3.2 Eye Witness Account written by a young radio operator in the first World War

Question 1

Genre

Answer 1

war literature

Question 2

Mode

Answer 2

memoir

Question 3

Audience

Answer 3

WW1 soldiers, historians, himself

Question 4

Purpose

Answer 4

to inform and share

Question 5

Context

Answer 5

• 1915-1918, British frontline in blue, Germans in red
• Trench foot was bad and frequent
• WW1 called ‘the great war’
• 8 million soldiers surrendered as prisoners of war had higher survival rate than those on the frontline

Question 6

“At the age of eighteen”

Answer 6

retrospective voice
- immature and naive age

Question 7

“I crossed to France early in 1917”

Answer 7

proper noun
- context, authenticity of WW1

Question 8

“We operators had only a vague idea of our likely duties”

Answer 8

pre modifying adjective
- uncertainty
- not alone, others clueless too
- past progressive tense to build suspense

Question 9

“I was sent”

Answer 9

verb
- passive voice
- no choice, duty
- aggressive undertones

Question 10

“I laughed at the frightened manner”

Answer 10

verb
- emasculating
- immature, mocking soldiers

Question 11

“It was not long before I took to flinging myself down on such occasions”

Answer 11

dynamic verb
- humbled by experience of war
- deliberately understates
- turns into the soldier he once laughed at, ironic
- shows brutality of war

Question 12

”- and I hesitated -“

Answer 12

parenthesis
- builds anticipation

Question 13

“An officer and his batman”

Answer 13

military context
- if you were a member of the aristocracy you automatically became an officer

Question 14

“Put us wise”

Answer 14

reported speech/colloquialism
- condescending , talking down

Question 15

“The attack was to made”

Answer 15

passive voice
- no agency or choice

Question 16

“‘Hewitt, climb up there and attach the aerial as high as possible’”

Answer 16

direct speech and imperative
- demanding and bossy
- senior has the power and voice
- him and hewitt are chivalrous
- adds to realism, unlikely to be completely accurate

Question 17

“Hewitt clambered up over the figure of christ”

Answer 17

dynamic verb
- awkwardness
- religious symbolism, being sacrificed like Jesus sacrificed himself

Question 18

“You try”

Answer 18

imperative
- direct speech
- short sentence

Question 19

“Tat-tatting all around”

Answer 19

alliteration
- onomatopoeic sound of machine fire
- adds to realism
- auditory imagery, make it’s more vivid for the reader

Question 20

“I felt intensely relieved that I was to be given an opportunity of doing something useful”

Answer 20

adverb
- patriotic, finds the war a privilege.
- attitudes to war: men wanted to be heroes

Question 21

“I was to play a real part in the great war”

Answer 21

metaphor
- ideology of the time, boys were given the idea they needed to be a hero in the war