First Responses to Giuseppe by Justyna Waszczylko

jwaszczylko — 2024-02-14 05:44:26 UTC

"But she screamed like a woman in terrible fear"

2024-02-14 07:55:48 UTC

Similie --> as if to deny the fact that she is a human being who is capable of feeling fear

--> An excuse to diminish the significance of the traumatic impact they had on her to the point that she 'screamed', since everyone now perceives her as dehumanized and 'a fish' instead of a person.

"They said a large fish has been found on the beach"

2024-02-14 08:00:03 UTC

"large fish" --> zoomorphism/ dehumanization, people feel less guilty when the harm is inflicted on an animal, especially when the animal is considered food.

"fish" being food suggests how the woman's death had benefitted her perpetrators, like a fish being consumed for nutrients

The passive verb "found" presents that they had not actively participated in the murder of the "fish", therefore, not holding themselves accountable to their crimes.

“Starvation forgives men many things”

2024-02-14 12:04:59 UTC

This statement from the speaker’s uncle could be a reflection of how people rationalise their crimes during war as having been necessary rather than an act of pure malice in order to deal with the guilt. Furthermore by using the noun “Starvation” he creates the image that cannibalising the mermaid was necessary in order to the soldiers not to starve, a situation brought upon them by external factors and therefore dismissing their personal control over it. Through the speaker, the writer could be criticising those who survive war, in this case WW2, and face little to no consequence for their gruesome acts.

“screamed like a woman in terrible fear”

2024-02-15 02:36:14 UTC

Additionally, this quote relates to the overall guilt felt by the uncle after committing such an inhumane act of killing “the only captive mermaid” for food. The semantic field that is present within the words of: “scream”, “terrible” and “fear” allude to an almost gothic writing style when depicting the tragic moment in which the mermaid is killed. Clearly illustrating and linking to this idea of guilt and misconduct as these emotive and powerful adjectives resonate with Giesupe’s character heavily; hence why he remembers the moment in such gruesome detail. Harvesting the defenceless mythical creature of its “roe” , a common food enjoyed in Japanese culture, and consuming the rest of the body, other than the “human” limbs, as if the creature was that of a common “fish”. Giesupe (the uncle) to cope with this overarching feeling of guilt after killing the mermaid, constantly convinced himself of the “simple” nature of the being. Comparing the mermaid to an animal as a means to present a sense of justice and humanity for “harvesting” the mermaid that was ‘perfectly fine’ to consume due to its similarity to any other normal “fish”.

"She, it, had never learned to speak"

z01876 — 2024-02-16 01:49:51 UTC

"it" - presents the attempt of the uncle, and other people involved in this act, to dehumanize the mermaid which is an excuse to rationalize why killing her is 'okay'

"she" - although the speaker is recalling what their uncle had said as he tried to dehumanize the mermaid, the use of the pronoun "she" shows identity and humanity in the mermaid. Although the noun "it" is used to try to dehumanize her, that is the only time she is referenced to as and "it" and so reflects the failed attempts of the "doctor, fishmonger and certain others" as they tried to strip her of her identity and humanity.

"learned" - adjective which enforces the idea that the mermaid is a living thing which can equip new skills while...

"speak" - can be a symbol for the mermaid, or victims of war, and their voice. They have no power in war and so lose their voices.