The Victim: Reaction

Tuesday 

 March 27, 2012

Dear Diary, 

       Francis Duggan's "The Victim" tells the story of a grayed Jewish man who has survived the Holocaust. The old man doesn't want to hear one word uttered about the Holocaust. He shows people the tattoo of numbers on his arm, but he says nothing. The tattoo was supposed to say it all. I though of the times where I was eager to know the reason "why" of a situation, but a symbol was supposed to say it all. I recall not being able to comprehend the "symbol" and thus never knowing reasons "why". Duggan, in this poem, wishes to know the sufferings of this old man. He knows that a "Holocaust" occurred, but he had no idea of what people suffered through. The only connection Duggan had to that time was, I believe, was either his father or grandfather. 

Ink Number Tattoo

      The grayed Jewish man, however, wouldn't share his memories. Or rather he wasn't ready to share his memories. He was stuck in the mind set of trying to forget rather than growing from it. The old man needed time. He needed time to settle his memories and find solace in the past.

       "But i could picture living soul whose thoughts were with the dead."

    The grayed Jewish man might have felt guilty that he survived while others did not. He seems to dwell on those that died, which is part of the reason why he saw blocking out these memories as an easier route that accepting the reality.

        The author repeats the first stanza twice in the poem. Once in the beginning and another time in the end. Aside from added emphasis, I'd like to believe that at the end the Jewish man decides to share with the unknowing generation his painful memories, that they too might know.

   I enjoyed the poem, I felt that I could relate to Francis Duggan's feeling of wanting to understand but not being allowed to ask.

                

          Love,

              Aaleah *.*