An Evil Cradling - Into the dark - use of language

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In the chapter ‘Into The Dark’, how does Kennan use language to describe the extreme mental states he experienced in his first period of captivity?

        Throughout the chapter ‘Into The Dark’, Keenan goes through some distinct phases of mental states, each caused by a previous one and ultimately by his imprisonment. He uses a various range of strong descriptions to portray his condition, ideas, thoughts and impressions. The unusual syntax used throughout the chapter conveys the states of mind which he goes though, guiding the reader into the prisoner’s world.

        Keenan uses various techniques to convey the feeling of human degradation that he went through during the first period of his captivity.

        One of these is the enumeration of adjectives or nouns which communicate the misery to which he was reduced to. Such examples include the ‘old, ragged, filthy cover’ which suggest the grimy circumstances in which he had to live in. The ‘excrement, sweat, the perspiration’ emphasise this obloquy through which he goes. ‘Sweat’ and ‘perspiration’ imply oppressive heat, a sensation of lack of air. The ‘excrement’ implies that in this already oppressive space, Keenan is ‘reduced to sleeping in the smell’ of his ‘own filth’. This feeling is further emphasised by the quotation ‘…squat down over it. Defecate on it. I defecate (…) and then I carefully wrap my excrement…’ These short, blunt sentences imply that Keenan wants to describe his condition as close to reality as possible, therefore not sparing the reader from any brusque or less polite words, because he was not spared from any unpleasantness either. The enumerations suggest the plentiful reasons of his never ending human degradation and exposure to filth.

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        Keenan described himself as ‘a bag of flesh and scrape, a heap of offal tossed unwanted in the corner of this filthy room.’ This portrayal of himself, of ‘flesh’ and ‘heap of offal’ is dehumanizing as it reduces him to something repulsive and purely physical, thus overlooking the details that makes him human, such as feelings, mind and judgement. He is ‘tossed in the corner’, therefore not valuable for anyone. The fact that he is thrown in a ‘filthy’ corner further emphasise his lack of value and significance. All these show how Keenan’s self esteem and dignity was crushed, and ...

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