Jagala: The thing about Lammio is that he *is* a capable officer and professional soldier
I don't remember much being said about Lammio's professional military qualifications. Generally, Linna seems more interested in what you might call "people skills". But Lammio is constantly described as being extremely unpopular among the men. If at least he was a good company commander he would ensure low losses during fighting and I doubt they would hate him quite so much ... ?
With regard to his background, I think that all Linna says is this:
Lammio was a career officer and had been decisively spoiled at the Officer's Academy. There he had picked up manners which the old captain [Karna] couldn't observe without grinding his teeth. The privates didn't just hate Lammio himself but also his sharp voice and his over exaggerated pronunciation when giving orders.
Chapter 1/II
By the way, there are a couple of other small mysteries here. In the beginning of the novel Lammio is commander of 1st Platoon. Are we ever told who replaces him when he takes over the company?
Koskela, of course, is leader of 3rd Platoon. But what about 2nd Platoon? I think all we are told is:
He was a young, conscripted second lieutenant, a boy who had recently passed his 'A' levels at a West Finnish provincial college and now did his best to live up to the mythology surrounding reserve lieutenants by being pompous.
Chapter 1/II
He does feature a bit more in both the film versions, as far as I recall.
Karna is an interesting character because he would probably be very far from Linna with regard to political views, yet he is portrayed very positively simply because of his human qualities. Yet another example of Linna's literary strengths. Reviewers and others who live from analysing literature often want to pigeonhole writers politically because it's something they can understand
, while the metaphysical aspect is something you need to use your intuition to perceive. There are lots of politics in Linna's novel, but primarily his aim is much higher. He's not giving you simple solutions, he's trying to make you think for yourself. To that end he is constantly and deliberately teasing the reader by almost giving him the easy stuff but then suddenly he will puncture whatever image he is presenting, such as in the aforementioned example of Rokka.
There is also a teasing element in the presentation of Karna. It is pretty long and detailed, so the reader doesn't exactly expect the man to die in the very first battle scene. Hence, his death comes as more of a shock than would otherwise be the case.
Even more important, perhaps, is this simple question: Does Karna in reality commit suicide? We know that he has been in the Winter War so he must be aware of the effect of modern weapons. He's not one of those who still thinks this is the Aunus Operation or something similar, so the way he tries to lead his men into the attack seems not only insane but also irresponsible. A company needs a good commander, and Karna knows the kind of trouble he is causing his men by dying. A kind of trouble named Lammio.
So all in all, what on Earth is going on there? Something you have to be Finnish to understand perhaps?
. I'll be back later...
