Fiction VS. Reality

Bethany Douglas

Early in Richard Bausch's Peace, Asch and Marson take to discussing their home lives to reminisce on pleasanter times and Marson reflects on a novel he read once, "He had read the Crane novel about the civil war, and Crane's conclusion-that his fictional soldier had seen the great death and it was, after all, only death-seemed utterly false to him, dangerously, stupidly romantic" (41). This statement captures the overall belief reflected in the novel, specifically by Marson and Asch, that death carries a great impact on those who witness it. The novel repeatedly brings us back to the moment Glick shoots the woman and how Asch, Joyner, and Marson react to this moment. The fact that Marson asserts how dangerous and stupid the idea that death is just death demonstrates the way the war has affected him in that he recognizes the impact of death and witnessing it. I believe the phrase "fictional soldier" further emphasizes Marson's disdain about the ideology of the novel and serves to demonstrate the difference between a fictional soldier and, in the world of this novel, a real one. For Marson, the fictional soldier has no problem believing in these dangerous and stupid ideas about death as he does not have to deal with the actual affects that death has on soldiers. This idea of death leaving an impact resonates throughout the novel as Marson and the others reflect on the horrid reality that they witnessed a murder in the middle of a war and now must deal with the two deaths on their hands, Marson specifically as he was responsible for the death of the German soldier. This one line then discusses the ideas reflected throughout the novel and leads to a greater understanding of why the men cannot accept the woman's death and have to work so hard to process it despite being in the midst of the general death caused by war.