Theme Of Guilt In Scott Anderson's Triage

Guilt is considered as ‘’a painful emotion experienced when one believes one’s actions or thoughts have violated a moral or personal standard,’’ whereas, ‘’Forgiveness is to give up resentment against someone for an offense or fault’’ (TheFreeDictionary.com, 2017). In Scott Anderson’s novel, Triage (1998), explores many themes throughout the three main characters including guilt and forgiveness. Mark Walsh, a war photojournalist, recalls the emotional and physical trauma that he experienced during the Kurdistan War and develops a pathway to recovery; Elena Morales, Mark’s Spanish girlfriend, has cut all lines of communication with her grandfather, Joaquin Morales, after finding out about his career during the Spanish War and Joaquin looks for forgiveness from his granddaughter Elena and himself as he
was responsible for many deaths. These three main characters all share the themes of guilt and forgiveness within themselves as they explore their personal quests throughout the novel.

During the Kurdistan War, a fatal bombing that left Mark's best friend Colin deceased, Mark becomes physically and mentally injured as he is filled with guilt for Colin’s passing.
After Colin’s death, Mark goes into a state of denial and his build-up of guilt causes him to have a mental breakdown along with signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Deep into the novel, Mark retells the story of the ’Boy from Beirut’ to Joaquin and he explains how it was his fault that the boy is dead. This affected Mark in many ways as it left in an emotional trauma and self-isolation state that made it hard for Mark to open up to others again. As Joaquin and Mark explore the depths of this memory, Joaquin said “You never pass over them [our pains]. You carry them with you forever. That is what it means to live”(p.124). The ideology behind this is everyone must learn to live with the pain through their lives. This helps Mark to unlock the guilt that he is hiding away and that there is only one person that can only truly forgive him...himself. After this moment, Mark’s heart and mind are opened and he learns how to forgive himself for his actions that took place during that
time.

Elena Morales has severed all lines of communication with her grandfather Joaquin for 6 years after finding out his career during the Spanish War. Instead of dwelling on the communication barrier, Elena acquires a job with the UN (United Nations) as a program operator that coordinated the UN programs for a refugee camp in the Guatemalan highlands. When Joaquin’s name is first mentioned around Elena, she is filled with hatred towards him. “I don’t want to talk to my grandfather. I haven’t spoken to him, or about him in years, and I wish to keep it that way”(p. 73). She also called him a fraud, a fake and a war criminal (p. 127). As Elena sparks the interest of visiting Almería (p. 221) to see where Joaquin grew up, she later finds out that he hasn't visited there since just after the war. The following page she realized that she has hurt Joaquin after cutting communication with him 6 years ago. “I’m sorry, Papa… I didn’t know how much I was hurting you. I’m sorry” (p. 222). This shows that she has learned the concept of forgiveness as she has reconciled with her grandfather Joaquin.

Joaquin Morales is perhaps the most complex character in the novel when it comes to the notions of guilt and forgiveness. Joaquin worked as a fake psychiatrist that consulted fascists who were mentally scarred from the horrors they committed in the Spanish War. ‘’if you had tortured people to death, you would just need to visit Dr. Joaquin Morales at the Morales Institute of Psychological Purification, and he would absolve you of all guilt”(Elena, p.126). All of the fascists that went to Joaquin for his services and were unable to be “purified” were known as the ‘incurables’ and were (ultimately) shot dead. On pages 227-231, Joaquin reminisces on the death of eight incurables, in particular, Carlos Perez. “[He was] the first one, the most difficult one. Eight more” (p.231). The killing of Carlos Perez and the other eight incurables hit hard on Joaquin as it was ultimately his decision to kill them and no one else's. Joaquin revealing the killing of Carlos Perez allowed Mark to come to terms with the death of his best friend Colin.

The three main characters, Mark Walsh, Elena and Joaquin Morales have all experienced the notions of guilt and forgiveness throughout the novel Triage. Mark found forgiveness within himself, Elena forgave her father for his actions during the Spanish War, and Joaquin was able to find forgiveness within himself after the shooting of the incurables. Thus, it was through these personal quests, Mark Walsh, Elena Morales, and Joaquin Morales were able to forgive others, themselves and their actions.