You can help us out by revising, improving and updatingĪfter you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. Maybe a similar fate is in his own future. Although the narrator decides to respect Brugnon's decision, he arrives at acceptance by abnegating his own ability to make that same decision. His suicide is a betrayal to his companions as well as himself. They're all in the same boat, but he chose to quit. We accepted it… Who were we to judge?” Tardiīrugnon's note indicates a sense of obligation to his fellow soldiers. He left a note to say he couldn’t take it any more and asked us to count him out. He’d hanged himself in the stairwell of his building, on rue des Gâtines. 'We found out that Brugnon hadn’t come back from leave. Just witnessing these strategies reminds him why the war is happening. As an American, the narrator is even more disturbed by this approach when he considers how he's seen Austrians and Germans discipline their soldiers. For instance, the Italian army readily embraces corporal punishment. This excerpt sheds light on the diversity of approach to military discipline. 'The Italians also sent men to the firing squad 'to set an example.' I couldn't make up my mind which was more appalling: the mining war or the mountain war.' Tardi He can recognize the perils, but he looks at his fellow soldiers and sees that they don't know yet, but they're also destined to die. From this point onward, he has accepted his likely fate. As he enters the war, he feels like he's losing himself. The narrator knows that most of the men around him will die. I saw myself as a corpse, swept into this stream of fools against my will along with thousands, millions of other corpses, and I didn’t like it one little bit.' Tardi 'Me, I had imagination in spades, though. Even as one of the wounded, Collins must endure more torture and danger. The ride symbolizes the futility of escape from this war. The narrator has to endure watching his companion suffer the entire time, wishing that his friend would pass out.

He was still alive, writhing on his hook.' TardiĬollins is lucky to survive the ambulance ride.

'In the ambulance, the bumps were so awful and the pain so intense that it would have been a relief to pass out. Written by people who wish to remain anonymous We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

Goddamn This War! by Jacques Tardi