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Summary Of I Am The Grass By Daly Walker

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I Am The Grass by Daly Walker details the primality of war that strips man of his essence and sends him into a perpetual state of conflict within himself. The story is a testament to the fact that while one cannot fully heal scars incurred by horrors such as war, reparation can lessen the suffering caused by the affliction. Daly Walker utilizes the juxtaposition between two cultures (American, as represented by the narrator, and Vietnamese as represented by Dinh) in order to draw a contrast between those who accept and relent, and those who are forever stuck in the past because they cannot fully come to terms with the horrors of war. The exposition of the piece is primarily concerned with the atrocities and horrors that the narrator experienced …show more content…

"We believe life is circle. Everything comes and goes. Why grasp and cling? Always things will come around again if you give them time" (Walker 92). This is important as it creates a juxtaposition between the culture in which the narrator is immersed in and that of Dinh. This juxtaposition creates an underlying message, that about acceptance and reparation. The thumb acts as a major symbol as a part of Dinh's war afflicted spirit. During the war, Dr. Dinh was tortured and both his thumbs were cut off. He asks the plastic surgeon to perform a toe transplant to replace one of his missing thumbs. Despite the initial optimism of both men, the operation ultimately fails as the digit becomes gangrenous and then dead. Dinh is quick to accept the rejection of this transplant while the narrator continues to speak with great optimism. "Gangrene, it dead. Take it off." (Walker 142). Ultimately, the thumb acts as a resolution, a way of binding the two cultures together and changing the narrator's philosophy on the acceptance of war. The transplanted toe-as-thumb is an intriguing metaphor for hope, risk, and failure. In at least one sense, the thumb is a symbol of humanity. Yet, this story illustrates how war reduces us to animals, with the minute detail describing the difference that separates us from animals - the contrast showing the primal and rather violent nature of war and its effect of the human

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