“Organ Harvester” by AE Ellis

Wounds

detecafix — 2015-10-17 20:41:47 UTC

- Leg wound

- Trauma/PTSD

- Nightmares

- Hallucinations/flashbacks

Homeopathic Medicine

cooklily97 — 2015-10-17 20:49:26 UTC

Yarrow-Achillea millefolium

The Black Jacobins

cooklily97 — 2015-10-17 21:00:40 UTC

Book Harry/Harriet is reading

Casualties of War

cooklily97 — 2015-10-17 21:03:34 UTC

-the mother who committed suicide after her son was blown up by an "American land mine" p. 147

-Bobby as a messenger telling "poor people their sons were dead" p.150

Shame

cooklily97 — 2015-10-17 21:16:54 UTC

-"Whitemen watched him as he peed and wept" p. 150

-Clare's shame over her miscarriage

Historical References

cooklily97 — 2015-10-17 21:21:58 UTC

Bobby walked off the military base with papers signed by "General Crispus Attucks" in 1969.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispus_Attucks

Crispus Attucks was the first American casualty in the American Revolutionary War.

There's obviously no way that Bobby would have contact with the real Attucks, so Cliff probably added this historical martyr as a literary device to reference the historical oppression of blacks during war.

Slivovitz

cooklily97 — 2015-10-17 21:26:35 UTC

The brandy frequently consumed in this chapter. Popular in Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria.

Vietnam

detecafix — 2015-10-17 21:31:12 UTC

Disassociation

cooklily97 — 2015-10-17 21:38:54 UTC

"'...I don't trust myself with feeling'" Clare says to Bobby p. 154

Drum with an Orange Stripe

cooklily97 — 2015-10-17 21:53:00 UTC

Vietnam war reference. Used by U.S military.

The Resilience of Comfrey

sih15 — 2015-10-19 03:08:09 UTC

Comfrey is a very resilient plant, will take over entire fields, extremely hardy, little care necessary, incredible healing properties: can help treat anything, from a stomachache, to a sore throat, to mild wounds. (p.144)

Clare as a caretaker

detecafix — 2015-10-19 03:15:17 UTC

Wandering and trying to heal the wound, symbolic for her search to heal the wounds of her own past

Birth defects

detecafix — 2015-10-19 03:17:03 UTC

Bobby says that the child, had it come to term, would have been deformed; follows a similar arc as Bobby and Clare's relationship - "tainted" by the agent orange

Lies and delusions

detecafix — 2015-10-19 03:20:50 UTC

detecafix — 2015-10-19 03:22:37 UTC

Bobby originally refuses to tell Clare what "really" caused the wound, later he himself is unable to know what's real.

Agent Orange

sih15 — 2015-10-19 03:28:41 UTC

DEFOLIANT

aahillenburg — 2015-10-19 04:59:51 UTC

"My war cannot serve your purpose, whatever that might be." (p. 151, Bobby to Clare)

Greek mythology + flower myths

morganhulquist — 2015-10-19 05:19:13 UTC

- Achilles and Achillea millefolium (the plant he supposedely carried into battle to tend his wounds

- Hyacinthus: beautiful young man and lover of Apollo, dies when the two are throwing discus and Apollo accidentally strikes him (fragility of living and of life)

- Narcissus

aahillenburg — 2015-10-19 05:19:31 UTC

Bobby is only an organ harvester in this respect - from his illness gathered from exposure to agent orange, he deprives his future children of being born healthy with all organs and limbs intact and functioning

St. Joan, Notre Dame

morganhulquist — 2015-10-19 05:30:52 UTC

"To whom had Pocahontas prayed?" (156)

St. Michael, Pont Neuf

morganhulquist — 2015-10-19 05:35:46 UTC

Eugenics

sih15 — 2015-10-19 13:32:26 UTC

"the social movement claiming to improve the genetic features of human populations through selective breeding and sterilization, based on the idea that it is possible to distinguish between superior and inferior elements of society"

Yusef Komunyakaa "You and I are Disappearing"

aeellis — 2015-10-19 14:10:44 UTC

IMPERIALISM CARTOON, 1882. 'The Devilfish in Egyptian Waters.' An American cartoon from 1882 depicting John Bull (England) as the octopus of imperialism grabbing land on every continent.

aeellis — 2015-10-27 17:50:15 UTC