Empathy And Remorse In The Man He Killed By Thomas Hardy
864 Words4 Pages
Death as a source of empathy and remorse can be viewed in the thoughts of an unidentified character from the poem “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy. Since the protagonist is unnamed, Toby will be his name. Toby felt guilty and was debating in his mind trying to justify himself for killing an opponent when he was at war. He thought if he met the man he killed under normal circumstances, they would have shared drinks in an inn or a bar. He shows utter remorse and guilt. Toby recalled the circumstances surrounding the way he killed the man and tries to convince himself he had to. He remembered the man fired his gun at the same time with him but it was instead the man who yielded to his bullet. In his mind, he tried to justify his act by referring…show more content… "Yes; quaint and curious war is! You shoot a fellow down You'd treat if met where any bar is, Or help to half-a-crown." (Hardy, Thomas. 2008, p913-814). From this excerpt on Toby’s thoughts, it is clear to see the empathy and remorse he felt towards killing the opponent soldier. Toby felt more empathy and remorse the more he thought about the man he killed. This was harder on him when he realized the man was a human like him probably poor and jobless. He kept on trying to paint a picture of the man as a foe and enemy but he kept seeing the opposite. Consequently, Toby is traumatized and can’t get his mind off trying to justify himself for killing the man. He understands and shares the feelings of the man though he didn’t know him…show more content… (The Last Word)” Cooper writes “When The Man He Killed becomes The Many He Killed, and battles become turkey shoots, soldiers may have a harder time summoning the it-could-have-been-me scenarios of fate that have traditionally provided a warrior's haunted but honorable bottom-line consolation. An article I clipped from the Iraqi war--"Fighter Pilots Choose Not to Talk of Killing"--interviewed Navy pilots returned from dropping a load of satellite-guided bombs. "We know we're killing people," one of the pilots said. "We don't talk about it, don't worry about it." As for whether his bombs have killed civilians, he remarked, "I'd rather not know about it." Does that sound like someone who's not worrying? "My job is to hit whatever target I've been assigned to hit," added the pilot's squadron leader. "I don't think about it as human life. I aim at hard things, and if there are people around," (Cooper, R. R, 2003, p1). This shows the disadvantages of war including bloodshed and the killing of both innocent civilians. Even though at the time the soldiers fight to kill each other, they will still have to deal with their consciences just like Toby. In conclusion, Empathy and remorse were a source of the aftermath of death in Toby’s case. He had to kill the man to be able to survive but the guilt and remorse hit him after the act when the war was