Donald Barthelme's The Game

As a first person narration of a captain and a first lieutenant's predicament in an underground military base, Donald Barthelme’s “The Game” is told from the point of view of the first lieutenant. Readers can assume only so much about the current situation due to the narrator’s mental deterioration and ineptitude in describing his own situation. Taking on the persona of a mentally deteriorated man on the verge of insanity, Barthelme crafts a piece that leaves his readers at awe. By withholding information that may clear up a mystery, Barthelme forces readers into the shoes of soldiers and emphasizes the horrors of being a soldier in underground bases. The use of first person limits the reader’s knowledge of Shotwell’s motivations. Both Shotwell and the narrator were ordered to shoot each other if the person “behaves strangely.” Not knowing when bloodshed may occur, the narrator is forced to be on guard at every moment. He watches Shotwell’s every movement and rests his hand atop his attaché case, which conceals his additional gun. By hiding Shotwell’s motivations, Barthelme emphasizes the dangers of war not only on the battlefield but also in …show more content…
He has been at the underground base for “one hundred thirty-three days owing to an oversight.” “Perhaps the plan is for us to stay here permanently,” he wonders. Whatever the case, this military oversight illustrates the unfortunate reality of living isolated in an underground base. Soldiers are to remain until they fulfilled their roles in a war that may never end. If wars last multiple years, the soldiers are forced to live isolated for multiple years. Not knowing when their ordeal may end and living in prolonged isolation, soldiers such as the narrator and Shotwell are slowly becoming insane. By relating the experiences of soldiers, Barthelme shows that the horrors of war include not only physical destruction, but also mental