What Are The Similarities Between The Narrow Road To The Deep North And The Railway Man

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In both the novel - The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and the film - The Railway Man, the compositional feature of intertextuality is used in the scenes regarding the beating of Darky Gardiner, and the beating of Eric Lomax. During the description of Darky Gardiner’s beating, Flanagan writes, “Blow after blow – on the monster’s face, a monster’s mask” (297). This quote is derived from one of Basho’s poems, The Monkey’s Mask; “Year after year – on the monkey’s face, a monkey’s mask” (Ueda, 351). The POWs see the Goanna as a monster, which they know will punish them if they step out of line, but in truth, they actually see a monster’s mask, which the Goanna has put on. The Goanna may not actually be a monster, but he knows that he has to wear …show more content…

In Flanagan’s novel, the idea of helplessness is portrayed through Dorrigo Evans towards the end of Darky Gardiner’s beating scene. Dorrigo ran up through the already helplessly watching POWs, to the Japanese officers around Darky, “Stepping out of line, Dorrigo Evans pleaded with the Japanese officers to stop the punishment. Some men noticed how Nakamura bowed slightly, respectfully acknowledging the colonel’s superior rank […] They heard him say: This man is severely ill. He needs rest and medicine, not a beating. And, behind him, the beating went on” (Flanagan, 299). The POWs could now see that all hope of saving Darky was lost. Dorrigo was the prisoner with the most respect from the Japanese, as shown by Nakamura bowing to Dorrigo, but even Dorrigo could not persuade the Japanese to stop beating Darky. Dorrigo had only confirmed the POWs feeling of helplessness, making watching Darky’s beating even harder. Susan Lever describes it

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