The Manhunt Flashcards
‘The Manhunt’
- ‘Manhunt’ —> can create political lexicon as, in some context it can refer to the search for a criminal. This can portray the war veteran in a negative light, comparing him to someone societally unacceptable.
- ‘Manhunt’ —> can refer to the family of Eddie Beddoes in their ‘hunt’ for the man that he used to be. This can portray the horrific affects of war which has caused PTSD and several other issues making him socially awkward.
- ‘hunt’ —> verb usually refers for the violent tracking down of a feral animal. As a result, it can perhaps insinuate that Eddie is animalistic and inhumane as a result of his injuries from war.
‘Only then would he let me trace/ the frozen river which ran through his face’
- ‘trace’ —> use of the verb connotes to the idea of detecting of investigating. This portrays a lack of communication within their relationship as Eddie’s wife, Laura has to deduce the truth. Also, this suggests that the narratoral persona of the poem is the wife of Eddie Beddoes, Laura.
- ‘the frozen river’ —> metaphorical term for the scar of the bullet which wounded Eddie which passed through his face leaving a mark. In this, the reference to a ‘frozen river’ can allude to emotional distress, since ‘river’ can be a hyperbole for tears and crying, however, the adjective ‘frozen’ insinuates a lack of emotions being expressed. Furthermore, the noun ‘river’ is associated with the idea of movement and flow, however, the adjective ‘frozen’ creates a barrier against the progress of the river. Similarly, this can imply that Eddie’s injuries act as a physical barrier to his progress in re-integrating into society.
‘Only then would he let me explore, the blown hinge of his lower jaw’
‘Only then would he let me’ —> the verb ‘let’ implies a sense of hesitancy from Eddie since ‘let’ suggests that Eddie has to allow Laura to care for him. This can indicate an initial sense of distrust between husband and wife, however, as the poem progresses, this begins to change as they amend their fractured relationship. Furthermore, this is an anaphoric structure where it’s repetition indicates how Laura has to constantly struggle to gain his trust.
- ‘explore’ —> verb is stronger than ‘trace’, however, it still evokes imagery of discovery. This portrays a growing sense of trust and responsibility that Laura has over Eddie, as their relationship progresses.
- ‘blown hinge’ —> adjective ‘blown’ is associated with the lexical field of war and violence. Links —> Eddie is a war veteran who was shot 3 times in Bosnia whilst on a UN peace-keeping mission. This portrays how his issues all stem from war and violence. Furthermore, negative impacts on Eddie are reinforced by the plosive sounds in the adjective ‘blown’.
‘Lower jaw’ —> another area of his body which was injured from violence. This follows the path of the bullet throughout Eddie’s body creating a sense of chronology in the way that each part of his injuries is slowly being attended to by his wife. Also, the half-rhyme in ‘explore’ and ‘jaw’ indicates the dysfunctional nature of their relationship since Laura is unsuccessfully attempting to comfort him, similar to the way that there is an unsuccessful attempt to create a rhyme.
‘And mind and attend the fractured rudder of shoulder-blade. And finger and thumb the parachute silk of his punctured lung’
- ‘mind’, ‘attend’ —> describe a sense of care exhibited by Laura, however, the verbs portray a delicate nature by Eddie’s wife. This portrays how fragile Eddie is in the way that she must care for him.
- ‘finger’ and ‘thumb’ —> however, in these two verbs, it portrays less of a careful nature. This can indicate the progress in their relationship, as Laura does not have to be as cautious. This is reiterated by the fricative sound in ‘finger’.
- ‘parachute silk of his punctured lung’ —> uses the verb ‘punctured’ and noun ‘parachute’ to portray a sense of dysfunctionality since Eddie’s lungs are described as a ‘parachute’, however, the verb ‘punctured’ implies that it is damaged and no longer fit for purpose. This can be a representation of Eddie in the way that he is considered as damaged and no longer effective to society.
‘And feel the hurt of his grazed heart.’
- ‘feel’ —> verb indicates the sympathetic nature of Eddie’s wife since she wants to emotionally understand her husbands trauma. Also, ‘feel’ the hurt’ indicates her true intentions since she wants to understand his pain.
- ‘grazed heart’ —> adjective ‘grazed’ describes an injury in Beddoes heart. This metaphorically can refer to the emotional distress caused by the war, however, it can also yet again can denote to his physical injuries from the bullet.
‘Only then could I picture the scan, the foetus of metal beneath his chest where the bullet had finally come to rest.’
- ‘foetus of metal’ —> the noun ‘foetus’ is used in a juxtaposing manner, since embryonic imagery is associated with life, however, here it is associated with the risk of death from injuries.
- However, alternatively, the ‘foetus’ can imply that the bullet has embodied and engrained itself in him like a ‘foetus’ causing Eddie to become a different and new person as a result.
- ‘chest’ —> noun refers to a centralised part of the human anatomy. As a result, metaphorically, the bullet ‘resting’ there can indicate how impactful the injury was to him. However, it also refers to the actual place where the bullet landed.
- ‘.’ —> use of a full stop indicates the…
‘I widened the search, traced the scarring back to its source to a sweating, unexploded mine buried deep in his mind’
- ‘search’ —> the term ‘search’ links back to the concept of the title ‘manhunt’ where the character of Eddie is lost.
- ‘sweating, unexploded mine’ —> metaphor of a ‘mine’ along with the adjective ‘unexploded’ creates a sense of danger implying that Eddie’s mind is dangerous and that his true trauma has not yet been uncovered. This is reinforced by ‘buried deep in his mind’, where the adjective ‘deep’ implies the extent of how deep-rooted his trauma is.
‘Every nerve in his body had tightened and closed. Then, and only then, did I come close.’
- ‘every nerve’ —> use of the adjective ‘every’ —> indicates how universally within his body there is a sense of reluctance and suffering. This implies that war has affected and changed all of him.
- ‘had tightened and closed.’ —> both verbs indicate
‘After the first phase, after passionate nights and intimate days,’
- ‘first phase’ —> ambivalent imagery created around the noun ‘phase’. It can refer to the re-uniting between Eddie and his family, however, it can also refer to a ‘phase’ of recovery. Also, the noun ‘phase’ refers to a distinct time period, as a result, the sense of love and care is portrayed as short since it was only a ‘phase’ or time period and not a long-term occurrence. Also, the use of juxtaposing temporal markers in ‘nights’ and ‘days’ portray the brief nature of their love since they are not long time periods.
‘Passionate nights and intimate days’ —> the adjectives ‘passionate’ and ‘intimate’ create a lexical field of love, romance and perhaps amorous love referring to sexual pleasures. This portrays a strong sense of love which was short-lived, perhaps due to Eddie’s underlying injuries.
‘Only then could I bind the struts and climb the rungs of his broken ribs’
- ‘only then’ —> anaphora of this reinforces the sense of progress that they are making as their family relationship becomes mended.
- ‘bind’ —> verb has connotations of to fix or to secure. This indicates the way in which Laura is attempting to fix their relationships and is emotionally and mental injuries.
- ‘climb the rungs of his broken ribs’ —> ‘broken ribs’ is another reference to his injuries where the ‘ribs’ function as a protection mechanism for the heart. As a result, them being ‘broken’ creates the impression that his heart is both physically and emotionally vulnerable. Also, the verb ‘climb’ further alludes to the idea of Laura making progress in their relationship.
