War Photographer by Duffy

Question 1

opening

Answer 1

‘darkroom’
-creates foreboding tone

Question 2

religious

Answer 2

‘as though this were a church and he a priest preparing to intone a Mass.’
-This religious simile reveals that he is aware of the impact that his photos have on the public.
-There is also a parallel between the job of a priest and the job of a war photographer: both are exposed to death and suffering.
-The simile also suggests that his mood is sombre.

Question 3

lisintg

Answer 3

‘Belfast.Beirut.Phnom Penh’
-caesura which creates an imagery of flicking through his photos

Question 4

solutions

Answer 4

Solutions slop in trays beneath his hands, which did not tremble then though seem to now
-sibilance develops the harsh atmosphere
-It seems that at the scene of the conflict he was calm but now he is agitated, perhaps because he will soon relive the conflict through the photos he is developing

Question 5

weather

Answer 5

‘ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel’
-In ‘rural England’ a sunny day can make problems all better. This contrasts with the settings he has been in, where pain, both emotional and physical, is devastating.

Question 6

ghost

Answer 6

‘a half-formed ghost’
-The word “ghost” implies that the person in the photograph is no longer fully alive, and that their image is a mere shadow or remnant of their former self.
-The word “half-formed” adds to this sense of incompleteness, suggesting that the person’s identity has been fragmented or erased by the violence and trauma of war
-use of the word “ghost” also suggests that the person in the photograph has become a spectral presence, haunting the photographer

Question 7

sound

Answer 7

‘he remembers the cries of this man’s wife’
-auditory image is used to develop the horror created

Question 8

blood

Answer 8

‘blood stained into foreign dust’
-metaphor stained shows how it permanently effected him

Question 9

black

Answer 9

‘a hundred agonies in black and white’
-could be a pun or dark humour as it could refer to the black and white in newspapers but also emphasise how war is morally black and white (juxtaposition)
-emphasises the suffering and misery they show

Question 10

reading the newspaper

Answer 10

‘readers eyeballs prick with tears’ ‘they do not care’
-The choice of the word ‘eyeballs’ instead of eyes suggest the act of crying after seeing the photos is almost mechanical, a reflex. It suggests they are not truly affected by the photos - it is only the physical process of secreting tears that they go through; they don’t have a genuine, non-superficial emotional response. ‘Eyeballs’ is also ugly, which reflects the ugliness of the reader’s disingenuous response.
-While the readers are seemingly moved to tears, these seem disingenuous to photographer; he later states ‘They do not care’.
-they do not care is a collective pronoun which creates an accusation like tone and the final line emphasises the resentment