“The Madagascar Plum” by Nguyen thi Minh Ngoc is about an officer of the Saigon army at a café, where he is recounting a story to explain his PTDS. Through reading the story, it becomes clear that the narrator, the army officer, is unreliable.
The first reason that the narrator is unreliable is his dependency on alcohol and the way in which it convolutes his judgments. Alcohol consumption is a major part of PTSD and a way that many soldiers try to overcome the overwhelming feelings of leaving the war behind. In this instance alcohol clouts the mind of the army officer. “The longer I remained inside [eating and drinking], the more I lapsed into a stupor and the foggier I became” (6). This shows that while under the influence, the officer’s perception of reality is distorted.
The second reason that the narrator is unreliable is his irrational decisions, particularly with the killing of the small child and how his obsessions lead to paranoia by the entire troop. By thinking that the girl is like a ghost and that she disappears every night and takes food, the officer is creating this figment to believe in rather than trying to figure out where the child is going and why they are taking the food. While following the small child is a way to answer these questions, the quest to find the answers has become more of a game, shown when the officer offers to follow her even after a night of drinking. Further irrational thinking is shown when the small child is being killed. It is only the day after Nam and Phong had disappeared and the officer blows up the child; not thinking to follow the child again that night in hopes of finding their fellow soldiers.
“We are ghostly group of soldiers on our way back”(9). This quote exemplifies the effects of PTSD, but the images created when the officer is telling the rest of the story make the reader question his reliability as a narrator.
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“The Madagascar Plum” by Nguyen thi Minh Ngoc is about an officer of the Saigon army at a café, where he is recounting a story to explain his PTDS. Through reading the story, it becomes clear that the narrator, the army officer, is unreliable.
ReplyDeleteThe first reason that the narrator is unreliable is his dependency on alcohol and the way in which it convolutes his judgments. Alcohol consumption is a major part of PTSD and a way that many soldiers try to overcome the overwhelming feelings of leaving the war behind. In this instance alcohol clouts the mind of the army officer. “The longer I remained inside [eating and drinking], the more I lapsed into a stupor and the foggier I became” (6). This shows that while under the influence, the officer’s perception of reality is distorted.
The second reason that the narrator is unreliable is his irrational decisions, particularly with the killing of the small child and how his obsessions lead to paranoia by the entire troop. By thinking that the girl is like a ghost and that she disappears every night and takes food, the officer is creating this figment to believe in rather than trying to figure out where the child is going and why she is taking the food. While following the small child is a way to answer these questions, the quest to find the answers has become more of a game, shown when the officer offers to follow her even after a night of drinking. Further irrational thinking is shown when the small child is being killed. It is only the day after Nam and Phong had disappeared and the officer blows up the child; not thinking to follow the child again that night in hopes of finding their fellow soldiers.
“We are ghostly group of soldiers on our way back”(9). This quote exemplifies the effects of PTSD, but the images created when the officer is telling the rest of the story make the reader question his reliability as a narrator.
Even though the narrator makes himself look bad as a commanding officer, it is as though he is using these events and his alcoholism to justify his future actions, making him an unreliable narrator. He uses the alcohol and his stories to cover for his bum leg; they give him a reason to be the way he is. He is covering his shame from his bum leg with alcohol.