Remains Flashcards
Themes (5)
• Reality of Conflict: Charge of the light brigade: representation of war, Kamikaze: duty in war, Poppies: viewpoints of war
- Effects of conflict: guilt
- Memory
- Guilt
• Individual experiences: Emigrée, London
About
The speaker tells the story of being haunted by the killing of a man trying to rob a bank. He relives the event, filled with regret and guilt.
Big Ideas (3)
- War
- Power
- Guilt
“probably armed, possibly not”
Guilt, Memory
Modal verbs show element of doubt, doesn’t trust his first instinct
Repeated further on, always replaying the scene, never leaves him, mind is disordered, still there mentally – PTSD, guilt, “probably” – trying to reassure himself that he was right to shoot him as he had defence but “possibly” shows the disorder affecting him and doubting himself
“I see every round as it rips through his life”
Guilt, Memory
Moves from collective “all three of us” to “I” showing he feels responsibility, by making others at fault he feels better and less at fault for the death
“every round” = violence, so many bullets, destructive, not just one shot but a sudden onslaught of gunfire
“rips through his life” = rips is destructive, his life was ended early and prematurely
“his life” also means his kids, parents, other people were all affected by his death
“I see broad daylight on the other side”
Guilt, Memory
“rips” = personification of the bullets - violent, destructive, utterly destroyed his body into pieces
“broad daylight” shredded his body, nothing solid left,
“broad daylight…other side” could mean he has gone to a better place of no war, other side of life
“the image of agony”
Reality of conflict, Individual experience, Memory
“Image” - The narrator is aware and in acknowledgement of the looter’s suffering
“image” - The narrator is disconnected or numb to the pain
He can see it but shows no emotional reaction to it, too overwhelmed with grief and guilt to react
At war he has seen so much pain and death he is used to it
“Agony” = extreme pain, the looter did not die instantly but had a painful death that the narrator had to watch which will leave some damage on him mentally as he caused this pain
“His blood-shadow stays on the street”
Guilt, Memory
“blood-shadow” – marks what is left of him, stained on the street (concrete), dark colour, shadows are dark (literal interpretation)
“shadow” – follows you, represents his guilt will stay with him and follow him even when he returns home from war, this will ‘haunt’ him like the looter’s ghost (abstract interpretation)
Connects to the title – “Remains” – remains of the body but also the remains of the event in the form of guilt and PTSD in his mind
Triadic structure: “blink”,”sleep”,”dream”
Reality of conflict, Guilt, Memory
Triadic structure emphasised the memory is always there, he tries to escape but he is trapped and has no control or escape method.
It has taken over him all day – blink – and all night – sleep and dream
He ended the looter’s life but now his life is a prison
It is the punishment or effect of his actions
Repetition of “probably armed, possibly not” – mental illness, contrast between physical issue of looter and the soldier’s mental issue
“the drink and the drugs wont flush him out”
Reality of conflict, Guilt, Memory
He has turned to the most extreme methods
“flush” - connotations to toilets, unclean, trying to get rid of his “unclean (morally) actions
“flush” – also a military term (soldier) to force out the enemy – here both his guilt and the looter = enemy
“drugs” – harming himself to get rid of his mental issues, really struggling
Alliteration of “drink” and “drugs” show repetition of his actions in a repeated attempt to escape the guilt
“dug in behind enemy lines”
Reality of conflict, Guilt, Memory
Difference in line length = mind is unravelling, losing composure, unable to cope anymore
Now his mind is the enemy, shift from looter to his own self, shows the damage conflict can do mentally
“Dug in” = military term, embedded deep within just as the events are in his head, can’t get them out
Shows his military life will always be a part of him and these events will control him, turned against himself
“his bloody life in my bloody hands”
Reality of conflict, Guilt, Memory
“bloody” = curse word, anger
“bloody hands” = blood on his hands = he is guilty for murder responsible
He is the reason for his loss of life
Shorter stanza shows his disordered mind continues, doesn’t end when he returns home or at the end of the poem but is never-ending torture for his actions
“Bloody” = gore and violence that he experienced and parallelism – balance of the word “bloody”, shows guilt
Structure (6)
- Free verse – disorder, the events messed up his life and his mind
- Half rhyme – discomfort, uncomfortable to read, represents his discomfort and struggle both mentally and physically
- 4 lines per stanza consistently apart from the last stanza of 2 lines – uniformity of the military, military = order, last stanza of 2 lines show that his disorder and mental suffering still continue after the war and after the poem seems to end, disordered with guilt and PTSD
- Enjambment – show natural speaking pattern of the speaker, life-like but with a confessional tone
- Frist person narrative and written as a monologue
- Caesura in line 20 draws readers’ attention to the idea that he hasn’t recovered as the first indication that it will stay with him followed by ”but” which conveys although he isn’t physically there he is still affected.
