Life is full of contradictions and inconsistencies, especially in those moments when we yearn for clarity. As the author Scott Turow noted about our efforts to grapple with uncertainty in the stories of our lives, “The purpose of narrative is to present us with complexity and ambiguity.” Issues that appear, at first glance, to be in sharp black and white relief quickly drift into shades of gray. That’s what Beth Taylor reflects on with regard to distressingly ambiguous matters of war and peace.
Beth Taylor teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program in Brown University’s English Department. She lives in Providence.
