Alice McDermott’s Absolution is a deeply introspective narrative that explores themes of privilege, guilt, faith, and redemption through the lens of Tricia’s memories of Charlene, an expatriate in 1960s Saigon. The story begins with Tricia reflecting on Charlene’s letters, which detail her efforts to help Vietnamese orphans during the Vietnam War. These letters serve as a metafictional device, akin to Walter Mitty’s fantasies in Thurber’s story, creating a layered narrative that examines both the events and the act of remembering them. Charlene’s active engagement in aiding the orphans contrasts with Tricia’s more passive role, highlighting the moral complexities of privilege and responsibility.
Charlene’s actions are driven by a combination of altruism and a desire for absolution, as her detailed letters function as confessions seeking validation and forgiveness. Meanwhile, Tricia’s retrospective narrative reveals her inner conflict and hesitancy, mirroring the reader’s own potential discomfort in acknowledging complicity in systemic injustices. This tension between action and inaction resonates with Mitty’s dual realities of decisive fantasy and constrained real life, offering a compelling exploration of the human condition.
The story’s themes are underscored by McDermott’s rich prose and seamless transitions between past and present, which reflect the fluidity of memory. Faith plays a central role, serving as both a source of comfort and a moral lens through which the characters grapple with their limitations. The orphans symbolize innocence and suffering, challenging the privileged expatriates—and the readers—to confront their moral responsibilities. Ultimately, Absolution suggests that redemption lies not in grand gestures but in the acknowledgment of one’s complicity and limitations.
Through its nuanced characters and layered narrative, McDermott’s story challenges readers to reflect on their own values and actions. Like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Absolution blurs the boundaries between imagined ideals and lived realities, offering a powerful meditation on the complexities of human morality.
