RARA-AVIS: A Tax in Blood

From: Mark Sullivan ( DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net)
Date: 19 Dec 2001


A Tax in Blood, by Benjamin Schutz, opens with a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I've already mentioned that in another post, though.

I want to mention what happens next. A bomb explodes shortly after Leo, Arnie and Samantha leave, killing, among others, a child and his mother they had just met, there to see his uncle's name. Needless to say, this deeply affects the characters, especially Arnie, who was at the Wall to pay homage to his fallen comrades.

It occurred to me that terrorism is used here as a modern, magnified version of the Flitcraft story. Instead of a beam falling, it is a random bombing. Everyone is forced to examine his or her life. By the end, though, everyone is already slipping back into their comfortable patterns, when bombs stop blowing up.

Mark

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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 19 Dec 2001 EST