Analyzing a Sentence from “Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain”

 “Your father is a dark, sturdy man and so unlike you that, as a child, you were sure that one day Hagrid would come to your door and inform you of your status as a Mudblood, and then your true life- the life without the weight of your father’s history, pain, guilt, hopelessness, helplessness, judgment, and shame- would begin” (Kochai 4). 

This sentence from “Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” provides a multi-layered understanding of the characters, emotions, and relationships of this short story. With just one sentence, Kochai is able to give insight to many of the details further elaborated on throughout the story. The author’s attempt at relatability through an analogy of Hagrid and a Mudblood successfully connects the feelings of not belonging and failure that the main character has, due to the fact that Mudbloods in Harry Potter are considered as inferior. The sentence utilizes the adjectives “pain, guilt, hopelessness, helplessness, judgment, and shame.” I believe that the author’s choice in including six descriptive words exemplifies the level and intensity as to which he internalizes these emotions. 

The sentence also gives insight into the complexity of the main character and his father’s relationship. Throughout the short story, readers learn that the father-son relationship between the two of them proves to have its challenges as he mentions how his father has gone through war and adversity but has been able to build up a life despite his challenges. I think that he feels that he cannot live up to how accomplished his father’s life was, and has succumbed almost to a sense of carelessness. This sentence indicates that his father is “so unlike [him],” and his “true life” would begin once all the weight from his father is lifted off his shoulders. I think this brings to light the bitterness that he has towards his father, further exemplified through his behavior towards him through the confrontational moments they have. 

While the main character seems to hold resentment towards his father, the story proves to show desires for change in the relationship, which is not well articulated in just this one sentence. However, this sentence provides a deep insight into the difficulties of their relationship, thus providing a reasoning for his actions further into the novel where he plays his new game and attempts to save his father. He plays the videogame Metal Gear and is determined that he is seeing his father in the game. He earnestly attempts to save his father and ends up succeeding, all while blocking out multiple attempts from his family members in real life to reach out to him. 

The dedication and desperation interpreted from his actions show the underlying desires he has to connect the video game to the real world, in which he is able to be a better person to his father. The son attempts to lift the weight of hopelessness and guilt from his father in any way possible, seen through the ending where he visualizes the figures of the video game “journeying inside you, delving into your flesh” (Kochai 16). The ending he desires to have connects to the sentence, in which he strives to come to a resolution and not only wish for a “true life.”