The Raft Written by Peter Orner

The short story ''The Raft'' is written by Peter Orner in 2000. Through the story we are witnesses to a conversation between a 12, soon 13 years old boy, and his grandfather, Seymour, who captained a destroyer during World War 2. It is about war and what war does to people, who have experienced it, especially the guiltiness the soldiers have to fight with after killing another human being.

''The Raft'' takes place in the 60's or the 70's because the grandfather, Seymour, lost his short-term memory during the first Eisenhower administration, which was between 1953 -1957. The fact that there is shag in the grandfather's study also indicates that it is in the 70's, because shag was very modern back then. The social environment is highest class or higher middle class because the grandparents can afford to meet the Dewoskins, some friend of theirs, at Twin Orchards, which is an expensive golf club. The grandfather does also have his own study with his own desk and the grandmother is sitting by her beauty table, which indicates that she is a lady.

The grandfather was a captain at a destroyer during World War ll, he was the one who had the commando and he had to make important decisions. He has lost his short-term memory, but he still remembers a lot from the war. He is feeling guilty, because he once gave the order to blow up a boatload of naked Japanese during the war. He is taking his story very serious when telling it to his grandson, who he is treating like a soldier from the World War.

The grandson, who is a twelve years old boy, thirteen in two weeks, knows the story the grandfather is telling, because he has heard it several times before. At the bottom of page 124 the grandmother protests and disturb the grandfather's story, therefore the grandson has to prompts so the grandfather can continue telling, which indicates that the grandson knows the story and he knows what will happens next.

We are also made aware that the grandmother has heard the story before too. She knows what he is going to tell, even though, the grandfather murmurs ''Phyllis doesn't know,'' the grandmother knows that the story is about The South Pacific. The grandmother also thinks that it would be better if the grandson was at a summer camp instead of hearing the same story over and over again.

While telling the story the grandson notices that the grandfather is smiling. He says that his smile looks like ''a gash in a basketball''. This means that even though there is nothing to smile at the grandfather's smile remains. It is like a fixed smile that he cannot remove from his perfectly round face. The day he gave the order, it left a gash in his soul; he cannot remove the guiltiness, even though he is trying to excuse his act.

He is trying to excuse his act with the uniform he was wearing or that he could not had done