Introduction to “from ‘Three Dirges”
The narrative part “from ‘Three Dirges” occurs in Requiem Guatemala: A Story of the People. It shows the brutalities of civil war suck the lives of the common people disregard of their religion, faith, race, or any other affiliation or association. Th part “from ‘Three Dirges” is a somber account of death ruling the roost in the Guatemalan village of Comitan. The doom of military dictatorship has befallen the locals of that village to either kill their own siblings or else witness the obliteration of their entire race, village, and homes. It is not just the story of a specific civil war, but of all wars wherever they take place, or have taken place; whether it is Irish, American, or Guatemalan. However, the poignancy of the Guatemalan Civil War is more acute because it took place under the very nose of the torchbearers of human rights and carried on for more than 42 years with casualties of 200,000 civilians, thousands of forced disappearances, maimed, and wounded besides. The cruelest part of this civil war was that the people were forced to kill their own children and mentors mercilessly. Still, they were to live with the wounds they inflicted on themselves under duress. The city mayor, Don Larazo, in this story, to whom the military authorities coerce to convey a message to his village community to choose between two commands; either kill their sons or face complete annihilation. Seeing no way out, they decide to kill their own sons and mourn their deaths in muffled sounds under the eyes of the watching soldiers. The author has captured graphic details of the way they are forced to kill their own loved ones. Murder and killing seem to ooze out of every phrase of the story. This prevalent theme of somber death in “from ‘Three Dirges” peeps out not only from symbols of animate things such as pigeons and roosters, inanimate things such as bells and the valley but also emerges through the climatic signs of fog and mist, human acts of helplessness, muffled sounds, and muted wailings.
Symbols in “from ‘Three Dirges”
Symbols of animate and inanimate Connelly in “from ‘Three Dirges” uses to convey a message of death, destruction, pain, and suffering of the worst order. The very first symbol Connelly uses is the call of the rooster. In Christianity, the call of the rooster is a symbol of the passion of Christ when Peter did not entertain Christ. It is now related to weathervanes, which means constant vigilance against evil. When the city mayor Don Lazaro is called into the army camp to convey the command of the Colonel, “a rooster crowed in a corner of some milpa” (Connelly 1) to announce that evil is lurking somewhere to befall the people. When he is recalled amid the noise of rockets, the “rooster crowed again” (8), announcing that death is looming large over the village of Comitan. The escape of pigeons, which are symbols of peace, conveys the arrival of the worst. Here it means that they are announcing the fleeing peace pointing to the arrival of death to reign supreme in the valley of San Martín Comitán. From the nearby “belfry” (9) “a flight of pigeons fluttered aloft and dispersed to roost somewhere under the fog below” (9). It is a natural announcement about the advent of death, showing it is just a matter of a few moments. Even inanimate things are announcing the arrival of something sinister such as “the bell in the mission of the town began to clap in a flat” (9, 39) to announce that death is just lurking behind them which has terrified “pigeons (9) and “another flock of birds” (9) and they have left the area to find safety. It is quite natural for living creatures to sense danger quite early and flee for safety. However, the inanimate objects seem to human beings presenting a different perspective in such circumstances as bells may announce prayers and off days but death when death prevails. When all these animate and inanimate symbols have combined within the plot of the storyline, they intensify the realization of the looming shadow of death, making the atmosphere as well as the mood of the story somber and sinister. In this atmosphere “even the birds ceased their calling” (39) because they also feel that their lives are unsafe in this valley.
Climate Signs in “from ‘Three Dirges”
Climatic signs from “from ‘Three Dirges” when integrated into the framework of the story, make the situation even worse, more serious, and deadlier, heralding something sinister going to happen. Here two most important symbols used in this connection are fog and mist mixed up with the common climate of the valley. It comes with the first “faint glow of dawn” (9), announcing that something is going to happen. That is why it turns into a “blanket of ground fog” (9) to show that it is going to engulf the valley and reach the village. This is certainly the sign of death reaching the village in the shape of a command Colonel to Don Lazaro issues that “you have to kill them” (1) or else face total annihilation. Within the panoramic view amid “the dark, gray clouds and the flat, black mountains” (9), the arrival of fog is a somber natural move.Black color is associated with death or bad luck, and it is the fate of those five young “catechists” (16) that is sealed amid this sinister climate. Even when this is morning, still this fog is there in the shape of mist when women start weeping under veils in “the heavy mist of the morning” (19). It is a sign that their bad luck is still there. When the deed is done, the blackness is still there in the shape of “black incense” (39), a ritual to be carried out to pray for the dead souls. Then the “dense mist surged forward, enveloping the whole scene” (40) where the dead are to be buried. When this is done, the same mood of blackness, fog, and mist enveloped the mass a wall that is the “dense wall of the congregation collapsed in a mass of wailing bodies” (42), turning all the human beings into inanimate objects, dense wall, in the face of death.
