Kiowa V Rat

I think that Rat losing his mind affects me more than Kiowa’s death going under the “shit field”. This wasn’t an easy decision for me to make; I had to think about it for a while before I settled on Rat. It is not that I am saying Kiowa’s death is not significant or emotional in any sense but with Rat his struggle didn’t end as quickly as Kiowa’s did.  Kiowa went under physically and then dies, ending his struggle. Rat went under slowly and in a more cruel way. Rat’s mind became the mud, sucking him under slowly but never really finishing him off in a sense. Rat became a prisoner of his own thoughts, delusions, and he could do nothing to stop it. I cannot imagine the horror of being sucked down into a field of mud and not being able to get out, but having that same feeling everyday would be far worse for me. The enemy in Rat’s case was his own brain, an ally that helped him so many times before turned against him in the end. To me I think this explains me as a reader in a couple of ways. I feel more secure and safe when I know what the enemy is and if its tangible or not. The mud is tangible, it is physical, it is seen and you can touch it. The mud is physically Kiowa’s enemy he has to fight against to stay alive. The mind is not something tangible. Sure you can physically touch the brain and see a brain but the idea of the mind is not. You cannot wrap your hands around the mind; you cannot touch it or see it. It is a universally believed concept but is not physical. To me, the mind is a lot of who you are. Everyone trusts their mind to show them things that are real, not illusions. Everyone trusts that the sounds they hear are real sounds and not a lie coming from bad wires in their brain. All in all, as I reader I like the enemy to be clear, shown to me almost physically apparent instead of the struggle of not really knowing what to be afraid of. In regards to the interview with Tim I don't think it matters one bit that he made some stories up or he didn't personally witness them happening. Like he had mentioned in the interview it is not about the real truth sometimes but the story truth. Sometimes the story truth is a lot more meaningful and affective than the real truth.