Explore the Use of Contrast in Wilfred Owen’s ‘Disabled’ and Kate Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour.’
Both Wilfred Owen in his poem ‘Disabled’ and Kate Chopin in her short story ‘The Story of an Hour’ use contrast to explore the key themes and characters. Owen accentuates the contrast that exists between the women before and after the war. He uses contrast to show the reader how he had a girlfriend before the war and that she had helped to be part of the reason him to join up, but after the war, he is abandoned and his freedom has been stripped from him. By contrast, Chopin emphasises contrast partially using marriage in how her life was controlled by her husband before but now she is free as she has been widowed. The use of direct comparison in sentences shows the main character conflict of emotions being experienced with the concepts of freedom as opposed to love being argued as the strongest emotion.
Owen uses the contrast of the soldiers’ state pre-war and post-war to highlight just how much the soldier has lost through going to war. Physically, pre-war, the soldier is described as ‘younger than his youth,’ and has an ‘artist silly for his face.’ Suggesting that his beauty is worth capturing permanently in paint. The words ‘younger ‘and ‘youth’ emphasise this man’s innocence and boyishness, the tautology places emphasis on how young he is thus outlining his immaturity before the war and making his loss at war even more tragic. The contrast once he has returned where Owen
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the main character is constantly being told what she is and is not able to do such as “But he said I wasn’t able to go, nor able to stand it after I got there;… (Gilman)” This is an excellent example of her feeling oppressed, because her husband feels that he knows her capabilities better than she does. Another example of this is “’What is it little girl?’ he said. ‘Don’t go walking about like that—you’ll get cold.’ (Gilman)” This is an example of John thinking that her condition is so bad, she has to be treated like a child, constantly telling her what and what not to do. In “The Story of an Hour” the shows she has felt depressed with “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. (Chopin)” After receiving news that her husband passed away in a train accident, she felt as if the burden of doing things for her husband was lifted, and that she could do the things she wants to do.
Explain how particular features of at least two of Wilfred Owen's poems set for study interact to affect your response to them.
line with the way that Owen is conveying the 'Pity of War' but he also
In ‘Disabled’, Wilfred Owen a war veteran tells the story of a young soldier who returns from war and realizes how dissimilar his old life is to his new one where he is disabled both mentally and physically despite the fact that his mind may seem unaffected by past traumas the reader will begin to understand the subtle hurts that have slowly damaged him. In contrast, the story of ‘Out, out-‘ is of a boy completing his everyday chores, sawing wood, in the backdrop of the Vermont mountains. He accidentally cuts his hand off and he succumbs to death despite a doctor’s aid.
Throughout the poem there are many examples of contrast or juxtaposition in a majority of the stanzas. In the first stanza the veteran is sitting all alone in his wheelchair with his legs amputated. Owen describes the boys playing in the park. These boys are a direct juxtaposition to the veteran because they are able to run
The theme of loss is portrayed similarly in the two poems ‘Disabled’ and ‘Out, out-’. Both of these poems are about the protagonist dealing with physical loss as they both experience an accident. Both Wilfred Owen and Robert Frost manage to mesmerize their audience’s attention, and also sympathize for the protagonists’ misfortune. They do this by the use of many literary techniques which are obvious at times, but some are very subtle, such as similes, metaphors, personification, and contrasts.
Wilfred Owen’s poetry is shaped by an intense focus on extraordinary human experiences. In at least 2 poems set for study, explore Owen’s portrayal of suffering and pity.
In the poem Exposure by Wilfred Owen, Owen has used some language techniques to appeal to my imagination by using personification, repetition and alliteration. By analysing the poems language techniques in-depth to see a bigger picture of how traumatising their experience's during the war were like and how severely nature's wrath tormented the soldiers, and to see what the poem is trying to convey. Owens most important message in the poem is to avoid war at all cost because of the harshness of nature and how tormenting it
Wilfred Owen can be considered as one of the finest war poets of all times. His war poems, a collection of works composed between January 1917, when he was first sent to the Western Front, and November 1918, when he was killed in action, use a variety of poetic techniques to allow the reader to empathise with his world, situation, emotions and thoughts. The sonnet form, para-rhymes, ironic titles, voice, and various imagery used by Owen grasp the prominent central idea of the complete futility of war as well as explore underlying themes such as the massive waste of young lives, the horrors of war, the hopelessness of war and the loss of religion. These can be seen in the three poems, ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ and
How does Wilfred Owen use language and poetic devices to create impact on the reader?
How does Owen’s portrayal of the relationship between youth and war move us to a deeper understanding of suffering?
In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin describes to her readers a young woman’s response to her husband’s death, or at least his presumed death. The opinions readers will draw from this story will vary from person to person due to personal experiences. The experience and wisdom that I have gained through the trails and tribulations of my life help me to understand, relate, and even despise Mrs. Mallard’s character. On one hand, I feel pity for Mrs. Mallard. I think she felt trapped in a situation that she found to be inescapable. She felt lonely, restless, and did not know how to help herself. Yet, on the other hand, I do not feel sorry for
War is not heroic. War is sickness, struggle, and death. This is the message that poet and World War I soldier Wilfred Owen wanted to instill in his people back home. Those back home talked of glory and national pride and rooted for their soldiers, however, they were unaware of the horrors these soldiers witnessed and experienced. The soldiers and their people back home were not only separated by distance but by mental barriers, which Owen showcases in his poetry. Owen’s use of personification in “Anthem for Doomed Youth” degrades the soldiers to objects to show how the war dehumanized them to intentionally create a disconnect between the audience and the soldiers.
To illustrate a difference in an element of fiction, we commence with plot. We can conclude that Chopin has numerous techniques to implement her notions and effectively carry out disparate plots by comparing her two short stories. In “The Story of an Hour” by Chopin, the main character, Louise Mallard, “died of heart disease” at the end of the story (Chopin 181). What this melancholy ending does for this story is create a tone of dreariness. In spite of this method, in “The Storm” by Chopin, at the end of this fearsome storm, “everyone was happy” (Chopin 123). Chopin’s approach to ending this story was unlike her approach to ending “The Story of an Hour.” The pleasing ending of “The Storm” creates a fulfilled, content tone for the story. Demonstrating that two stories transcribed by the same author end in two utterly divergent
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin describes an hour in the life of an oppressed woman bound by marriage in the nineteenth century. It is only when Mrs. Mallard’s husband dies in a sudden railroad accident that she realizes she is no longer tied together by the ropes of man. At first she is shocked and horrified by the tragedy, for she did say “she had loved him – sometimes” (Chopin). However, once the tears were wept, a new bountiful life of freedom was now in the eyes of Mrs. Mallard. Chopin uses imagery, third person omniscient point of view, and concepts of relief and joy in “The Story of an Hour” to convey the true feelings of Mrs. Mallard as she is freed from the strenuous and unjust oppression of women due to society’s expectation of gender roles.