Antigone, Gas, And The Apology, By Juan Rivera

The effect of War on Families and Friends

In reading the segment on War and Power we can see the effects of war in many different ways but one of the most prominent and noticeable effect is how the family and friends of those involved in the warfare react to having a loved one involved and in harms way. The effects and consequences of war are far-reaching and extensive. The family of those in war is affected by war just as much as those actually in the war. In reading Antigone, Gas, and the Apology you get a chance to see how the families and friends are changed and in some instances torn apart. War has a tendency to control peoples lives and push them till they are worn out and hanging on to sanity by just a thread. War is not selective,
its affects have been the same all through history and still are today, it affects everyone no matter who you are, its not picky. In reading Gas, by Juan Rivera we see two brothers who are very close to each other and are part of a close nit family.
One of the brothers is sent to fight in Persian Gulf War and the reader begins with Cheo, the remaining brother, telling the audience how his brother sends him letters at least every week. Cheo goes on to explain how he can tell from his brothers letters that he is horrified by the events that he views and takes part of while being away. "His letters were coming once a week, I could feel his fear. It was in his handwriting". (1.1124) Cheo's family became completely absorbed in his brothers letters and slowly without them realizing it their life began to almost revolve around those letters. When the letters stopped coming it can be seen how the family actually did rely on those letters and how the family did find comfort in receiving and reading them every week. Cheo's family falls apart, he finds himself not being able to sleep and all he can do is think about why the letters may have stopped coming. At the same time they began to hear about how bad it was getting in the Persian Gulf. "I couldn't sleep, my mother was suicidal, why wasn't he writing?"(85-6.1126) The war completely engulfed Cheo and his family and they were not even physically in the war. Just the absence of their weekly letter caused major trauma and wreaked havoc in a family with one son in a
war. In The Apology, we are introduced to more modern day events. Laura Blumenfeld is a writer conducting research on the issue of confrontation with Palestine. Laura's interest in this subject arose from a previous personal experience. Laura's father was shot by a Palestine man and Laura, ironically decides to get to know the man and the family of the man who shot her father. Omar was in jail at the time Laura was conducting her research but she was able to communicate with him through letters. Laura even went to visit Omar's family and when she questioned them about Omar's crime the reply she got was, "It wasn't a personal vendetta, it was public relations". (990) To Laura, since it was a personal issue with her, this comment kind of bothered her and got her thinking even more. She decided to really try and get to know Omar and to get to know how he felt and where he stood and the matter. At first when Laura and Omar first start writing to each other Laura can tell that he is not really taking her seriously and that he is not telling her what he really feels. The more Laura talks with Omar the more open he becomes and he begins to tell her about what happened in more depth and detail. He goes on to say that it was his decision to shoot her father and that it was a military order. The entire time that Omar and Laura have been writing letters back and forth, she neglected to tell him that the man who he shot was her father. When Omar learns that it was her father he has a change of heart and he apologizes profusely to Laura. Omar changed the life of a family when he shot a man during wartime. Omar is probably one of the few people who have gotten to know the family or a family member of someone whom he shot. He got to see how his actions and just war in general affect the family of those involved in warfare.