Ethical Theories Lying within In the Wake by Per Petterson

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The main character of the novel In the Wake is named Arvid Jansen, and you are able to see the entire story told from within the character’s head. As you begin the story it is in a rather disoriented and confused state where you slowly are able to tell Arvid has lost his sense of time. He is found banging desperately upon the door or a job he has long since left. As the story continues you find yourself within flashbacks in his mind giving you little bits of new information each time, but still keeping the reader in the dark to the bigger issues. One of the biggest battles Arvid is dealing with the loss of both his family as well as learning how to cope with the divorce and distance from his wife and children. He is not alone, for his brother is mourning the loss as well and distancing from his own family as well. The brother, taking things more harshly than Arvid himself, attempts suicide and fails. Arvid is unsure how to handle this having already lost a lot, he is reluctant to go visit his brother in the hospital.At the end of the novel you see the two brothers come to the conclus...

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