Title: The Day After the Day the War Ended
Author: Paul Finch
Date of First Publication: 2000
Place of Publication: Hideous Progeny
Type: Short Story
Characters: No Character
Themes: Mad Scientist/Monster; Race/Politics; Android; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; POSTHUMAN
Critical Summary: The story opens with Sgt. Baynes recounting events from World War One and World War Two. Vast amounts of dead bodies, as far as the eye could see lay shredded and lifeless across the land. The war has just ended and Baynes and his crew are being sent to finish one last mission. On the way to the mission, Baynes begins to recall the first introduction of the “Not-Dead” solider. Bearing scars from mass production, rough stitching, metal bolts protruding from limbs and joints severely damaged, ugly skin and glassy odd-colored eyes, these soldiers were everything unsightly. Sympathy settles in when he recalls their twisted postures and slurred speeches, many of them at battle to die for their fourth or fifth time. Baynes flashes back to when World War One broke out and reanimation known as “The Process” began to make its appearance. Germany took the lead with this and patented the procedure and were the first to use it in war. Due to moral and political reasons, most countries neglected the idea of bringing back the dead. Eventually, realizing that this was the future of war, Great Brittan began to adopt the procedure after suffering massive death tolls, to allow for more soldiers in battle. The “Not Dead” became a tool of war and a process that could bring back people’s loved ones; so long as bodies were retrieved from the battlefield and quickly transported to a hospital to undergo “The Process”. Bodies were collected and brought back to life in mass numbers to be used as soldiers in battle. Upon arriving to the mission, Captain Anderson and Lieutenant Grey arrive face to face with an armored vehicle, one that they are supposed to collect a surrender from. Suddenly Captain Anderson guns down the driver and his crew, which Baynes later reveals to be Hitler and his partners, reincarnated through “The Process”. Flashing forward, Baynes is now 83 years old and reaching the end of his life. Becoming “Not Dead” is now common practice in wars and everyday life, yet he has decided that it is not the decision he will choose, if it is up to him.
The connections of Finch’s “The Day After the Day the War Ended” and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein resonate in the themes presented. Finch derives the ideas of mad scientists and monsters from Shelley’s works. The mad scientists become the Nazis that create the “Not Dead”, Frankenstein-esqe monsters to be used in war. Politics and moralities are largely present ideas as the setting takes place at the times of World War One and Two. Finally, the soldiers being created are closely related to artificially made humans, resonating the theme of Android.
Administrative Notes: Brandy Manfredonia, CSUF; Macy Charles (editing)