Veil of the Temple
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Authors
Manuel, Bruce Allan
Issue Date
2023-08-23
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
University of the South , School of Letters Thesis 2023 , School of Letters , Veil of the temple , Navy , naval officer , military
Alternative Title
Abstract
I was inspired to write this collection of stories by my experience while serving as an officer in the United States Navy. The military as an organization, in particular the officer corps, is an insular society which operated largely away from the view of the general population, having its own language, social norms, and methods of enforcing those rules.
The military is deified by many in this country and occupies an amoral role in the minds of many Americans, who rarely question its actions or motives. To me, this mystique that the military has is reminiscent of the Jewish priesthood in the New Testament Bible as told in the Book of Matthew-closed, exclusive, powerful. It is my intention to rip open the ‘veil’ of this ‘temple’ and in part reveal what is inside.
These stories are about ordinary people’s lives and the choices they make to deal with the demands of living within this structure. The story Veil of the Temple follows a successful African American couple who have attained high rank and status within the military. In the story they are forced to face the fact that their many years in pursuit of this goal has corrupted them and negatively impacted the lives of their family.
The Quality of Mercy is based on a story my father told me about his experience of meeting enemy Japanese soldiers in the jungles of Burma during World War II. It is fiction but draws heavily from the untold stories of the Negro soldiers, who like my father deployed to the China-Burma-India Campaign during the war.
The Gargoyle uses magical realism to tell the story of what happens to a young sailor who desperately wants to attend the United States Naval Academy and become an officer in the Navy. His future plans are jeopardized when he accidently loses his military ID card, the punishment for which could put a black mark on his record and ruin his chance to attain his goal.
What Skins We Bear is about the hatred between two naval officers on a ship and how their actions affect their lives and ruin the career of an innocent young officer who unfortunately gets caught up in the bitter conflict.
Writing these stories was at first a kind of self-therapy for me, but later grew into deeper, and I hope, more insightful tales of people struggling to make it within this often pressure cooker of a system.
Description
Citation
Publisher
University of the South