The "fat man" is meant to offer the ultimate justification in sending boys and soldiers off to war. His rationale in how parents must deal with their children going off to fight lies in the idea that the "love of country" must override all else. In this light, parents and loved ones must take solace in the fact that "the ultimate sacrifice" is a revered one, a rationale that precludes all suffering, all inquiries, and all questioning. His role is to support that of the state, to offer the government's line of argumentation in attempting to answer how parents can willingly stand by and send their children off to die in a war that lies outside of the control of the body politic. While he eloquently offers a rationale, it is undercut by the woman's question that sends him into an uncontrollable terrain of sobbing and sadness. In the end, his purpose is to prove that while many can seek to justify war, few, if any, can really substantiate the breaking of a parent's heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment