The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell - Essay Example

Response Paper on The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell of Learning Response Paper on The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell It may seem incredible, but using only five lines, the author, Randall Jarrell, has managed to create an amazingly deep and philosophical poem, the meaning and purpose of which are extremely important for all mankind. The poem is dedicated to the Second World War. The narrative is a young soldier who was killed in the war. Despite the fact that the poem contains only five lines it can tell the reader much about the thoughts and inner experience of the dead soldier. This poem can be seen as a deeply lyrical and intimate work. Using the inner experience of the main character, the author allows the reader to see the horror of any war and the consequences that it has for the psychological and physical condition of the soldiers. What is the narrator trying to tell us? What is the meaning he sees in his words? In fact, the meaning is very tragic. The narrator allows us to understand that he was deprived of the opportunity to know about life outside of the war. From one womb (i.e. the mother’s womb), he was forced to become a hostage of the artificial “womb” represented by a ball turret: “From my mothers sleep I fell into the State.” The need to protect his homeland forced the narrator to become a ball turret gunner. It is not difficult to guess about the physical and psychological suffering that accompanied the hero. Flying at least “six miles from earth,” the soldier had been suffering from a terrible cold. Despite this, he continued to perform his military duty. It was hard for him given that he was too young and simply was not ready for war, especially psychologically. The reader has the opportunity to make sure that the soldier was a young man for the simple reason that the narrator sees his short life as a change of one womb to another one. Flying at a distance of “six miles from earth,” the man was not able to see life outside of the war. In other words, he did not know life, because war is not life. War is always death and murder. It is for this reason that the soldier had been awakened. He was awakened to die, because that is the essence of any war. This is what the author is trying to say. Jarrell shows that the war is extremely cruel phenomenon, which is indifferent to human life and destiny. The dead gunner bitterly says that after his death, his body was “washed out of the turret with a hose.” These words convey the brutality of war to people who, after their death turn into a piece of flesh. Such a description of military experience allows the reader to compare the war with abortion. Similar to abortion, which interrupts the development of the embryo, war does not allow young people to experience life outside of it, because many of them do not survive to the end of the war. By analyzing this poem, I can say that I agree with the author in respect of the war. I believe that war is evil no matter what purpose it pursues. War is death and murder. There are so much pain, bitterness, loneliness and death in this word! I think that wars are as old as mankind, and in all times people have felt the cold breath of the war behind them. This malicious, devouring and destructive force brings a lot of grief, suffering and spiritual emptiness. Sometimes I wonder whether people are born for war. I do not want to believe it. Why should we be born for destruction? A man comes into this world to experience love, harmony, and beauty. People are born in love and for love, and war is contrary to the human mind that is reasonable, internally strong and beautiful. At the same time, we cannot say that the war has many faces: for some it is - the path to glory, for others - the struggle for freedom and general well-being, for the third - a matter of principle ... The merit of the author is that only five lines helped him convey the inner experience of the young man. The soldier did not have time to finally part with his mother since he had to become a brave soldier in the war of people against each other. I fully support the negative point view of the author on the war as a phenomenon that brings suffering and death for young soldiers not allowing them to know life in all its beauty and charm. The soldier tells not only about his own experience. In fact, he describes the experience of many other young soldiers, who as well as he had died on the battlefield. The soul of the young man reflects the pain and suffering that cannot be justified by any arguments. Like hundreds and thousands of other young fighters, the hero of the poem became a victim of the war. He was performing his duty but the price was too high. Like the author, I am convinced that war should always be considered from the point of suffering and hardship it brings to people. One of the worst manifestations of the war is that it brings death to young soldiers who die without having the slightest idea of ​​the life out of the war. In this regard, a protest against the war is always a call for humanity. This short poem consisting of only five lines has had a very strong impression on me. I always negatively perceived war as a source of death, pain and emptiness. However, this poem drew my attention to the fact that the war is terrible because it often deprives young people of their right to see the world and to experience life outside of the war. The brutality of war is not only that it makes people invalids or even deprives them of life. The brutality of war is that it does not allow young people to see the world as it could be without violence and bloodshed. The human world can be beautiful. Love, friendship, different hobbies, etc. make the human world worthy of discovering. The fact that war brings death to those soldiers who did not know even a single part of life outside the war makes it even more vile and disgusting phenomenon. The brutality of the war is that it deprives people of everything, even the things which they do not have. Young people are forced to become brave soldiers who perform their duty, but no one thinks about that fact that the war is their only experience. This poem has made me think about the fact that war makes soldiers a prisoner of military experience since a lot of them see nothing but the blood, death and violence. Moreover, many of the soldiers are dying without being able to get another non-military experience. The poem suggests that life has an absolute value. Life is not only an ability to breathe and talk. Life is not only the life of a physical body. Life is the ability to love and be loved. Life is an opportunity to have friends and enjoy life with them. Life is what makes us human, while the war destroys both human and humanity itself. Read More