Isi's demise (there is no resolution for her) is part of what transforms Nina at the end of the story. Whereas before she believed that violence would protect them, after Isi succumbs to alcohol Nina sees that it's not just militar forces that they should fear but weapons that come in other forms such as alcohol and other drugs; she finds out ultimately that the problem is far more insidious than she previously believed.
Ultimately however, the conclusion of this story is still weak. It was not when I believed that an outside company was hired to relocate the people by force. Now that that isn't true, I'm somewhat uncertain about the effective way to change Nina's mind. Afterall, no matter how powerful the military they couldn't beat the guerrilla fighters in Vietnam so what's to say she couldn't have won her battle? Why should she go write in papers and talk to people? Why is this so much more effective? In the end, she is portrayed as simply an evil terrorist and an excuse to bring in more forces but I don't want to make it seem like she was the reason for the relocation when she wasn't. It's clear in the story that relocation is being considered from the beginning. But what is it that changes Nina? What is her epiphany? Surely, seeing people being herded like cattle would make her even more angry and violent...
Progress on 1st Draft of Smoke Rising
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4,151 / 80,000 (5.2%) |
About Me
- Yin Yang
- Answers to Random Questions from the Past: “If you were a cannibal, what would you wear to dinner?” Um, what is Bush wearing today? While most people do not literally eat their fellow humans, the "esteemed" (and not steamed) US president has obtained both money and power through the deaths of others, soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq. The wealth of his nation has historically come at the expense of others' life and liberty. So when he sits down to dinner, the food he eats comes out of a bloody present and a bloody past. "You've written a hit musical! How will you avoid having fame go to your head?" I'll walk upside down so that my blood will fill in any empty spaces and prevent fame from seeping in. Or I would just refuse to go to Fame in the first place.
2 comments:
I say Nina shouldn't go write in papers and that she can talk to people just the same while she is doing her little terrorist acts.......well, okay, maybe not "just" the same as she would have to lay low etc... but I can really envision Nina trying to unify her people against things like alcohol and I can even imagine her trying to recruit people to fight the military.
So the last we see of Isi is her drinking like crazy? Hmmm, if this is so, I'm not sure the reader would find this satisfactory, though I suppose it could work if the final Isi scenes were powerful enough and clearly put in the readers mind that, this is it, Isi has met her demise.
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