Generals Die in Bed Reading Journal Essay Example

relationships between the characters; who gets along with whom? Why or why not? Include some significant quotations that assist with characterisation. Anderson was the first character to be announced in chapter one; he seems like a rather pathetic figure, who presumably joined the war as it was seen as the right thing to do. Anderson tries to keep the moral high ground, and complains when the soldiers talk turns to that of women etc. He is very religious and keeps to himself reading the bible. My interpretation of Anderson did change as the chapter went on.

At first I thought he kept to himself a lot, which turned out to be wrong because he has the courage to try knocking some sense into some of the immature soldiers whom he doesn’t get along with at all. The narrator is an everyman character, you don’t get to know his name, or have any background on him. At the time of enlistment he is 18 and inexperienced with women. My interpretation on him was that he is ver y frightened of the war and wants to be able to experience more things in his life. Language and structural elements characteristic of Harrisons’ style.

This would include any foreshadowing, use of evocative imagery such as similes, metaphors, symbols, motifs, other effective narrative devices: Harrison’s intention is to awaken his readers I think to a new reality of War. The opening chapter portrays the new soldiers leaving Montreal for the first time as lost, unhappy and childish in their attempts to blot out their fears of what is to come. The parade to the train station is described in a series

of fragmented images, in an atmosphere of bewilderment and degradation.

Give your reactions to: situations described in the text; the social world of the text; issues raised in the text and the ways the characters react to these issues: My reaction to the situations described in the text were that some of the soldiers didn’t have much respect for women and I thought it was great that Anderson stood up to them when they were being irrespective. My reaction to the way the narrator reacted to going war was that he is only a boy, 18. He shouldn’t have to be doing this at this age; he hasn’t lived his life to the fullest yet.

In the trenches Chart the significant plot details for each section; highlight what you consider to be the turning points in this section of the narrative  They leave the piles of rubble that was once a little Flemish peasant town and wind their way, in Indian file, up through the muddy communication trench.  Fry keeps slipping into holes; Brown and Narrator/Soldier help him up.  Clark their Captain gives the soldiers a hard time, especially Fry. It is midnight when they reach their positions; the Sergeant tells them “One man up on sentry duty!

Keep your gun covered with the rubber sheet! No smoking! ” Fry is first on sentry duty then the Narrator/Soldier takes over. The sergeant comes into the bay again and tells the Narrator/Soldier to keep his eyes open because the Germans might come over on a raid now because it’s dark. The Germans fire red-tailed comets of the minenwerfer high in the air. (also known as “minnies”) Their trench rocks

and sways, mud and rock leap into the air and comes back down on them; they dig their faces and nails into the earth of their trench. The shelling has smashed their section of the trench; they build it up again only to be smashed again.

There are snipers in the woods half a mile away which means they have to crawl all day on their bellies. * They are meant to be resting now but rest is impossible when you’re getting eaten by lice. What is your interpretation of the characters during each section? Does this change? Comment on the relationships between the characters; who gets along with whom? Why or why not? Include some significant quotations that assist with characterisation. My interpretation of Clark was that he is a stereotype of the worst kind of officer. An ‘Imperial’ (Englishman), he is arrogant and without compassion. When Fry suffers from his ill fitting boots, when he makes Brown do two hours of pack drill. He cares nothing for the men, and they in turn care nothing for him.  Cleary and the Narrator get along very well, they share a trench together were they share smokes, talk and experience terrifying things. Language and structural elements characteristic of Harrisons’ style.

This would include any foreshadowing, use of evocative imagery such as similes, metaphors, symbols, motifs, other effective narrative devices: Harrison sends his unnamed narrator over to France, where the true horrors of war immediately become apparent. The romanticized image of war totally disappears from the narrator’s mind as soon as he arrives at the trenches. He is scared for his life and doesn’t even really understand what he

is fighting for. His vision extends beyond his immediate experience to register and respond to the whole extent of human suffering that the war creates.

Give your reactions to: situations described in the text; the social world of the text; issues raised in the text and the ways the characters react to these issues: My reaction to the way the Narrator, Cleary and Fry put up with their trench getting destroyed upset me a lot; no one should have to put up with what they are putting up with. It would be horrible to have to experience being in a trench when there are shattering explosions all around you and not knowing if you’re going to survive this time or not. The way the characters reacted to the ‘minnies’ (explosives) was that they were very frightened, they buried themselves into the ground of their trench terrified, lying very still unable to move due to the fear.

Out on rest Chart the significant plot details for each section; highlight what you consider to be the turning points in this section of the narrative:  They are out on rest for the third time, in a little pleasant village.  The Narrator/Soldier is quartered into a barn with a big hole in the roof. Their first day on rest they begin the routine of fatigues which is marching, drill, shine buttons, do guard duty, serve as batmen for the officers, practice grenade-throwing, machine gunnery, and at night they are taken by lorry behind the lines to do wiring and trench-digging. Clark continues to not make life any pleasant for the soldiers; he gangs up on Brown giving him the hardest time

of them all.

Brown tells stories from back home of his wife Martha. Fry shows the men how to kill lice, run a hot iron along your clothes. The soldiers go to the parade ground to do their marching, drill, shine buttons etc. They can’t bear the agony of the jumping pack, the banging of the entrenching tools on the buttocks, the leaden ammunition tugging at aching soldier’s shoulders. They decide to walk away towards the estaminet.  They drink bottles of vin rouge trying to forget about the war. What is your interpretation of the characters during each section? Does this change? Comment on the relationships between the characters; who gets along with whom? Why or why not?

