Joe's Desires

Eli Pardue
5/7/08
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

Joe's primary concerns are escaping the confines of his mind and serving as an example of the horrors and consequences of war. Joe is trapped inside his mind because he does not have any way of communicating with those around him-the nurses and doctors that care for him. his attempts to communicate-through Morse code-
are misinterpreted by the nurses and doctors. First, the night nurse thinks that he is merely sexually frustrated, and attempts to relieve him of that burden of sexual frustration. Joe does not know what to make of this...he cannot stop her from misinterpreting his desires like this. He is also upset that people would have such a pity for him. They either can't see or can't understand that he still has a consciousness because all they see (and therefor understand) him as is a husk, a shell of what used to be a man, and so they can't understand that his desires are beyond the primal urges of unintelligence. The next attempt to communicate is understood as a seizure, and the doctors try to sedate him. Joe also wants to become a permanent image and example of the horrors of war. The problem comes back to his inability to communicate his desire.