A Brief Encounter With The Enemy Analysis

Conflicts of Stress “A Brief Encounter with The Enemy,” by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh is a short story about a young man named Luke and his experience in the United States Army. The story begins with Luke describing how he felt getting to “the hill,” through a path that terrified him. While traveling through the path, Luke starts to think about his crush Becky, who takes an interest in him right before deploying. She gives him her email to keep her up to date on his adventures during deployment. Although, adventure is the total opposite of what Luke would experience during deployment. Luke and the platoon built a bridge to the hill; the platoon takes their time to build the bridge for fear of who or what is on the other side of the hill, (enemies). …show more content…
Luke is struck with boredom for most of his deployment, causing him to believe the army didn’t do a thing for him and he would just go live his old boring life back at home. However, on the last day, Luke goes to the top of the hill by himself and thinks he sees an enemy. Luke decides to watch him through the scope of the gun, but as Luke becomes indecisive, he shoots and kills an unarmed man who is accompanied by his son. He wants to help the child move the unarmed man, but instead, shoots the child too, then goes down the hill and flies back home from his deployment as if nothing ever happened. When a person allows the pressure of satisfying others, boredom, and unpleasant memories to affect their decision-making, it can lead a person to disconnect from the reality of life. Also leads to consequences of rash decisions at crucial times, making this the central idea of “A Brief Encounter with The …show more content…
Through the use of first-person narration, the reader is allowed to stick with Luke and only Luke. The story lets the reader get to know his thoughts thought the whole story. The use of “I” and “me,” on every page of the short story allows the reader to connect and understand Luke’s thought such as, when he says, “I had the thought that I would run down the hill and help the boy. I would help the boy and then I would send an e-mail to Becky telling her what I had done” (1207). None of these words would be possible had the author decide to use a dramatic or completely omniscient narration. The use of a dramatic narration would have left the reader blind and very confused throughout the story, now allowing the reader to know Luke’s thoughts. An omniscient narration, on the other hand, would only distance the reader from Luke and cause the reader to be confused. The use of first person narration is a perfect match for this story; allowing the reader to understand Luke’s thoughts that lead to his actions of killing the unarmed man and his