Reading this a second time around was an interesting experience. I didn’t have the “who the heck is speaking now?” confusion that I did the first time. I think that made it easier for me to focus on the story (stories) itself. I still had to re-read the parts about Elizabeth and the fire – is it truly possible that she was untouched by the flames or is it that Matt could only see her in the ‘perfect angel status’ to which she had been elevated? I believe the latter; to Matt, Elizabeth represented the only piece of goodness that he could find in the whole War (303). To loose that connection with Elizabeth would allow the horror of France to be foremost in his mind, and at that time, he was not ready to let that happen. Only in going to France and facing his demons was he able to come to a place of strange healing, oddly enough admitting that he remembered Elizabeth as untouched by flames (272), yet still holding on to the impossible prospect of her “lying in a secret room of the hospital where nuns and doctors looked in on her, poured nourishment down her throat, [speaking] to her in the hope that she might hear and awake. . . . He smiled, allowing himself to believe that it might be true” (272-3).
I suppose it could be said that Matt Pearson was delusional; I think that is too easy of an answer. No one in Broken Ground escaped the War with easy answers and I think Hodgins did an excellent job of showing us that with his kaleidoscope of characters.
3 comments:
I love your analgy of the "kleidoscope of characters"! Great Job Anne!!!
When you question the imagery of the "angel in the fire" by Matt, perhaps the author is simply trying to illustrate the changing memories of one who has experienced this burning event and is trying to recreate is from his memory of what had happened and how he believed it to have happened.
thanks aldea :-)
it sure brings up questions about how the memory part of the brain works. Do we have true memories or are they "what and how" we want to remember?
interesting stuff, right?
I know this comment is a little late, but i agree with your statement that nobody came away from the war with easy answers - that is a very prominent theme in this novel - good point!
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