Remains Flashcards
Quotes
“one of them legs it up the road”
Colloquial language used to maintain the authenticity.
“probably armed, possibly not”
The narrator attempts to justify his actions but the repetition of this phrase shows his clear discomfort at the thought of killing an innocent man.
“Well myself and somebody else and somebody else are all of the same mind”
The soldiers are no longer individuals. They have been programmed just to follow orders.
“it rips through his life - I see broad daylight on the other side.”
This phrase has a double meaning to either represent the hole in the dead man’s body or heaven.
“and he’s there on the ground, sort of inside out”
Graphic language shows how the memory is still vivid in his mind.
“tosses his guts back into his body”
The reader shares the speaker’s sense of disturbance.
“And the drink and drugs won’t flush him out-“
The narrator is referring to normal things with military terms to show the impact and effect the war has left on him.
“he’s here in my head when I close my eyes, dug in behind enemy lines”
Metaphor shows how he is trapped in his thoughts.
“Then I’m home on leave.”
The full stop signifies the time that the narrator spends thinking about what he did (PTSD.)
