This novel is written and told by Joseph Plumb Martin himself. In these first hand accounts, he tells of the obstacles him and the numerous other soldiers faced during the American Revolutionary War. Along with speaking of the hardships faced, Martin also provides background of not only his life, but what the country was like during this time. Martin speaks of in the year 1774, he didn’t want to have any ties to the war, he felt that he’d be safer at home. (Martin, 96) When it comes to the weather that was faced, the men experienced all seasons Cesarino 2 every year the war was taking place.
The poem deals with these themes related to war. At the time when the poem was written, it was the deadliest year for U.S. troops fighting a war in Afghanistan. There was 496 casualties, and the U.S military personnel were killed at a rate of about one every 18 hours, (CNS). For this reason, the author creates a parallel between a teenage murderer and America sending troops off to war. First, Hoagland mentions, “You can’t keep beating yourself up, Billy,’ I heard the therapist say on television to the teenage murderer, ‘about all those people you killed - You just have to be the best person you can be, one day at a time,” because he wants to point out the ridiculousness of the idea that the power of forgiveness is stronger than the power of consequence.
This description paints the scenes of the poem as they happen, the powerful connotations of the words battling against each other, and to the grievance of the reader, the negative feelings prevail. This battle illuminates the brutality and fear experienced by soldiers, in WWII, during their final moments on Earth - their fear, sadness, and horrified disgust all hidden between the lines of these two sentences. Foreshadowed by the soldier's machine like tone, the speaker alludes to the fact that he will fight for his life, and
The narrator’s changing understanding of the inevitability of death across the two sections of the poem illustrates the dynamic and contrasting nature of the human
First, this poem truly reflects the hardships the soldiers returning home had to face. In the poem the first lines state that the veteran sees himself in the wall. He feels he is within the wall himself because the war mentally killed him. He feels he should have his name on the wall because that’s where he feels he belongs.
In Soldier from the War Returning, Thomas Childers writes that “a curious silence lingers over what for many was the last great battle of the war.” This final battle was the soldier’s return home. After World War II, veterans came back to the United States and struggled with stigmatized mental illnesses as well as financial and social issues. During the war, many soldiers struggled with mental health issues that persisted after they came home.
The soldier himself is frightened on why he could not save him which haunts him in his dreams as he says “In all my dreams/ before my helpless sight” is how every time he dreams he sees the soldier and he cannot control it causing him to think of it every night frightening him everyday. Soon he will feel that the dead person wants revenge for his death as the soldier states “he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”, The dead soldier always comes into the narrator's dream wanting revenge as he chokes him as how he was being choked by the gas clouds and then drowning as how the dead soldier drowned in the green sea of chlorine gas. The horrors of war is what scares the soldier even after the war. At first soldiers imagine themselves as heroes creating them eager and excited they are until they finally get to the front and see no man's land. No man's land is usually bumpy with shell holes and dead trees that are either broken or burnt.
After the soldiers return home, they have to fight a war between their consciousness and the disorder. In addition, they have to deal with the guilt and death of others. A poem that can relate to this is called, Hurt, by Nine Inch Nails. In the poem, the character has to deal with the pain and memories of others. The poem states, “Try to kill it all away
In stanza 3 states “But I hung on like death,” uses simile. It benefits the cause of alcohol that soon becomes tragic for the son. He’s gotten used to it that being abused, death can affect him. Additionally it touches people's ideas to illuminate the true meaning of the poem and to create a negative picture in the reader's mind that is shown by the son of an abusive father. In stanza 13 through 14, “You beat time on my head with a palm caked hard by dirt.”
This assonance begins the poem by setting the scene. We are able to interpret that the unnamed narrator is in a terrible mood, is fearful, and his anxiety is skyrocketing. This is set at midnight, which gives a feeling of uneasiness. These dark terms are emphasized by the assonance to give the
From here, a uniform mood and tone is set throughout the poem and can be seen heavily in not only the choice of words but, also the plot and structure of the poem. The theme of sympathy is really conveyed through Erdrich’s melancholic tone. Throughout the poem, we see a very gloomy and melancholic tone set by the events happening. “Until I could no longer bear / the thought of how I was” (51-52), these two lines portray her battle after she is rescued and how instead of her relief she is feeling a longing to be back with her captors. Lines similar to these two lead embody why the tone is so gloomy and sad especially when readers see the battle she is experiencing because she is safe now, away from her captors but, she doesn 't really want to be.
This fear throws plenty of pressure and burden to people and therefore makes people mentally depressed. Such mental breakdown further influences people negatively in a physical way. Their physical health will go down day by day. And this is why some people say that we should fear death. They never realize that the all the pain comes from the fear of death.
He then contrasts between the bomber’s view to the civilians’ view from the ground. The bombers view is recognized from a plane filled with ammunition. This suggests the bombers are carefree of their acts committed, but the civilians are petrified for the safety of their lives due to the uncertainty of the attack which is to occur. The effect on readers is that while reading the poem they begin to notice the different views of the bombers and civilians while experiencing war. Also, the readers tend to realize the savagery conveyed by the
The pain that the soldier could get from guns could only last for a moment, but it also could be a pain that comes slowly, gradually and kills you with tough and suffer, which is an agony for mentally and physically, connecting to theme. “The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells” is from seventh line in first stanza. Owen also uses symbol to describe the scene of soldiers dying in the battle field by comparing with actual funeral in church with friends and families grieving his death. However, there are no beautiful calming voice choirs from the church in the battlefield to make the dead person rest in peace; no people to grieve, no funerals there. Instead, they here the sound of dull and big sound of shells attacking them.
He implies this sense of darkness as a way of “fun” as he describes acres of land and houses being reduced down to “..only dirt..wet or dry..” (line 24). The meaning is misunderstood as the “...blady carouses” contradict the importance of the land with the final line, “...you can hang or drown at last..” (line 28). The reader comes to the realization after the last line of the stanza is that the writer was trying to warn him of the things that may possibly burden him later.
