Bayonet Charge

Question 1

‘Suddenly he awoke and was running - raw’

Answer 1

• Media-res, frantic and disorientated, reader is confused which mimics feelings of soldier, not prepared to kill doesn’t know why he’s fighting, unnatural
• ‘awoke,’ almost like he was hibernating, suggests unnatural
• Could be that he was awoken from patriotic thoughts
• ‘raw,’ vulnerable, inexperienced/unprepared, painfully exposed, contrasts the belief that war is all organised
• homophone, sounds of war
• repetition shows difficulty in expressing the moment of stress, links to the idea war is indescribable, allusion to Wilfred Owen poem
• Dash, reflective of his need to pause and compose himself

Question 2

‘King, honour, human dignity, etcetera
Dropped like luxuries’

Answer 2

• Asyndetic listing
• Simile is part of the overall use of similes to show how the war is indescribable
• The list undermines the reasons for fighting
• ‘Etcetera’ mocks his past views
• ‘Luxuries’ shows these values cannot be afforded, they can only focus on survival