Flash fiction is a branch of fiction that has very few words, thus making the author more concise with his/her words and meaning. Every word is essential to the story, and the story's point must hit hard in order to allow the reader to truly appreciate the story. This type of fiction is hard to write because every little detail counts, and the story still must present a plot even though the number of words are limited.
Currey's use of flash fiction in Fatal Light really benefits the ideas in the novel. Each chapter tells a different story, but they all intertwine. Each of the chapters are very short, which allows Currey to get to the point of the story quickly, which often ends up very abruptly, if not harshly. In chapter 10 of the section entitled "Saigon," the use of language and dialogue between the Vietnamese prostitute and G.I. is crude and harsh, but somehow shows the reality of what life was for a solider in Vietnam during the war.
In the section entitled "Malaria," chapter 4 uses descriptive words to depict 'malaria dreams' (94). These dreams are basically dreams of him committing suicide and visions of ghosts. At the end of this chapter, which is about a half page, he repeats the words, 'waiting for you, waiting for you" (94). This is important because in a story as short as this, every word counts and Currey wrote the phrase twice to show it's importance.
The chapters in which he and other soliders are injured in battle really benefit from the flash fiction style because the words are short and choppy, almost like gunshots and other sounds of battle.
The idea of the woman back home, in this story Mary, also benefits from flash fiction because it is as if Currey is writing short updates on his life. In chapter 8 of "In Country", the letter to Mary is accompanied by a photograph that is described as, "...lack of expression. Forgive the look of fatigue and dull hatred you see in my eyes." (46). This shows the loss of innocence of the soliders that were in country and how the war effected them so negatively. Also, as each passing chapter of letters to Mary pass, the things included in the letters become stranger and stranger. This represents how the war pushed the soliders to go crazy and not speak like they normally would.
In chapter 1 of the section "Home", there is a letter to the solider from his mother. This letter represents how different the lives of the soliders are from the lives of those at home in the US. The mother tells her son the "bad news" of how their neighbor's cat was killed, but for the solider, "bad news" would be killing people in order to stay alive.
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Flash fiction is a branch of fiction that has very few words, thus making the author more concise with his/her words and meaning. Every word is essential to the story, and the story's point must hit hard in order to allow the reader to truly appreciate the story. This type of fiction is difficult to write because every little detail counts, and the story still must present a plot even though the number of words are limited.
ReplyDeleteEach chapter tells a different story, but they all intertwine. Each of the chapters are very short, which allows Currey to get to the point of the story quickly, which often ends up very abruptly, if not harshly. This benefits the idea that war is brutal. In chapter 10 of the section entitled "Saigon", the use of language and dialogue between a Vietnamese prostitute and a G.I. is crude and harsh, but it represents the reality of what life was for a soldier in Vietnam during the war.
The notion that home is a memory, not a reality for soldiers after the war, is also a prevalent idea in the novel. This idea depicts Currey’s suffering of PTSD. The novel jumps from past to present, which shows the cause and effects of his PTSD. His PTSD makes his home seem like a distant memory, and this is depicted when Richard states “Once upon a time I had been in love with Mary Meade” (167). Mary Meade symbolizes his past life and how he used to be, but the war changed his life, and he will never be the same.
The idea of dying in the war is depicted in the section entitled "Malaria". This chapter uses descriptive words to depict 'malaria dreams' (94). These dreams are basically dreams of him committing suicide and visions of ghosts. At the end of this chapter, which is about a half page, he repeats the words, 'waiting for you, waiting for you" (94). This is important because in a story as short as this, every word counts and Currey wrote the phrase twice to show its importance. The chapters in which he and other soldiers are injured in battle really benefit from the flash fiction style because the words are short and choppy, almost like gunshots and other sounds of battle.
The idea of the woman back home, in this story Mary, also benefits from flash fiction because it is as if Currey is writing short updates on his life. In chapter 8 of "In Country", the letter to Mary is accompanied by a photograph that is described as, "...lack of expression. Forgive the look of fatigue and dull hatred you see in my eyes." (46). This shows the loss of innocence of the soldiers that were in country and how the war effected them so negatively. Also, as each passing chapter of letters to Mary pass, the things included in the letters become stranger and stranger. This represents how the war pushed the soldiers to go crazy and not speak like they normally would.
In chapter 1 of the section "Home", there is a letter to the solider from his mother. This letter represents how different the lives of the soldiers are from the lives of those at home in the US. The mother tells her son the "bad news" of how their neighbor's cat was killed, but for the solider, but this pales in comparison to what a soldier believes is "bad news”, which is killing in order to stay alive.