Earlier on in the book Borden associates death with an “Angel” (p.40) and life with a “sick animal” (p. 40). One can assume she is implying that death is not the enemy, rather life itself is especially during a time filled with suffering and sorrow. However, a dramatic shift on her outlook on life can be observed in the short story titled Blind where she now refers to death as the enemy. “It is we (nurses and surgeons) who are doing the fighting now, with their real enemies (death)” (p. 97). What do you think caused this dramatic shift between life as the enemy to death as the enemy? Was there a specific moment where she realized she no longer saw life as the enemy? Do you think it was unfair for her to view life as the enemy earlier in the book as a nurse trying to save peoples’ lives?
In the story The Priest and The Rabbi, a bed ridden soldier describes a moment in no man’s land between a dying soldier, a priest, and a rabbi. In this moment the priest is shot while holding up a crucifix to the dying soldier. The rabbi sees this and takes over for the priest so the last thing the soldier sees when he dies is the crucifix. Despite not being Catholic and crosses being a negative symbol to Jewish people, the rabbi still holds the cross for the dying soldier. Why would the rabbi do that? What might this imply about religion during wartime? Are religious ideals and traditions thrown out the window during wartime? How does this relate to the priest in A Farewell to Arms being disregarded and made fun of?
In the preface, Borden attributes her fragmented style of writing to the war as it causes great confusion. She is visibly seen embodying this idea in the fragment Blind as she says, “I was awake now, and I seemed to be breaking to pieces” (p. 103) after lying to the blind man about forgetting about him. Why is Borden impacted much more by the thought of lying to the blind man versus all of the death surrounding her? In other words, why is she broken by this act of lying/forgetting and not by the tens of thousands of soldiers who have died in her camp? Has she become so accustomed to death that it just does not affect her anymore?
17 thoughts on “Aidan’s Reading Questions for March 17”
By no means would I say a cross is a negative symbol to the Jewish people. It’s just not associated with Judaism. Similar to the Star of David not being a negative symbol for Christianity, just a symbol that isn’t Christian. I think the Rabbi grabs the crucifix because he is a human being and it was the right thing to do. The Rabbi, especially in a time of war, knowns the importance of the Catholic Last Rites, and took over to “save” that man. We see the repetition of many soldiers denouncing religion during the war, but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t people who held to their religious beliefs. I think some religious traditions cannot be properly honored during wartime, you can’t hold a proper Passover Seder or a Christmas Mass in the trenches. I think if you are religious you adapt your faith to the time and space that is allowed for your personal beliefs. I don’t see the connection between the Priest in A Farewell to Arms. Some people are Catholic, some people are Jewish, some people want to be prayed over when they are dying, some people don’t want that and some don’t believe in any higher power. Overall, I think this passage shows the importance of religion. These religious leaders are risking their life to be there for their people. Deciphering our own personal religious identity is something everyone goes through. During a time of war this feeling is certainly heightened, and as historians we get to observe the way religious identity acts as a lens through which we understand life, death and others.
In response to the last question: I think the reason that Borden is not as impacted by all the death that surrounds her is because of the routine and mechanization she’s been able to develop related to it. To cope with all the pain and death she sees on a daily basis, she has to detach herself from it and from the men themselves–the soldiers are often described as things that aren’t human (ants, mewing kittens, etc.) and I feel like this is a good representation of Borden trying to separate them from their humanity so that she doesn’t constantly have to be face to face with the horrors of the war. The incident with the blind man is different, though–she opens herself up to become more than just a machine; rather, she becomes a caretaker, taking on the role of a mother. In this moment of empathy and genuine human connection, her routine is disrupted, and she can no longer function.
1-Great Question! I think that the dramatic shift occurred when Borden states: “I thought. This is the second battlefield. The battle now is going on over the helpless bodies of these men. It is we who are doing the fighting now, with their real enemies. (97).” This is a moment when Mary Borden no longer saw life as the enemy. Mary was not being unfair earlier when she wrote about life being the enemy, she was being human. The suffering and death all around her made her sick and disillusioned, it must have been heartbreaking to watch all those young men die. I think this is her “second wind” moment when she recommits to nursing the wounded. The whole tone of “Blind” seems different than the previous stories. She mentions: “It is a scene in eternity, in some strange dream-hell where I am glad to be employed, where I belong, where I am happy. (101-102)” This shift to mentioning being “happy” so often seems to imply Mary has truly found purpose in her nursing, a calling.
