THEME: WAR AND CONFLICT

Question 1

When did WW1 occur?

Answer 1

1914-1918

Question 2

When did WW2 occur?

Answer 2

1939-45

Question 3

Describe WW2 and context

Answer 3

WW2 lasted from September 1939-45 and claimed the lives of more than 50 million people.

Question 4

WW2 and the British Expeditionary Force

Answer 4

Britain sent the BEF to France in 1939. To try and counter the invasion of the country by the better equipped German army.

Question 5

What effects did WW2 have on British society?

Answer 5

Weakened
- Class system
- Traditional views on woman
- British international influence

Question 6

What was the Dunkirk evacuation?

Answer 6

The mass evacuation of British troops form the French Port of Dunkirk in 1940.

Question 7

What was the Blitz?

Answer 7

An intense bombing campaign undertaken by the Nazi’s. For 8 months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain.

Question 8

Genre: War novels

Answer 8

Novels that explore the effects, experiences and aftermath of wars.
War presents itself as an ugly barrier in the middle of the plot.

Question 9

How does the structure of the novel reflect the chaos of war?

Answer 9

The war disrupts the narrative, structure and cohesion of the novel. The novel stylistically shifts into a modernist stream of consciousness as the tone grows conversational and takes on an informal register.

Question 10

What do modernists writers focus on?

Answer 10

The inner self and consciousness opting for a stream of consciousness style, the decline of civilisation, the cold machinery of capitalism which alienated the individual and led to loneliness

Question 11

How does McEwan present the theme of war? (thesis)

Answer 11

McEwan presents the theme of war as:
- A destructive force by focusing on the wars destruction on a macro and micro level.
- Specifically focusing on the physical and psychological deterioration of the soldiers and civilians.
- This destruction is expressed in the disturbed narrative structure.

Question 12

How does McEwan present the theme of war? (Points)

Answer 12

1. Disrupts the narrative, structure and cohesion of the novel. Microcosm.
2. Deteriorates the psychological well being of the soldiers and civilians.
3. Dismantles the class structure and the importance of it.
4. Cultivates a sense of mass disillusionment

Question 13

The narrative begins en media res and Robbie discusses the horrors he witnesses in the war and how it affects him.

Answer 13

“There were horrors enough, but it was the unexpected detail that threw him and afterwards would not let him go”

Question 14

Robbie attempts to conceal his mental and physical deterioration.

Answer 14

“To conceal the trembling in his hand Robbie Turner walked on”

Question 15

Robbie describes the horrific sight of dismembered leg with clinical indifference.

Answer 15

“It was a leg in a tree. It was a perfect leg, pale, smooth, small enough to be a child’s. It seemed to be on display for their benefit or enlightenment: This is a leg”

Question 16

Robbie reflects momentarily on his lost life, a moment filled with abject disconnect, that readies him for this hopeless moment. Contextually, The war is described as destructive force but also thematically so is Briony’s

Answer 16

“It seemed another man’s life to him now. A dead civilisation, first his own life ruined, then everyone else’s. He strode on angrily.”

Question 17

The war disturbs highly stratified British society.

Answer 17

“He was lower in rank, but they followed and did everything he suggested, and to preserve their dignity, they teased him. “What’s a private soldier like you doing talking like a toff”

Question 18

The glut of obscenity and horror means there is no time for social niceties.

Answer 18

“He wanted to get ahead, out of sight so that he could throw up or crap, he didn’t know which.”

Question 19

The war produces a sense of disillusionment towards religion, politics and morality.

Answer 19

“He was thinking..about the indifference with which men could lob shells into a landscape. It was an industrial process.”

Question 20

Morality is relative

Answer 20

“Or French Nazis. German sympathisers. Like we got Mosley.” - Mace

Question 21

Who are the French Nazis?

Answer 21

Vichy France that was seen as a puppet government for the Nazi regime

Question 22

Oswald Mosley

Answer 22

A British sympathiser with Hitler and the fascist movement.

Question 23

The was has physical effects on the soldiers which is described at length

Answer 23

“He was exhausted, but not sleepy. The wound throbbed uncomfortably, each beat precise and tight.

Question 24

Exhaustion made him….

Answer 24

Vulnerable to the thoughts he wanted least

Question 25

Robbie describes a field that has been destroyed by homes

Answer 25

One feild had “fragments of flesh, bone and brindled skin had blasted across a 100 yard stretch. But each man was folded into his thoughts and no one spoke.”

Question 26

Robbie describes the evacuation of men women and children across the French countryside

Answer 26

“Families hauling suitcases, bundles, babies or, holding the hands of children”

Question 27

Man vs machine

Answer 27

“The only human sound Turner heard was the piecing of the din of engines, was the crying of babies”