Even though Surfacing is not set in wartime, references to World War II (and war in general) pop up pretty frequently. In part, these references stem from the fact that the narrator and her brother were children when World War II was going on, even if they weren't immediately super-conscious of the conflict. The narrator finds her mind drawn frequently toward warfare and violence, even though she claims that it was always her brother who was more interested in that kind of stuff (by contrast, she tried to avoid thinking about such things). With characters like David claiming that a conflict between the U.S. and Canada was imminent and the narrator's own constant sense of being invaded (by memories, by questions about her feelings for Joe, etc.), it feels like war and conflict aren't really so far away from the novel's tranquil reality, ready to bubble up at any time.
Questions About War
- Why does the novel make such frequent references to World War II and Hitler? What is the importance of that war for the narrator in the present?
- What do you make of David's idea that the U.S. and Canada could go to war? Is it presented as ridiculous, credible, or a little bit of both?
- What is the narrator's attitude toward war and violence? Does it change throughout the novel?
Chew on This
As the story progresses, the narrator's thoughts about war and violence evolve; she goes from thinking they should be avoided to acknowledging them as somehow a necessary part of "reality."
Set in a kind of retro setting, the novel refers frequently to World War II to remind the reader that history, while over, is always waiting to repeat itself.