Chad Renner FBB#3

This chapter felt as if it were the culmination of the turmoil of the previous chapter. The family dynamic has practically disintegrated and the Rocky Flats plant is besieged by new scrutiny. I can identify with Iversen’s plight, since I have dealt with the repercussions of divorce, and the event which occurred in this chapter specifically resonated with me. Iversen’s attempts to ignore the increasingly chaotic household were ultimately futile. The inclination to ignore seems to be a pervasive theme in Full Body Burden. Not only does Iversen engage in this behavior but so does her entire community, which may also be accused of complacency. However can we dismiss them as naive or too captivated by their new found middle –class existence to notice or even consider the peril which Rocky Flats posed? Or is the need to ignore things which are odious simply a defensive mechanism employed to preserve our illusions? I believe it is the latter, and this can be noted by Iversen’s reaction when she is told of Rocky Flats true purpose by Mark. She seems initially quite incredulous and begins to repeat the erroneous rumors which circulated throughout neighborhood. She finds herself amid the argument resembling her farther and eventually the argument is inconclusive with both Iversen and Mark unwilling to push the issue further. However it is at this consequential moment when the two narratives, which hitherto had avoided one another, now collided. The significance of this collision on Iversen still unknown and she remains rather weary of the possibility of ubiquitous contamination; I do not believe she had time to comprehend the magnitude of this revelation. One quote which I found particularly relevant was made by an attorney “It is as if the government has moved a tiger in a papier-mâché cage onto land adjoining the plaintiff’s land. Maybe the paper cage will hold, but no man in his right mind is going to move next door and find out” (Iversen 115).