Goodbye Darkness is a memoir written by William Manchester. Manchester was a U.S. Marine in the Pacific during World War II. What truly made this book stand out for me was how deep it goes in philosophically. For instance, it talks about the concepts of survivor’s guilt. When on the patrol on the Guadalcanal, Manchester’s entire group that he fought with was struck by a Japanese mortar leaving him the only survivor. "It isn't fair, it isn't fair, they're dead, why can't I be dead," Manchester really made me feel his emotions throughout this book which made it really intriguing to read. I felt like I was sitting front row of a performance of every single memory he had. Goodbye Darkness paints a realistic picture of what Manchester experienced in the Pacific War. …show more content…
Do you think that he was successful in this regard? Furthermore, do you think his memories of combat are accurate and would this really help to gain closure? Near the end of the novel Manchester states that he only fought for two months and that he had suffered a head injury which kind of got me thinking that maybe his memory is impaired. What if things didn't happen the way that they did. In this memoir Manchester does explain certain things very thoroughly. Such as the explanation of New Guinea's flora and fauna or explaining his life before 1941. Manchester talks about his two pre-embarkation attempts to lose his virginity and it kind of seems that they just go on and on. Do you think that he was hard to follow at times because of this? Did it seem like a memoir or more a novel regarding his subjective experiences? Regarding my above question do you think this memoir was made to be read by veterans or people who have never experienced war or these experiences? Or another