After reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close as well as the first chapter of Judith Butler’s novel Frames of War: When is Life Grievable? in our ASTU class, several issues resonated within my mind.

Butler raises several important issues in the first chapter of her novel. Firstly, the issue of whether some peoples lives are valued more than others definitely had an impact on me. A direct quote from Butler’s novel (36) “… we mourn for some lives but respond with coldness to the loss of others.” shows us that while all lives lost are human, the lives of the ‘enemy’ are often dehumanized therefore we are taught not to mourn for them. This is highly troublesome as the Government and the media determines who the ‘enemy’ is, and we are made to believe that our country or side is righteous. At the end of the day, every life lost in conflict is human regardless. Butler also pointed out that certain methods of killing are accepted (such as aerial bombing), while others are deemed inhumane (such as suicide bombers).

Secondly, is the issue of democracy and how the US has tried to install it upon other countries who never wanted it in the first place. “If a form of power is imposed upon a people who do not choose that form of power, then that is, by definition, an undemocratic process.” (36-37). The whole point of democracy is that it is the rule of the majority, but if democracy was never wanted in the first place then how can that be a democracy?

Thirdly, the Government always decides who is publicly grievable and who is not. As Butler points out, initial victims of AIDS were shamed as it was associated with homosexuality. It is only more recently that the victims of AIDS are openly grieved by the public. In the case of 9/11, American victims were publicly grieved while foreigners and illegal workers were not. Why are certain peoples lives valued more than others?

In conclusion, we must question what we are told before we blindly follow it. There are always two sides to everything, and neither side may actually be the right one.

Works Cited:

Butler, Judith. Frames of War: When is Life Grievable? London: Verso, 2009. Print.

Foer, Jonathan Safran. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. New York: Mariner, 2005. Print.