The Gun Flashcards
General
Themes:
Intoxication of power
-The gun is initially feared and makes the speaker uncomfortable
-Enjoyment later on developed from the killing of animals
-Even when first frightened / it becomes impossible to not embrace
“Bringing a gun into a house / changes it,”
-The gun is set in a kitchen / gun contrasts the very homely, warmthful atmosphere
Practicing the act of killing -> Animals
“Gleam[ing]” “like when sex was fresh”
-Killing and power is exhilarating and intoxicating
“Slicing, stirring and tasting”
-Went form avoiding and being averse to developing enjoyment and affinity
Bringing a gun into a house
changes it.
You lay it on the kitchen table,
stretched out like something dead
itself: the grainy polished wood stock
jutting over the edge,
the long metal barrel
casting a grey shadow
on the green-checked cloth.
Enjambment/line break
-Puts emphasis
-uncomfortability of change / Wanting to distance oneself from the gun
-Creates a pause
-Uncertainty of whether a change is good or bad
“Bringing a gun into a house / changes it,”
-The gun is set in a kitchen/gun contrasts the very homely, warmthful atmosphere/gun is violent
(juxtaposition and contrast)
‘Stretched out like something dead’
-Simile
-Associates gun already with death / lack of life and a lack of emotion / power of the gun is in the holder not the gun itself
‘Stretched’ - expansive control and atmosphere
“grainy polished wood stock” and “long metal barrel”
-present it as a solid, heavy, serious piece of craftsmanship
“gray shadow” it casts on the cheery “green-checked” tablecloth
-Darkens the kitchen’s cozy, welcoming atmosphere (juxtaposition between the gun’s primal violence and the kitchen’s domestic coziness)
-All of these detailed observations suggest that the speaker feels wary—but maybe also fascinated, against her will.
-’Green’ nature like
-’Gray’ lifeless and desensitized
‘Jutting’ and ‘Edge’
-Forceful and energetic /j/ sounds
‘Long metal barrel’
-/L/ draws out the description
-Creating elegance
-Highlights the absurd beauty of the gun
Enjambment
-Intense fascination / change and not frightened feeling
At first it’s just practice:
perforating tins
dangling on orange string
from trees in the garden.
Then a rabbit shot
clean through the head.
‘At First’
-Showing that there is a later change / transition from practice
‘Perforating tins’
-Lack of screaming and pain / seems more mild here / transition to something more cozy and safe
‘Rabbit shot’
-The speaker is passive /easily being swept by the gun’s influence
-Unsentimental phrase / emotionless
‘Clean’
-Less gruesome imagery
Soon the fridge fills with creatures
that have run and flown.
Your hands reek of gun oil
and entrails. You trample
fur and feathers. There’s a spring
in your step; your eyes gleam
like when sex was fresh.
A gun brings a house alive.
“fills with creatures / that have run and flown.”
Alliteration /f/
- Emphasis on overflowing / enormous enjoyment of gruesomeness
- Could imply that there is a alot of killing
‘Run’ ‘Flown’
End stop line
-Super active and alive (Speaker purposely focuses on them being alive)
-Enjoying the power causing death
‘Reeks’
-Ecovative olfactory imagery
-Pungent smell / strong intoxicating power
“Gleam / like when sex was fresh.”
Simile
- erotic about the power the partner has found in the gun
- implies that sex had become a little less “fresh” for this couple / but the gun has fixed this / freshness of their killings
‘Spring’
Pun
-excitement and literal bounce in a step
-Refer to the season It’s as if the partner, the speaker, their marriage, and their home are all enjoying a fresh infusion of new life—all brought about by their daily involvement with death.
‘A gun brings a house alive’
-Change from the beginning of the poem
-Before ominous now it is an exciting good happy/electrifying feeling
-From killing and death there appears to be vitality
I join in the cooking: jointing
and slicing, stirring and tasting –
Continuous verbs / Gerunds
-Sense of aliveness and excitement / enjoyment and nourishment
Alliteration of /s/
-Sinister feeling / heartless
Cooking
-Domestic connotations / justifies killing
excited as if the King of Death
had arrived to feast, stalking
out of winter woods,
his black mouth
sprouting golden crocuses.
“as if the King of Death / had arrived to feast.”
-mythic simile / dead animals feel so exciting
-feels like she’s cooking for the personified figure of Death itself
Winter woods
Alliteration /w/
-Emphasizes the desolate and cold feeling
Crocuses
-Bright flower
-First to spring up and come to life after winter
The juxtaposition of death and life / bringing death into a house also means bringing light
Death and life are intimately connected
Killing and eating animals -> allows the couple to be more aware of their own liveliness
Gun -> symbolises power and the threat of death but that power is intoxicating and dangerous
