In literature water can take on a multitude of meanings, most often that of cleansing and renewal, but water plays an interesting role in Omar El Akkad’s American War. “In an instant the brown water swallowed her. Instinctively she closed her eyes and in the darkness felt the warmth of it in her hair and on her face. For a moment she believed she was drowning. A panic reflex unlike anything she’d ever felt before took hold of her muscles” (129). The river near Camp Patience is full of brown sludge, a result of devastating effects of climate change in the South. The map at the beginning of the book reveals further climate change damage with water engulfing the majority of Florida. When Sarat entered this murky water, the boys put her up to a dare and are completely surprised by her success; though when she emerges her mother refuses to let her in the house, chastising to her: “You did this to yourself, you go get yourself cleaned up. Nobody fixing your messes form here on in but you” (130). At this point in the novel, she is still adapting to life in Camp Patience and hasn’t been introduced to Gaines yet who later weaponizes her. Perhaps Sarat’s association with the water and it’s gripping power of fear and death is a precursor to Gaines’ dangerous involvement in her life. Sarat is still trying to find confidence as a young child, and the water remains a symbol of filth and isolation from her community. She develops an overwhelming negative association with the water until years later when we discover that Sarat threw Dana’s ashes into the water. “After she died, instead of burying her in the ground, I buried her in the river...I wanted her to never stop moving” (375). Sarat reveals this to Benjamin and promises to bury him in the water when he dies. They share an intimate embrace and he understands the river as a complex monster when he observes Sarat entering the water. It appears to heal her and he begins to realize “the build of the world was just like this: wile, unvaccinated, malicious” (370). These monstrous adjectives compared to the healing powers of throwing Dana’s ashes in the river reveal the water’s complex contrasts and meanings for both characters. In the Prologue, Benjamin reflects on this memory, remembering Sarat emerge from the water as “a hulking bronzed body, her back lined with ashen scars, each one a testimony to the torture she was made to endure, the secret crimes committed against her” (6).
The water may be just as complex as the notion of war. As noted in one of the historical documents titled Reasonably Satisfactory and Encouraging to All: An Oral History of the Reunification Talks: “You fight the war with guns, you fight the peace with stories”, which is perhaps why Benjamin destroys Sarat’s stories in the end years later (349). Benjamin is also afflicted and dying of cancer, but by destroying her stories and removing Sarat from the narrative, he frees himself of pain that the water has taken from him and he is unburdened and no longer afraid (6).
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AuthorCreative writer + professional & technical writer. TWD enthusiast. Archives
April 2021
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