Helplessness in War seen in Bausch’s “Peace” by: Abby Booher

 

Bausch’s “Peace” provides great insight into the art of storytelling under the scope of war/violence. Throughout the book, each character carries the story along through a kind of storytelling of their own. One particular theme in their storytelling – helplessness – can be seen in the execution of the Jews. In the later portion of the book, Bausch describes a scene when the group pause along their way up the mountain to hear the distant, rhythmic sounds of gunshots which they determine to be the execution of Jews. A specific part in the passage gives the reader a real grasp of how helpless one can be when faced with war or violence. Bausch writes, “Asch sighed, and the tears ran down his cheeks. ‘Ah – God. Look. It means – I don’t know what it means. It means you say it for the dead.’ He gasped, choked, held his fist to his mouth, then looked away – his hand dropped to his side. ‘It means whatever it means when you can’t –’ He sniffled and ran his wrist across his face. ‘Ah. Man,’ he said. ‘Words. Goddamn.’”

In this set of lines, Asch exposes the theme of helplessness in war which can be expressed through storytelling. Asch had begun to speak Yiddish to which the others wanted to know what he was saying. Asch had stated that he did not believe what he was saying, but the Jews did. He was quoting the Kaddish – a Jewish prayer which is said when someone dies. While the prayer itself includes nothing of death, it is said in order to recognize the sovereignty of God and to submit to His will which could, in turn, grant merit to the deceased.

In this scene, the group heading up the mountain do nothing to stop the executions. They can do nothing. While the book never expresses whether or not they are too far to provide aid, it can easily be concluded that even if they were close, they would quickly be shot like the rest. This sets the stage for a moment when the characters must simply pause and listen to the horror of war. There is great description of their surroundings at this part, “The sky above them was beautiful, dark and full of stars with small white tufts and high thin ribbons of cirrus, gleaming at the edges with the moon”, which allows the reader to feel the sense of simply waiting – ears attentive to each shot yet eyes taking in the quiet beauty around them.

The characters, however, are far from still as they struggle with the never-ceasing sounds of lives ended with each shot. Joyner continuously curses, Angelo calls the Nazis “criminals” and “killers”, and Marson tries to murmur the Lord’s Prayer. Each character is restless, finding that their words, anger, and sorrow can do nothing. Asch also tries to cope with the situation by even praying one of the Jews’ prayers – one he does not believe in. It is as if he is trying to get as close as he can to helping them in whatever way he can. He cannot save them, he cannot fight, but he can at least pray what would have been prayed for them according to their religion. And yet, Asch recognizes that even this prayer is just “words”.

In Asch’s lines, he struggles to explain what he is saying. The author even inserts more of a physical struggle, trying to restrain his anger and sorrow through placing his tight fist towards his mouth. It is interesting to note what Asch says when he drifts off, “It means whatever it means when you can’t –.” While it is left open for the readers to guess what he would have said, it is plausible to suggest that he was trying to define it in a more personal sense – that to him, it meant whatever it meant when he could do nothing else to help. While he has tried to mend the pain through their prayer, he realizes that he is simply saying words from afar and is truly helpless in the horror of the moment, Asch ends by acknowledging that even quoting their prayer of mourning cannot remove the pain of war from them or from himself “Words. Goddamn.”