Mahon: As It Should Be

Question 1

Themes:

Answer 1

Fanaticism and radicalism
Justification of violence
Dehumanisation

Question 2

5 quotes

Answer 2

“We hunted the mad bastard”
“Blindyard… sleeping lorries… electricity generator”
“Let us hear no idle talk/ Of the moon in the yellow river”
“Since his tide burial during school hours/ Our children have known no bad dreams”
“This is as it should be”

Question 3

Analysis of ‘we hunted the mad bastard’

Answer 3

Dehumanising language: Strips the victim of his individuality and humanity, making it easier to justify the murder.
Verb choice: Hunted - sport to enjoy, speaker is describing something he enjoyed

Question 4

Analysis of ‘blindyard, sleeping lorries, electricity generator’

Answer 4

Vivid description: Convey a sense of isolation and rigid mechanical efficiency.
Enjambement enhances the momentum and intensity, speaker is relentless and unhesitating

Question 5

Analysis of ‘let us hear no idle talk/ of the moon in the yellow river’

Answer 5

Shutting down discussion of the morality of what he’s done, because he feels so right and justified. Moon and yellow river is a reference to moral philosophy

Question 6

Analysis of “Since his tide burial during school hours/ Our children have known no bad dreams”

Answer 6

Irony and hyperbole: Speaker truly believes the community, especially children, are safer and more peaceful after the killing. Highlights flawed logic used to rationalise violence

Question 7

Analysis of “this is as it should be”

Answer 7

Encapsulates the speakers conviction that the murder was not only justified but essential.
Monosyllabic simple language - simple narrow view of the world: i am right everyone else is wrong.

Question 8

What kind of poem and narrative is it

Answer 8

Sonnet narrative
Mahon gives voice to the fanatic to show our capacity for evil however he never identifies the ‘side’ the killers is on -a republican or loyalist- to show the twisted and distorted way of thinking.