Scott Anderson's Triage
Triage Study Prompt
1. Survivor guilt, trauma and acknowledging culpability all add to peoples suffering in Triage. Discuss.
These three themes play am important role in Mark's life after he returns from Kurdistan, especially in regards to the death of his best friend, which he denies for most of the novel. Suffering severely from post-traumatic stress disorder and the physical injuries he sustained from a bomb explosion, Mark has become a shadow of the man he once was, which in turn causes a negative effect on Elena, his partner.
Trauma plays a limited part in Elena's story, after finding out that her beloved grandfather is a war criminal, responsible for curing other war criminals of their culpability for the murders they committed while serving their country during the Spanish civil war. The discovery of her grandfathers actions drives them apart, and this element of trauma inspires a hate within Elena for her grandfather, or at least for his actions.
Acknowledging the culpability of his actions is not something that Joaquin morales is accustomed to, as is shown throughout the novel in the way he speaks about the psychiatric hospital he operated during the Spanish civil war. Joaquin sees his actions as something to be proud of, and doesn't share his granddaughters view on the morality of his actions. Trauma and survivor guilt however, are things that Joaquin carries throughout his entire life. From a young age, he has carried the pain of being the only survivor in his family after fleeing their home and leaving them to die during a war that raged in his home country as a child, adding the element of survivor guilt to his story. Trauma also plays a critical role in Joaquin's life, as the trauma of losing his wife and only son, added to the trauma of losing his family at a young age, helped define the person he became in the time the novel was set. Ahmet Talzani is also not particularly effected by his actions; he doesn't feel he is responsible for
1. Survivor guilt, trauma and acknowledging culpability all add to peoples suffering in Triage. Discuss.
These three themes play am important role in Mark's life after he returns from Kurdistan, especially in regards to the death of his best friend, which he denies for most of the novel. Suffering severely from post-traumatic stress disorder and the physical injuries he sustained from a bomb explosion, Mark has become a shadow of the man he once was, which in turn causes a negative effect on Elena, his partner.
Trauma plays a limited part in Elena's story, after finding out that her beloved grandfather is a war criminal, responsible for curing other war criminals of their culpability for the murders they committed while serving their country during the Spanish civil war. The discovery of her grandfathers actions drives them apart, and this element of trauma inspires a hate within Elena for her grandfather, or at least for his actions.
Acknowledging the culpability of his actions is not something that Joaquin morales is accustomed to, as is shown throughout the novel in the way he speaks about the psychiatric hospital he operated during the Spanish civil war. Joaquin sees his actions as something to be proud of, and doesn't share his granddaughters view on the morality of his actions. Trauma and survivor guilt however, are things that Joaquin carries throughout his entire life. From a young age, he has carried the pain of being the only survivor in his family after fleeing their home and leaving them to die during a war that raged in his home country as a child, adding the element of survivor guilt to his story. Trauma also plays a critical role in Joaquin's life, as the trauma of losing his wife and only son, added to the trauma of losing his family at a young age, helped define the person he became in the time the novel was set. Ahmet Talzani is also not particularly effected by his actions; he doesn't feel he is responsible for