien feel betrayed when nobody except for Azar wanted to help him get his revenge against Jorgenson?

What does O'Brien mean when he says "you dream it as you tell it.." refering to his writing in "The Lives of the Dead."?

1 comment:

  1. The answer to the first interpretive question could be maybe Azar experienced the same thing in the past and wanted to, somehow, get his revenge through O'Brien by helping him get his revenge from Jorgenson.

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