“Insignificant Gestures”

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“Insignificant Gestures” -by John Cannon, Short-story, 2007 Soldiers, doctors and first-aiders surrounded by death, destructions and wars are forced to make fast decisions in stressed situations. If the taken decision is wrong, it can cost more than dead bodies: It can also cost psychological damage on the decision-maker. The decision-maker will feel guilt, have trouble by sleeping and eating plus have flashbacks from the accident. The phenomenon is called Post Traumatic Stressed Syndrome (PTDS) and is a very controversial topic; especially the treatment of PTDS is much discussed. The classic treatment of PTDS is psychiatry. A short-story showing both the patient’s and the psychiatrist’s point of view is Jo Cannon’s “Insignificant Gestures” which is about a psychiatrist suffering from PTDS. The narrator from the short-story “Insignificant Gestures” is a non-omniscient first person narrator, who tells his story through flashbacks. The flashbacks take us back to his life 10 years ago. Back then he was 28 years old and stationed as a volunteer doctor in Africa. From the text’s very beginning, you can’t help noticing the narrator is traumatized by some accidents from his time back in Africa: “I never wanted to smell blood again (. . . . ) Or any other reek of human suffering. I couldn’t bear to witness another death.”(line 1-3). Clear symptoms confirming this, is his ability of avoiding things reminding him of Africa. For instance he gave up drawing – a thing he used to be fond of:, “That’s why I don’t draw any more – I don’t like the places my thoughts go when set free”(line 133-134).” The thoughts he gets when he draws concerns his servant back in Africa, the dead Celia. He used spending evenings by drawing together with Celia, whose life he could have saved if it wasn’t for his naivety and thirst of revenge. Drawing was the only thing they did when they
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