A Brief Encounter With The Enemy Analysis

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In “A Brief Encounter with the Enemy” by Said Sayrafiezadeh, Luke, a pessimistic soldier, walks down memory lane as he travels the path to get to the hill during his last recon. He remembers appreciating nature, encountering and writing to Becky, the first time he’d shot a gun, and Christmas leave. Luke identifies the moment when he realizes that he had joined the army for the wrong reason, after crossing the bridge his team built in order to cross the valley, and at the same time dreading the return to his former office job. Boredom and nothingness destroy him mentally as he waits for enemies to appear. When the enemies finally appear, he shoots them down and goes home the next day. Sayrafiezadeh proposes that expectations don’t always equate …show more content…

Luke has flaws that make his views subjective instead of objective. Furthermore, Luke has a firm position that something miraculously exhilarating will give him a “‘life-altering experience’,” but when it doesn’t occurs, he becomes despondent (9). This shows one of his major flaws of assuming and expecting, but not acting upon the event for the dreams he wishes to be. Consequently, the resulting disappointment from expectations makes him feel “less like a soldier and more like [he] was going trick-or-treating dressed as a soldier” (4). He becomes overly critical of others as well as himself for joining for “all the wrong reasons,” yet never explains what the right reasons are (3). The closest actions the reader will receive depends on Luke’s desire to do anything. The author utilizes Luke as the narrator to effectively parallel Luke’s ordinary life to the expected dramatic life Luke wishes for. The similarity of the two situations is Luke’s lack of effort to better himself. In Luke’s recent years, he earned an associate degree, landing him an office job; however his pessimism and laziness to put in effort to better himself, such as going back to school for a bachelor’s degree in order to acquire a more entertaining job restrains him. His attitude towards his

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