Triage Essay: Question Two

By A Mackie

Ahmet Talzani and Joaquin Morales seem as though they were created as characters
to mirror each other, to provide an example of some of the side effects of war. This
effect is that people are left with dealing with people who have seen sights that have
shaken them to the point of collapse, and that they will be left with the decision of
wether people are still fit to live. Thus they have almost identical behaviour patterns
and motives, the actions they display, their philosophies on life and war, and also how
they justify their dual role as healer and executioner.

Ahmet and Joaquin both behave in a very similar manner, and this is shown clearly
throughout the novel. Both Ahmet and Joaquin treat mark throughout their contact
with him in an intellectually superior manner; both of them give him serious advice,
and deep philosophical points about life and war throughout the novel. This shows
that both Ahmet’s and Joaquin’s behaviour revolves around being the calm, wise man
who gives life changing advice. The only real difference between both characters
behaviour is that Ahmet behaves as though he dwell about what’s occurring around
him, whereas Joaquin lives with the constant burden of the knowledge of what he did
to the ‘incurables’, although he masks his true feelings about it. Ahmet and Joaquin
behave in a manner that is consistent with those who feel they are superior in some
way to those around them.

The motives of Joaquin Morales and Ahmet Talzani is the only real area in which
these two characters differentiate, excluding obvious things like race, culture and
religion. Even then there is only a fine line which differentiates them. Both of their
motives can be summed up by the idea that “Joaquin Morales shoots those whom he
can not cure in order to help the community whilst Ahmet Talzani shoots them due to
the fact he may not be able to help them” (www.oppapers.com/essays/triage/85431).
This shows us that Joaquin is motivated by the thought of how his decisions will
affect everyone else, Ahmet’s motives is based out of the necessity to conserve his
effort to help the greatest number of people possible. Both Joaquin and Ahmet have
distinct morals guiding them, they are the only real point where they differentiate as
characters.

Both Ahmet and Joaquin have very similar philosophies about life, the key difference
being the emphasis on the meaning. Whereas Joaquin Morales says” I suppose if I
taught them anything, it was how to forget history” (p215: Triage), Whereas Ahmet
Talzani says “Some Live, some die. It’s the only way to view it. Anything else is just
self-torture and arrogance” (p26: Triage). These quotes exemplify the fact that both
doctor’s believe that after death, people should be forgotten, so that people can simply
keep living their lives. The differences being that whereas Joaquin takes more of a
positive approach to his philosophy, Ahmet has a very down to earth viewpoint which
has a very good and bad sense to it, giving advice and what will occur if the advice is
ignored. Both Ahmet’s and Joaquin’s philosophy on life look different at face value,
they mean the same thing in the end.

The philosophies of war given by Ahmet and Joaquin vary considerably on the
outside, but like their philosophies on life, they both have a similar meaning.
Joaquin’s philosophy on war talks about the only reason war occurred in the first
place was that his country wanted war; “We slaughtered each other without mercy
because we wanted to see how blood ran, because it seemed an interesting thing to
do.” (p215, Triage). Joaquin’s view seems stark in contrast to Ahmet’s view, which is
summed up by this quote “Ah well, these little mysteries, morbid curiosities, War is
full of them” (p24, Triage). Both viewpoints talk about how war is merely a period of
time for all involved to experience bloodshed first hand, but where they differ is that
Ahmet ignores the implications and philosophical matters involved, and seems to be
their to be part of it, Joaquin Distains the idea of it and belittles the whole idea of war.
Both characters have almost similar philosophies on war but have their own personal
takes mixed in as well.

Both Joaquin and Ahmet have dual roles of being Healer and executioner, and both
justify this double role in a different way. Ahmet Justifies his role by simply ignoring
what he’s doing, just living with and getting on with life “But don’t imagine I lie
awake at night thinking of these things. No. I sleep very soundly” (p26, Triage). This
shows that Ahmet copes by ignoring what he’s doing in his role as healer and
executioner, which goes hand in hand with his philosophy of just accepting the fact
that people die, and we can’t do anything to stop it. In a similar way, Joaquin justifies
his dual role by externalising the blame to how many people needed treatment. “I
liked him very much, but there was nothing I could do to save him” (p228, Triage).
Just like Ahmet, Joaquin discards ownership of the situation to fate, that ‘nothing I
could do’ to save him. Both men’s actions are summed up quite by Mark earlier in the
book “You have to keep it separate…and you don’t feel a thing” (p93, Triage).

Ahmet Talzani and Joaquin Morales as characters are almost identical, for the sake of
the plot, and although on the surface of their actions, behaviour, motives, philosophies
and their justifications of being both healer and executioner can seem different, with
different emphasis on different parts, they are very much identical when you look at
them in a deeper manner.

Bibliography
• Triage, viewed 04/03/2010 (http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Triage/85431)
• Anderson Scott 1999, Triage, Scribner
• Triage Quotes, viewed 02/03/2010 (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Triage)
• Triage wiki space, viewed 02/03/2010
(http://triage.wikispaces.com/Characters)
• Triage wiki space, viewed 02/03/2010
(http://triage.wikispaces.com/file/view/Joaquin+4.pdf)
• Triage board game, viewed 28/02/2010
(http://www.bssc.edu.au/public/learning_teaching/pd/samples/english/triage/b
oardgame.swf)