Thursday, February 22, 2007
Iranian Prisoners
I thought it was very interesting how the Iraqi prison was described. Not much description was given about both the prison and the inmates and I was struck by the lack of emotion. It didn't really seem as if Tony Horwitz saw these people as they were. They are in a country were people are known to be treated in humanely as it said the prisoners were "writhing from gruesome wounds", but I would think that this scene would stir emotion more than it appeared to. For instance, a 22 year old man scribbled a note asking Tony Horwitz to tell his brother he is still alive. It seems as if he brushed off this prison scene too quickly. Maybe he is excluding emotion so we as the reader can interpret it ourselves, but that would contradict his interjections and thoughts throughout the book. I think the lack of physical and emotional description in this scene was interesting.MW
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2 comments:
MW, I agree with you and I would love to read deeper into the prison scene and look into the emotional descriptions. But maybe Horwitz did this for a distinct purpose. Although I have never been in an Iraqi prison, I can image there might not be a lot of emotion to describe. Most of the men in the prison have probably been in there for a great deal of time so all their emotions have probably been drained out of them. It would be very hard to keep emotions when you've been locked in a prison for many years. So I believed Horwitz may have left out the emotions to show what it was like for him to experience it. -ak
MW,
I will not agree with you on the fact that you believe Horowitz seems to be coming across unemotional in this particular time of the story. Put yourself in his situation a westerner born and raised, in a land where inhumanity rules, and justice is not served correctly. Horowitz is so shocked during this time in the jail that he does not even know how to react. He cannot comprehend every thing going on around him, and it is comes as a blur to him. This particular event is therefore not a lack of emotion but rather a lack of comprehension and complete understanding and realization of the harsh conditions that people of these countries endure that he cannot even imagine.
TH
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