I found the relationship Scarry developed between the torturer and the tortured, within “The Structure of Torture,” fascinating. Scarry breaks apart the actual act of torture into its two necessary parts, the physical and verbal acts, or torture and interrogation. As never having been tortured myself I can’t fully understand Scarry’s idea that the more physical pain experienced by the victim, the more distance that individual feels from their life and the earthly world. Similar to when one’s fight or flight response is intact ( as reality seems to stop or move in slow motion), it makes sense that experiencing extreme pain would have a similar effect. The distance between the prisoner and torturer, both literally and symbolically, is another interesting relationship Scarry presents. Scarry claims that regardless of the physical distance between these individuals, “the distance separating the two is probably the greatest distance that can separate two human beings.” This sadly makes perfect sense. The torturer, with a lack of physical pain and incredible amount of power is so alive in this moment and grounded in the earthly world whereas the prisoner, with incredible amounts of pain, is so far removed from their life that even the most personally important earthly possessions or ideas have no meaning. That is why Scarry claims that confessions are far from betrayal, a prisoner is so far from conscious and earthly matters that confessing no longer has any meaning to themselves or their values. I found this piece fascinating, disturbing because it made torture and the experienced mindset so real, but nonetheless fascinating.
Great observation of Elaine Scarry's text. I also found this passage really insightful and interesting. I liked how Scarry called the distance between the prisoner and the torturer an "invisible distance" where the distance is the amount of pain felt by the prisoner. Scarry further emphasizes the complete disparity between the prisoner and torturer by saying that the "absence of pain is presence of world" for the torturer and vice versa for the prisoner. In other words, inflicting pain onto someone is probably the cruelest and most effective way of distancing oneself emotionally and psychologically from another. During the moments of extreme pain, the prisoner is under complete control of his/her torturer, which is why, indeed, a confession shouldn’t really be considered a betrayal. Like Scarry says, the prisoner, in reality, has no voice during torture because the regime has “doubled their voice” and the prisoner is actually “speaking their words”. Although we have not experienced this torturous level of pain before, Elaine Scarry does a great job of describing this surprisingly complex event to us.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting as well her reasoning behind why a confession should not be seen as betrayal. As we saw in Sartre's "The Wall," Pablo went through the same type of mental torture Scarry refers to. This causes one to remove themselves far from reality and cause a lack in judgement and clarity. I think Scarry makes interesting points regarding how much torture (mental or physical) can affect someone and therefore affect the truth that is trying to be pulled out of them.
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