Kamikaze Flashcards
“Her father embarked at sunrise,”
This creates a sense of journey, but the title suggest it will be a journey to his death. Japan is known as the land of the rising Sun this may be a reference to the location.
“A samurai sword,”
Can connote nobility and honour hints social motivation
“Shaven head full of powerful incantations,”
This suggests that the pilot was under a kind of spell which hints that the influence of patriotic propaganda that kamikaze were exposed to. They were told it was a great honour to die for their country.
“A flask of water,”
Juxtaposes as it has connotations of life this hints at internal conflict
“Strung out like bunting,”
The simile is homely and pretty a far cry from war. Bunting as associated with celebration which makes the image ironic as there’s no victorious return for the pilot
“On a green blue translucent sea”
Beautiful image of nature
“ Like a huge flag waved first one way,”
Flags are a symbol of national identity but here the simile hints at the way that flags can be used to stop or direct something
“Shoals” “fishes” “as” “bellies” “shrivelled towards” “sun”
The repeated sibilance sounds reflect the smooth movement of the fish in the water
“ and remembered how he”
Focus switches to the pilots childhood memories
“Built cairns of pearl grey pebbles,”
These are innocent childhood activities which contrast with the pilots job in the war
Stanza 4 enjabment and lack of punctuation
Mayhem at the toilet got caught up in his childhood memories
“Cloud marked mackerel black crabs feathery prawns the loose silver of whitebait,” “a tuna the dark prince muscular dangerous,”
The colours used in this line make nature sound precious. All the sea creatures are given extras scription the cumulative effective the highlights their beauty and significance to the pilot
“ they treated him as though he no longer existed”
Irony he survived but he is still treated as if he’s dead
Description of nature interspersed with patriotic imagery “bunting” “flags”
Show internal conflict
Pilot is voiceless and the poem is mainly in the third person
Social isolation and rejection
