The Man He Killed Flashcards

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1
Q

I shot at him as he at me, and killed him in his place.

A
  • No choice - life or death situation (kill or be killed)
  • Two sides of the same coin - they are the same, justifiable, could have easily been him
  • Active Voice - emotionless, instant, culpability
  • Direct tone - normality of situation
  • Transactional
  • Unphased by death - normalization of violence, obligatory tone, no choice
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2
Q

The Man He Killed

A
  • Man - distance, removed, emotionless
  • Generalization - same, equal, lack of identity in war, could have been anyone - as though never existed, sympathy for both survivors and fallen
  • Killed - cold
  • Emotionless nature - normality
  • Ambiguity - ease of murder when unknown
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3
Q

Iambic Trimeter

A
  • Steady pace
  • Simplicity - seeming ease of murder
  • Regimented - uniform nature of war
  • Song-like - normalizes violence for country, advocates patriotism.
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4
Q

We should have sat us down to wet \ Right many a nipperkin!

A
  • Friendship
  • Celebratory of life
  • Modal verb - wistful, war can change fate, contemplative and reflective
  • Juxtaposition of life and death in the next stanza - emphasizes the unforgiving, unnecessary brutality of war
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5
Q

Dramatic Monologue

A
  • Intimacy
  • Contemplative
  • Internal conflict - fighting for country vs. moral views
  • Individual thought
  • Oppression of speaker
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6
Q

although

A
  • Contemplation
  • Realization
  • Volta - significant turning point
  • Not an end-stopped line - show the eternity of guilt, empathy, guilt is so overpowering and overwhelming and he doesn’t even deserve it.
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7
Q

Was out of work - had sold his traps \ No other reason why.

A
  • Sold all his belongings - lack of identity, not a lot, desperation
  • Poor - desperate = war preys on the vulnerable, working class = no better option
  • Simplicity
  • Didn’t want to fight
  • Blaming society - preys on the weak
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8
Q

Yes; quaint and curious war is! \ You shoot a fellow down

A
  • Euphemistic tone - under plays the reality of war
  • Fellow - friend, guilt
  • Criticizing war and its impact
  • Removal of first person - widespread, lack of fault, distancing from guilt
  • Forces audience to consider the futility of war - meaningless
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9
Q

Stanza Length

A

Quatrains:
simplicity reflects the oppression that the speaker faces as a working class man and the rigid protocol of war.

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10
Q

Cyclical Structure

A

Society is stuck in an exploitive cycle, society will never learn, government will always prey on the weak to fight its battles.
The speaker is simply a product of a doomed society.

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