The
short story «The Raft» is narrated by the 13-year-old boy that is told the
story of his grandfather. The grandfather is described as thoroughly as the
grandson, but we see things through the eyes of the grandson. The son is
retelling the story of his grandfather, by describing him telling it to himself
in present, even though he is talking about something that happened in the
past. The fact that the story is in present time, gives the reader a better
impression of how it actually felt like being told that your grandfather killed
a bunch of helpless Japanese.
"Don't
smile," he says. "Just because I'm smiling, don't assume I couldn't
kill you right now. Know that about a man." This is really the only thing I find ironic in the story. Of course his
grandpa wouldn’t kill him, and the grandpa knows too.
In
my opinion there is a distinct climax in the story when the grandfather admits
he blew up the boat with naked Japanese. We now from the start of the story
that he is telling a story from WWII, and we expect something violent and
drastic, and our questions are answered by this revelation.
The
topic is quite obviously war. Another interpretation could be that the author
think we live in “peace” today, but we are ignorant to the fact that our
ancestors fought a horrific war to get us here.
Yes that is certainly a topic as well. And I agree with you about the climax. Quite a schocking revelation in the end there.
SvarSlettI agree with your view regarding the use of present time. The topic is as you say war, I would also say it could be "power of uniforms":
SvarSlett“Listen, my job. Just because men like me made the world safe for men like your father to be cowards doesn’t mean you won’t ever blow up any civilians. Because you will. I do it once a week at the bank.”
Thanks for sharing:)
Good work with the post. You have made some good thoughts about the topic. Nice! Do you think it is ok to be ironic (like the grandfather was once) when he is talking about such a serious topic?
SvarSlettI appreciate you pointing out the "power of uniforms". It is something I immediately related to this text but struggled to put it into words. The fact that some people make decisions solely because it is their duty to do so. An ignorance towards consequentialism that I reckon to be disgusting.
SvarSlettHello Jørgen!
SvarSlettNot sure to what degree the grandfather was intentionally ironic, I guess my interpretation was more directed to the authors use of irony.