Include some significant quotations that assist with characterisation: My interpretation of Brown is he is tall and awkward and does not grasp ideas quickly, which makes him the butt of ridicule from his mates. He was married two weeks before embarkation, he was married to Martha. Brown doesn’t get along with the Captain Clark; Clark makes him fix up every stray bit of barbed wire and victimizes Brown about his uniform. Quotations: Brown referring to Clark: “I'll kill the bastard--that's what I'll do. I'm just waiting until we get into a real scrap. I'll plug the son of a bitch between the shoulder blades. " Broadbent: "If you had a wish what would you wish for? "

Brown: "I wish that bloody bastard Clark was dead. " Broadbent: "A lot of good that's gonna do you," says Fry. "That won't put beans in your belly. " Brown: "Just the same, I'd give a month's pay to see him stretched out.

" Language and structural elements characteristic of Harrisons’ style. This would include any foreshadowing, use of evocative imagery such as similes, metaphors, symbols, motifs, other effective narrative devices: Harrison has a very distinctive writing style, Harrison creates a sense of the mood and atmosphere of life in the war zone, this defiantly held my attention most strongly to the novel.

Similes and metaphors: "That won't put beans in your belly. " Says Fry. Give your reactions to: situations described in the text; the social world of the text; issues raised in the text and the ways the characters react to these issues: Out on rest the soldiers still have to march, drill, shine buttons, do guard duty, serve as batmen for the officers, practice grenade-throwing, machine gunnery, and at night we are taken by lorry behind the lines to do wiring and trench-digging. I thought this was ridiculous that after being in trenches terrified, tired, sore etc they still have all these things they have to do.

They are on rest for god’s sake; of course they need to know all these things but they would of learned most of them before going to war. The main characters become closer in this chapter as they are quartered together in a barn where they learn different things about each other, Brown shares stories about his wife back home, Fry teaches them how to kill lice with an iron and Cleary talks about how much he misses food. Brown gets hacked on by the Captain Clark, wherever there is a stray bit of barbed wire Brown is sure to be hooked onto it.

Fixing the barbed wire ruins Brown’s uniform

as it is easy to tear; because of this Clark hauled him over the coals for being a disgrace to the company. Brown reacts very angry about this muttering imprecations about Clark, that he wishes he was a dead man.  Back To The Round Chart the significant plot details for each section; highlight what you consider to be the turning points in this section of the narrative: Always moving from trench to trench. Fifth day on front line.  Enemies blew away part of parapet so that now means they are exposed to enfilade fire from the left.

The Germans are sniping them 200 yards away.  Parapet doesn’t hide them so they have to go on hands and knees or else the sniper will shoot. Dugouts filled with dirty water.  Sniper shoots, they all fall into the mud, no one gets shot. Dinner is divided out. Brown stands up to stretch and gets shot by the sniper What is your interpretation of the characters during each section? Does this change? Comment on the relationships between the characters; who gets along with whom? Why or why not?

Include some significant quotations that assist with characterisation: My interpretation of Anderson changed when the narrator says “Anderson does not speak, he lies with his cheek glued to the ground. His lips move in prayer. He gives us the creeps”. I thought that Anderson was a lot braver and I didn’t think he was the type to be so frightened. The other boys in the trench (Cleary, Fry, Narrator, and Brownie) are all nervous when Anderson is near because they feel uncomfortable by him. Language and structural elements characteristic of Harrisons’ style.

This

would include any foreshadowing, use of evocative imagery such as similes, metaphors, symbols, motifs, other effective narrative devices: Harrison draws parallel with the natural word and attitudes to war for readers to contrast the experience of soldiers. Since the structure is the first person narrative, readers get an immediate response as it happens through firsthand experience of a soldier. The structure of the sentences in this chapter are loose and complex, Harrison states fact after fact as they occur seemingly freely and artlessly.

Foreshadowing: Narrator: “Sooner or later this German sniper, who keeps us cowering in cold fear, will be caught in advance by our troops” Metaphors and similes: - Repetitive language: Narrator: “We are animated only by a biting hunger for safety, safety. ” Give your reactions to: situations described in the text; the social world of the text; issues raised in the text and the ways the characters react to these issues: The soldiers are in a shallow trench and the enemy blew away part of their parapet so now they are exposed to enfilade fire from their left and the enemy have snipers in the woods about 200 yards away.

They will have to wait until night fall to repair the parapet because of the snipers. The way the characters react to this is they stay down on their stomachs at the bottom of the trench hiding from the snipers. They get up on all fours to stretch their legs and the sniper shoots but misses, this shows that they can’t go up much further than their stomach without getting shot. The characters decide to just wait down in the trench for their rations

to come because there is nothing else to do.

The rations eventually come and the grub is divided out and the rusty spoon for dishing out sugar and such things is stuck between two sandbags in the parapet over Brown’s head, Brown stands up and reaches for it, he turns towards the woods and in that instant he is shoot down by a sniper. The characters are all very shocked by this and stay very still, later they pull Brown’s heavy limp body out of the mud and put him on the firing step where they cover him with a blanket ready for the stretcher-bearer. My reaction to this was that I put myself into the soldier’s shoes.

I thought about having to crawl in mud and water on my stomach due to my trench being shallow and having part of the parapet blown away. The thought of this made me frightened because if you make the wrong move you could be killed, for example when Brownie stood up and in a flat second he was shot by a sniper. You would also always have that question in the back of your mind, will I die today? And that really scares me.