Death in “from ‘Three Dirges”
Death is a phenomenon that turns even ordinary human actions and reactions into something sinister and somber, demonstrating that the situation is not common. Poe, the master of death stories, uses the same techniques in his short stories. However, Connelly has used the words “horror” and “fear” “from ‘Three Dirges” along with several actions and reactions of the village people to show that they are living in the midst of death, honor, and devastation that could befall them at any moment in the shape of murdering their own sons. When Don Lazaro is first told to kill those five young catechists, his reaction is of somewhat helplessness “what’s a man supposed to do” (1), he says. He comments on the order saying that a person is supposed to bring up his sons not to kill them specifically when they are mentors of the community. This shows that they are quite helpless and have nothing to do else except obey this order. When the Colonel called him again, “he frowned” (5) to terrify his victim, Don Larazo was there to witness the “measured formality” (11) of the soldier, “never moving his eyes from the face of the leathery Mayan stooping before his desk” (7). When he conveys the same message to the villagers, the first reaction comes from the women. When one starts weeping and her “anguish pierced the still” (14) the death seems to have traveled from the camp of the soldiers to the “soul of the village” (14) represented by the women through the mayor. When wailing women and terrified families do not listen to him out of their sorrow and fear, he turns to terrify them through the previous narrative, of the “massacre of Puente Alto” (29). It includes the merciless killing of “women” (29), “men” (29), and “small boys”(30) before them, showing they have nothing else to choose from. Then some others from the speechless audience start abusing the soldiers saying “what bitches have brought these bastards into the world” (32) with somebody else calling “black-souled whores” sheer due to the desperation in which there is not “even a margin of hope” (38). This is similar to a desperate person who is on death row and starts hysterically abusing everybody, who comes his way, seeing no other way to save his/her life. These acts “from ‘Three Dirges” coupled with several other symbols and signs have further made the atmosphere and tone full of deathly horror. After all, it is natural for a human being to save his/her life in whatever way he can. When all human acts stop due to the prevalent fear of death, only machines work such as “a heavy truck churned and churned” (43) and then the drone of the truck slowly dissipated” (43), leaving death behind and the silent crowd of spectators watching the graves of their loved ones killed by themselves.
Conclusion
In fact, signs, symbols whether they are animate or inanimate, human actions, reactions, and responses to the prevalent circumstances set the atmosphere, mood, and tone of the story. These elements, then, move the reader to feel the catharsis of his emotions of pity, fear, sympathy, or empathy. When there is a theme of death in the story, even its words ooze out fear, terror, and horror as is in Poe’s different stories. The same is the case in this story. Although not written on that level of a horror story as of Poe’s, yet, “from ‘Three Dirges” starts with the theme of death demonstrated not only through all types of symbols but also signs and human acts. The very first paragraph shows the phrase “you have to kill them” (1) and they prove it in the last paragraph that they have killed them and now their “souls of five young men [are] high into the pines” (43). The flight of pigeons from the valley and the flock of birds leaving the place are symbols of peace flying away and death coming fast. The tower, bell, fog, mist, and then human actions of feeling horror, terror, and helplessness; all have set the terrible atmosphere of the story, where death is going to rule supreme. Whether it is deliberate to write about death amid such somber symbols, signs, and acts, it is clear that Connelly has used these techniques very effectively to make the reader feel the horrors that civil war has created for the common people who suffered the most.
Works Cited
Connelly, Marshal Bennett. “from ‘Three Dirges” from Requiem Guatemala: A Story of the People. Guatemala Historical Reclamation Memorial Project, 2019.
Relevant Questions about “from ‘Three Dirges”: Ghastly Atmosphere
- How does the author create and sustain a ghastly atmosphere “from ‘Three Dirges” and what literary techniques are employed to evoke a sense of dread and unease in the reader?
- Explore the role of setting and imagery in establishing the ghastly atmosphere in “from ‘Three Dirges”. How do descriptions of the environment and surroundings contribute to the overall tone of the work?
- In “from ‘Three Dirges”, how do the characters’ actions, dialogues, or inner thoughts contribute to the creation of a ghastly atmosphere, and what emotions or reactions does this atmosphere elicit from the reader?