2-The Rabbi is HONORING the faith of the dying man, which is a respectful and very spiritual way to behave. Religion and wartime is an interesting subject. I don’t know if you have ever heard the old saying “foxhole prayers” but this means in life and death situations many people turn to God for strength and courage. Two things often happen during wartime, religion is disgarded or embraced. This may seem extreme, but wartime is extreme and emotions run at opposite ends of the spectrum. I think that Hemingway’s text rejects the notion of God as a savior (hence, the priest as a comedic figure) while Borden’s work seems to embraced faith as a comfort to both the dying and those taking care of them. This juxtaposition is often the way people behave in situations of extreme duress. Kind of an all or nothing reaction to the horrors of war.
3-Mary’s “breaking to pieces” is her sense of responsibility to the men (103). She mentions feeling like waking up “with one’s head over the edge of a precipice” and explains “That was the precipice, that reality. (103)” Her compassion for the men has overwhelmed her. Mary has been going about her duties in the shed in a robotic state of detachment which made her an efficient nurse but now she’s tired and is seeing the reality of the suffering which renders her vulnerable to the death that is all around her.
By no means would I say a cross is a negative symbol to the Jewish people. It’s just not associated with Judaism. Similar to the Star of David not being a negative symbol for Christianity, just a symbol that isn’t Christian. I think the Rabbi grabs the crucifix because he is a human being and it was the right thing to do. The Rabbi, especially in a time of war, knowns the importance of the Catholic Last Rites, and took over to “save” that man. We see the repetition of many soldiers denouncing religion during the war, but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t people who held to their religious beliefs. I think some religious traditions cannot be properly honored during wartime, you can’t hold a proper Passover Seder or a Christmas Mass in the trenches. I think if you are religious you adapt your faith to the time and space that is allowed for your personal beliefs. I don’t see the connection between the Priest in A Farewell to Arms. Some people are Catholic, some people are Jewish, some people want to be prayed over when they are dying, some people don’t want that and some don’t believe in any higher power. Overall, I think this passage shows the importance of religion. These religious leaders are risking their life to be there for their people. Deciphering our own personal religious identity is something everyone goes through. During a time of war this feeling is certainly heightened, and as historians we get to observe the way religious identity acts as a lens through which we understand life, death and others.
In response to the last question: I think the reason that Borden is not as impacted by all the death that surrounds her is because of the routine and mechanization she’s been able to develop related to it. To cope with all the pain and death she sees on a daily basis, she has to detach herself from it and from the men themselves–the soldiers are often described as things that aren’t human (ants, mewing kittens, etc.) and I feel like this is a good representation of Borden trying to separate them from their humanity so that she doesn’t constantly have to be face to face with the horrors of the war. The incident with the blind man is different, though–she opens herself up to become more than just a machine; rather, she becomes a caretaker, taking on the role of a mother. In this moment of empathy and genuine human connection, her routine is disrupted, and she can no longer function.
1-Great Question! I think that the dramatic shift occurred when Borden states: “I thought. This is the second battlefield. The battle now is going on over the helpless bodies of these men. It is we who are doing the fighting now, with their real enemies. (97).” This is a moment when Mary Borden no longer saw life as the enemy. Mary was not being unfair earlier when she wrote about life being the enemy, she was being human. The suffering and death all around her made her sick and disillusioned, it must have been heartbreaking to watch all those young men die. I think this is her “second wind” moment when she recommits to nursing the wounded. The whole tone of “Blind” seems different than the previous stories. She mentions: “It is a scene in eternity, in some strange dream-hell where I am glad to be employed, where I belong, where I am happy. (101-102)” This shift to mentioning being “happy” so often seems to imply Mary has truly found purpose in her nursing, a calling.
2-The Rabbi is HONORING the faith of the dying man, which is a respectful and very spiritual way to behave. Religion and wartime is an interesting subject. I don’t know if you have ever heard the old saying “foxhole prayers” but this means in life and death situations many people turn to God for strength and courage. Two things often happen during wartime, religion is disgarded or embraced. This may seem extreme, but wartime is extreme and emotions run at opposite ends of the spectrum. I think that Hemingway’s text rejects the notion of God as a savior (hence, the priest as a comedic figure) while Borden’s work seems to embraced faith as a comfort to both the dying and those taking care of them. This juxtaposition is often the way people behave in situations of extreme duress. Kind of an all or nothing reaction to the horrors of war.
3-Mary’s “breaking to pieces” is her sense of responsibility to the men (103). She mentions feeling like waking up “with one’s head over the edge of a precipice” and explains “That was the precipice, that reality. (103)” Her compassion for the men has overwhelmed her. Mary has been going about her duties in the shed in a robotic state of detachment which made her an efficient nurse but now she’s tired and is seeing the reality of the suffering which renders her vulnerable to the death that is all around her.