Jo Cannon's Insignificant Gestures: Analysis
Insignificant Gestures
A wrong decision at a critical point in time is sometimes all it takes to change our lives and our personalities in an instant. Such a decision can have serious emotional consequences for the person subjected to it. These decisions are often left to be taken by the soldiers and doctors who work in the hot spots of the world, Iraq, several African countries and Afghanistan, just to mention a few. The clinical term for the condition, which many of these brave souls often return to their own countries with, is Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. As to what will trigger such a reaction we can never be certain, and sometimes the solution as to how to start over and find our way back is to be found in the most unlikely of places. Suffering from this condition and finding the 'cure' in an unlikely place, is the case for the narrator of Jo Cannon's short story Insignificant Gestures from 2007.
Her starter vi med en tragtindledning, der går fra det generelle til det konkrete i netop denne tekst. Derudover er temaet slået fast fra begyndelsen - fokus vil være på hvordan en forkert beslutning kan medføre psykiske lidelser PTSD, og hvordan løsningen kan findes steder, man ikke regnede med. Forfatter, titel og udgivelsesår nævnes, og temaet afsløres netop i starten for at give læseren lyst til at læse videre. Læseren vil sikkert gerne vide, hvor denne fortæller finder 'løsningen' på sin sygdom.
Told through a series of flashbacks from the narrators present time, we get an insight into the mind of a character who has suffered severe emotional trauma. This trauma is caused by two errors of judgement which he made when he was stationed in Africa as a volunteer doctor ten years ago. The narrator is now 38 years old, has moved back to Britain, and has changed his line of work to psychiatry. Even though he has fled from Africa and the place where the trauma happened, he is still suffering and he is unable to forgive himself for the wrong decisions he
A wrong decision at a critical point in time is sometimes all it takes to change our lives and our personalities in an instant. Such a decision can have serious emotional consequences for the person subjected to it. These decisions are often left to be taken by the soldiers and doctors who work in the hot spots of the world, Iraq, several African countries and Afghanistan, just to mention a few. The clinical term for the condition, which many of these brave souls often return to their own countries with, is Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. As to what will trigger such a reaction we can never be certain, and sometimes the solution as to how to start over and find our way back is to be found in the most unlikely of places. Suffering from this condition and finding the 'cure' in an unlikely place, is the case for the narrator of Jo Cannon's short story Insignificant Gestures from 2007.
Her starter vi med en tragtindledning, der går fra det generelle til det konkrete i netop denne tekst. Derudover er temaet slået fast fra begyndelsen - fokus vil være på hvordan en forkert beslutning kan medføre psykiske lidelser PTSD, og hvordan løsningen kan findes steder, man ikke regnede med. Forfatter, titel og udgivelsesår nævnes, og temaet afsløres netop i starten for at give læseren lyst til at læse videre. Læseren vil sikkert gerne vide, hvor denne fortæller finder 'løsningen' på sin sygdom.
Told through a series of flashbacks from the narrators present time, we get an insight into the mind of a character who has suffered severe emotional trauma. This trauma is caused by two errors of judgement which he made when he was stationed in Africa as a volunteer doctor ten years ago. The narrator is now 38 years old, has moved back to Britain, and has changed his line of work to psychiatry. Even though he has fled from Africa and the place where the trauma happened, he is still suffering and he is unable to forgive himself for the wrong decisions he