Symbolism In Scott Anderson's Triage

“We are all affected by war in some way, however slight” Scott Anderson’s Triage reveals the affects war has on people by linking the characters through war and parallel stories. From a pressured Dr. Talzani operating in a cave in Kurdistan to Mark and Colin who are war photographers and Elena and Diane their partners .As well as a ‘specialist’ war psychiatrist, Joaquin Morales. Anderson uses various techniques and symbols to communicate these ideas and writes in a conversational format to incorporate the reader into the journey.

Talzani is a dark mysterious character who suppresses his emotions and detaches himself of any responsibilities in others fate to cope with his job of Triaging his patients. With limited provisions Talzani is under
During the civil war Joaquin fled from his home leavening his family behind and survived months in the Aplujarra Mountains whilst being hunted by death squads. Morales initially deals with his losses by his faith in God, shown when he interprets a bright light from sand dunes in Africa as being a sign. This allowed him to ‘turn away from the past’ and make the most of the future. Morales is later affected by war through his patients. Joaquin deals with his regretful past by erasing them from his memory, shown by how Joaquin buries his patient’s files in his basement. Morales also keeps a positive attitude and strives to make the best of the future shown by how he keeps persisting to connect with Elena after continuous rejection. Like-wise to Talzani, Morales sees himself as the ‘good guy’ and disconnects himself of responsibility to his patients. Particularly with the ‘incurables’, where we find out Morales kills the men he can’t cure and justifies it as saving people lives. “What was I supposed to do? Should I have let the killers continue as they were? ...How many lives did I save? I believe I saved