Triage - the survivors suffer

“Triage shows us that the survivors of trauma often suffer simply because they have survived”

Survivor guilt is one of the themes present in the novel Triage by Scott Anderson. Anderson explores survivor guilt using the characters of Mark Walsh and Joaquin Morales. Survivors of trauma often suffer simply because they have survived means they suffer from survivor guilt. The guilt of a survivor is having a feeling of responsibility about the people or person who died. Mark felt this towards the death of his colleague Colin and Joaquin experienced it about his family.

After Colin’s death in Kurdistan, Mark’s physical and mental health declined. His legs got weaker and he couldn’t accept that Colin was gone and Mark wouldn’t tell anyone what happened. Anderson shows us that Mark suffers from survivor guilt after Colin’s death by giving Mark denial. Mark lies to Elena and Colin’s wife Diane about what really happened in Kurdistan. Elena asks Mark, “Why didn’t Coli...