ATDTDA (3): Medium of truth, 84-85 #1

[Paul Nightingale]

Veikko is "the sort of blaster who likes to watch it happen"; whereas Webb
"[prefers] to be well out of the area" (84). One might infer that Veikko,
without the evidence of his own eyes, might doubt confirmation of the deed
that arrives from another. Again I'm reminded of fort-da, the repetition of
a first act. Just above this passage, of course, Veikko has discussed the
postcard, or "memory of a memory". He "[reads] over and over to himself":
again the repetition of a first act, an innocent act. Every time he reads
the card after that first time he is trying to get back to the first time,
when he had to read to find out what it said. This is what he now remembers,
not his family so much as the first reading that reminds him of his family.

For Veikko, the doing of it is less important than the consequences; and
there can never be a satisfactory conclusion, there being no end of likely
candidates. He must go on and on, remembering memories.