The major theme of this story by Ivo Andrić is man’s inhumanity to man. Set in a remote Bosnian village shortly after Austrian annexation, gendarmes capture a rebel leader with a festering chest wound. He is thrown in a cell without treatment and denied water until he names his co-conspirators. As the gendarme commander sleeps soundly, his young wife listens to the man’s screams and pleas for water throughout the night. When she finally falls asleep, her husband wakes and forces himself on her. Other themes include justice, duty, betrayal, brutality, isolation and loneliness, despair, sexuality.
The “thirst” referred to in the title could refer to several things: the prisoner’s thirst for water and freedom for his people; the commander’s thirst for fame, advancement and sensual pleasures; and his wife’s thirst for a return to her former, peaceful life in the far-off world.
During the night the woman appears to lose hope for humanity, foreshadowing disaster to come: It seemed as if they were all staggering over some precipice and that they would all fall on just such a night into darkness, blood, thirst, and unknown horrors. The story was written in 1934. Could Andrić, a career diplomat, have been foreshadowing World War 2?
The denouement demonstrates an unfortunate fact of life: She sank, drowning in the familiar passion, while all of the thought of last night’s human darkness rose like bubbles to the surface and vanished.…The ornamented room suddenly filled with the ardent light of day. In moments of pleasure, it is easy to forget the suffering of others.
Thirst Text / PDF (3,800 words)