The Gun Flashcards
“Bringing a gun into a house changes it.”
Immediately ambiguous and leaves the reader to consider what the ‘changes’ may be. Dynamic verb ‘bringing’ forces us to focus on the action and emphasises that the act itself is the core idea of the sentence. Also generalises the action and suggests that this applies universally instead of being particular to an individual. Understand that the concept of this action will serve to be important.
“You lay it on the kitchen table, stretched out like something dead itself:
The simile suggests the gun is a symbol of death and alludes to its violent potential as well as foreshadows dead animals that will eventually lay in the same place. The threat is intensified through the juxtaposition with the kitchen’s domestic calm. Hints at the toxic power dynamic between the couple and the gun as well as each other. The partner leaves it in the open - confrontational and provocative. Makes us question whether he enjoys scaring her/ making her feel inferior to begin with.
“the grainy polished wood stock jutting over the edge, the long metal barrel casting a grey shadow onto the green-checked cloth.”
Pairs together lots of juxtaposing imagery. ‘Grainy’ suggests the wood still possesses its natural, tactile roughness but ‘polished’ suggests a surface that has been tampered with to become smooth. The ‘green-checked cloth’ has been infected with the gun’s negative and potent ‘grey shadow’. Highlights how this weapon is the antithesis of nature and that the fibre of its being is an oxymoron to the comforts of home which is now where it resides.
“At first its just practice: perforating tins dangling on orange string from trees in the garden. Then a rabbit shot clean through the head.”
Enjambed, polysyllabic description of practising marksmanship: using the gun in a performative and decorative manner. Immediately contrasted by the abrupt monosyllabic and merciless image of the rabbit. Both the shooter and speaker seem to have no internal conflict about this behaviour. Although she didn’t do it she is complicit. ‘A rabbit shot’ does not tie the action to the partner - delusional state as she sees these unnatural and alarming behaviours as simple occurrences. The litotes suggests she is numb to what is going on and already is showing signs of being intoxicated by the gun’s power but she does not know it yet.
“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.”
The partner has been reduced to a primal state; he has lost all care for life and is purely focused on using the gun. She is allured by his animalistic and predatory ways; she has mistakenly equated her partner’s ‘liberation’ with engaging in damaging behaviours. Simile suggests that killing gives the partner the same thrill as sex. It gives the partner an intoxicating, visceral sense of power which has intensified and become so uncontrollable that he cannot differentiate the pleasure of killing with sexual gratification.
“A gun brings a house alive.”
Shift in tone as it becomes apparent the speaker is no longer afraid of the gun but relishes in its abilities. The gun is personified - it becomes a third character in their relationship. The language is ironic as the house is being brought alive through the death of the other creatures. Insinuates a perversion of life as the gun is disrupting and distorting the natural values and essence of life. This line redefines the earlier stanzas in the poem as we now learn that the speaker’s observation of her partner’s behaviours was actually admiration and she has become encapsulated by the power the gun allows them to inhabit.
“I join in the cooking: jointing and slicing, stirring and tasting - excited as if the King of Death had arrived to feast, stalking out of winter woods, his black mouth sprouting golden crocuses.”
Uneasily visceral and unrefined verbs highlight that she is desensitized to death - her partner’s violent obsessions have bled into her own perception. Physicality of the verbs highlights how energised and renewed she feels since becoming complicit the the partner’s acts. Vivid simile personifies death itself. Suggests that the gun has brought the speaker and her partner to a corrupted ‘salvation’ and she is now in touch with the world’s most potent powers. Has a sense of omnipotence and the cultish noun phrase suggests that they have been drawn into a world of sin and destruction that to them is presented as a divine purpose.
“sprouting golden crocuses”
Symbol for the rebirth and renewal of the couple and of reigniting the spark in their relationship. Juxtaposition of death with vibrant, life-affirming flowers highlights the coexistence of life and death, highlighting how these opposites are deeply connected in complex ways. Despite as readers being aware of the severely damaging psychological impact this gun has had on the speaker, she herself is unable to see it and, at present, is existing in a state of happiness and newfound freedom. However we know that this is only an illusion of hope and in reality the speaker is manipulated and deceived by both her partner, the gun and now the King of Death. The golden crocuses could represent the idealisation of the gun and the positive emotions it has evoked for the couple but, ultimately, it is only a masquerade for violence and sin.
