The Man He Killed

Question 1

I shot at him as he at me, and killed him in his place.

Answer 1

• No choice - life or death situation (kill or be killed)
• Two sides of the same coin - they are the same, justifiable, could have easily been him
• Active Voice - emotionless, instant, culpability
• Direct tone - normality of situation
• Transactional
• Unphased by death - normalization of violence, obligatory tone, no choice

Question 2

The Man He Killed

Answer 2

• Man - distance, removed, emotionless
• Generalization - same, equal, lack of identity in war, could have been anyone - as though never existed, sympathy for both survivors and fallen
• Killed - cold
• Emotionless nature - normality
• Ambiguity - ease of murder when unknown

Question 3

Iambic Trimeter

Answer 3

• Steady pace
• Simplicity - seeming ease of murder
• Regimented - uniform nature of war
• Song-like - normalizes violence for country, advocates patriotism.

Question 4

We should have sat us down to wet \ Right many a nipperkin!

Answer 4

• Friendship
• Celebratory of life
• Modal verb - wistful, war can change fate, contemplative and reflective
• Juxtaposition of life and death in the next stanza - emphasizes the unforgiving, unnecessary brutality of war

Question 5

Dramatic Monologue

Answer 5

• Intimacy
• Contemplative
• Internal conflict - fighting for country vs. moral views
• Individual thought
• Oppression of speaker

Question 6

although

Answer 6

• Contemplation
• Realization
• Volta - significant turning point
• Not an end-stopped line - show the eternity of guilt, empathy, guilt is so overpowering and overwhelming and he doesn’t even deserve it.

Question 7

Was out of work - had sold his traps \ No other reason why.

Answer 7

• Sold all his belongings - lack of identity, not a lot, desperation
• Poor - desperate = war preys on the vulnerable, working class = no better option
• Simplicity
• Didn’t want to fight
• Blaming society - preys on the weak

Question 8

Yes; quaint and curious war is! \ You shoot a fellow down

Answer 8

• Euphemistic tone - under plays the reality of war
• Fellow - friend, guilt
• Criticizing war and its impact
• Removal of first person - widespread, lack of fault, distancing from guilt
• Forces audience to consider the futility of war - meaningless

Question 9

Stanza Length

Answer 9

Quatrains:
simplicity reflects the oppression that the speaker faces as a working class man and the rigid protocol of war.

Question 10

Cyclical Structure

Answer 10

Society is stuck in an exploitive cycle, society will never learn, government will always prey on the weak to fight its battles.
The speaker is simply a product of a doomed society.