Why the fuck did I wear my USNA class ring? My career prospects ruined on the first day onboard CG-61, the USS Monterey. While I was reading Brian Turner’s Phantom Noise, the commanding officer entered through the wardroom’s hatch. He seemed civil at first, almost pleasant. As pleasant as a salty sailor with 20 years at sea could be, that is. While he was examining his new junior officer, me, his eyes locked onto the ring’s sapphire. Immediately vivid, his eyes turned to daggers that aimed straight for my eye. He snarked, “Oh, you’re another one of those. Your ring doesn’t mean shit Ensign Su—n-g, is it Song?” Blood coursing through my veins, I respond, “Excuse me sir?!” Completely ignored my response and assuming that I was a pretentious
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Through vivid imagery, Turner connects the audience to its narrator. The narrator wakes up from a nightmare containing flashbacks from his time in Iraq. Restless, he walks out to the backyard. Turner uses a powerful image of “Parachute flares drift in burn time of dream, their canopies deployed in the sky above our bed,” (Turner 23) to depict the narrator’s nightmare. The narrator’s nightmare depicts his torment induced by post-traumatic stress insomnia. Even though his body escaped the combat zone, his mind is still very much at war. Insomnia stricken and six feet under, His lover “finds [him] at 3 A.M., shoveling the grassy turf in our backyard, digging three feet by six, determined to dig deep. We need to help them, if only with a coffin,” (Turner 23). The event sheds light on a sad truth for a 21st century veteran. Post-traumatic stress leads veterans to find a vice to ease their madness. For the narrator, his vice incorporated digging holes to find comfort in order to relinquish his demons, his flashbacks. Brian Turner utilizes imagery’s power to access the theme of post-traumatic stress for his
Through vivid imagery, Turner connects the audience to its narrator. The narrator wakes up from a nightmare containing flashbacks from his time in Iraq. Restless, he walks out to the backyard. Turner uses a powerful image of “Parachute flares drift in burn time of dream, their canopies deployed in the sky above our bed,” (Turner 23) to depict the narrator’s nightmare. The narrator’s nightmare depicts his torment induced by post-traumatic stress insomnia. Even though his body escaped the combat zone, his mind is still very much at war. Insomnia stricken and six feet under, His lover “finds [him] at 3 A.M., shoveling the grassy turf in our backyard, digging three feet by six, determined to dig deep. We need to help them, if only with a coffin,” (Turner 23). The event sheds light on a sad truth for a 21st century veteran. Post-traumatic stress leads veterans to find a vice to ease their madness. For the narrator, his vice incorporated digging holes to find comfort in order to relinquish his demons, his flashbacks. Brian Turner utilizes imagery’s power to access the theme of post-traumatic stress for his