Heresy by Sabina Berman brought out a theme that has been
discussed in class throughout the beginning of this semester. This theme being
the act of torturing someone until they tell you what you want to hear, “You
are warned to tell the truth, without giving us cause first to torture you with
all the risk to your life that entails” (Pg. 156). This line that is spoken
from the Clerk to Doña Francisca showed that it didn't matter what she told
him.
The way the Clerk spoke that line
reminded me of Abu Ghraib in a sense where both of the parties in charge of the
interrogation and torture are working on the basis of guilty until proven
innocent. This is flawed because it creates an endless cycle of the torturer
continuing to torture the victim in belief that they are hiding something, and
the victim eventually loosing all hope like we saw in the Wall. This loss of
hope brings the one being questioned to choose to give a false confession
instead of attempting to deny the accusations and dragging out the process.
Francisca experienced this as her
torture increased in brutality. Everyone has a breaking point where they
realize that they can not do anything more to prove their innocence.
-Austin,
ReplyDeleteYour preliminary analysis of Sabina Berman's Heresy and how the Clerks speech reminded you of Abu Ghraib, also made me realize the visual connections between the two. Watching the documentary on Abu Ghraib was our first visual experience of torture and we got to see it in its entirety besides merely reading about it. Heresy was written in a way powerfully graphic, as it was after all a play and played on our visual senses.
The similarities between the two works, and how the torture played out until the interrogators heard the confession that they wanted to hear is a powerful theme that has been recurring in the works we have studied. It really makes me believe that one of the main reasons behind torture, is simply for the interrogators (the authority) to gain control and feel in control.
I find it interesting that Heresy and Abu Ghraib both encounter scenarios where the prisoners are "innocent until proven guilty" and the interrogators must gain satisfaction through torture. Like Saniya said, the interrogators really want to assert their authority and control through torture. The past readings we've had have all been about this concept that torture will allow us to form a fiction which we believe is true, but I wonder when Foucault's more modern idea of torture will come into play, and how it might've affected Heresy in particular. I feel that if the goal is truly to have an all-Christian community, then maybe there should be more of a focus on correcting the behavior of Jews and converting them. While this might be more time-consuming than the more direct method of torturing/killing non-Christians, I think torture is a more corrupt way to deal with the situation.
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