Disabled is a story of a soldier who has lost his legs Essay

Disabled is a story of a soldier who has lost his legs to war. This shows consequences as the soldier lost his legs for an insignificant cause: to impress girls. The pronoun “He” symbolises all the soldiers, not just one. This emphasises Wilfred Owen’s belief that war should not be glorified. He does this by showing that unlike popular belief, soldiers didn’t go to serve their country but instead to become ‘war heros’ and impress girls. Similarly in The necklace the character lost ten years of her life for a worthless necklace.

Not only did she ruin her life but also the life of her poor loving husband who was willing to give up everything for his wife. Her vanity and selfishness led to her destroying her life for a few hours of glamour and galore.

In Disabled the themes of loneliness and despair emphasise the misery and regret the soldier feels. The soldier is constantly referred to as ‘He’, this could suggest that Owen Wilson wanted to represent all the soldiers who have suffered in war.

References to the room being dark also

in Disabled colour is used throughout the poem to convey the writer’s emotions. In the first stanza ‘Ghastly suit of grey’ is used to represent the soldier’s loneliness and depression. The adjective ‘ghastly’ could imply that the war and loss of limbs has caused the soldier’s spirit to die leaving behind a half dead body. The ‘suit of grey’ could imply that the soldier no longer felt happiness as the colour grey symbolises lack of emotions and is usually associated with loss and depression. Unlike stanza one, the second stanza uses colour to create a tone of happiness and comfort. ‘Glow lamps-budded in the light-blue trees’ creates magical imagery of the lights, making the reader feel awe. The flower imagery creates a youthful tone. The use of ‘light-blue’ suggests that (something about it symbolising stability). This conveys that actions have consequences as due to a stupid decision ’he’s lost his colour’.

Consequence can be seen in Disabled through the soldier’s regret, ‘in the old times,before he threw away his knees’ showcases how the soldier wants his old life back. ‘In the old time’ could imply that the soldier had experienced so much trauma that he has lost his innocence hence he has lost his youth. It could also suggest that because he is in a wheelchair and no longer goes outside which had turned him into a homebound creep. ‘He threw away’ could connote that he himself had thrown away his limbs and this was solely his responsibility. The verb ‘threw’ implies that the soldier did not care about his legs and viewed them as worthless until he had lost them. This show how all actions have consequences as the soldier never through about the danger of war instead he simply joined to impress girls. ‘To please the giddy jilts’ the use of ‘jilt’ means a women who encorages a lover then rejects them in scottish. Owen wilson could have used this to suggest that the solider was already aware of the consequeneces of trying to impress a thot connotes that due to the soldiers dismembered form the women has completely lost interest in him. It could also imply that the soldier himself has lost hope of finding a love interest.

The structure of the poem Disabled also conveys consequences. The poem constantly jumps between time frames to mirror the soldier’s thoughts and emotions. The flashbacks of the soldier’s old life create a sympathetic tone. Each stanza is a vignette describing significant parts of the soldier’s life before and after the war, this conveys to the readers how before he went to war the soldier lived a happy and carefree life. Owen wilson uses a iambic pentameter to represent the soldiers heartbeat or this reflect his speech which would respond to the reader more as it would feel more direct.

Similarly in The necklace consequences can be seen through the themes of vanity, selfishness and irony.

In The necklace Madame Loisel does is criticize her home and belittle her fortune. This can be seen by the way she viewed her home as a ‘run-down apartment’. The adjective ‘run-down’ creates imagery of an unlivable environment, however when she further describes her curtains as ‘ugly’ this makes the readers feel less sympathy for her as it reveals her melodramatic nature. Her exaggeration is further supported by ‘any other women of her station might never even have noticed’. ‘Any other women’ might imply that her living conditions were normal for someone of her ‘station’ and that her unhappiness was simply due to her attitude . A consequence to her constant disapproval could be her persistant unhappiness and ‘torture’. If Madame Loisel stopped feeling sorry for herself she would have been able to live a happy and comfortable life, this would have avoided her losing the necklace.

Unlike Disabled, more than one character suffers severe consequences in The Necklace. Madame Loisel’s husband also deals with consequences of both his and his wife’s actions. He is partly to blame for their ten years of debt as he encourages his wife to lie about losing the necklace and helps her cover it up ‘she wrote his dictation’. The use of the noun ‘dictation’ insuates that. However, the readers might still feel sympathy for the husband as all his actions had good intentions as his main goal was to please his wife. This can be seen when he is ‘highly pleased with himself’ for getting her an invite to a party. The adverb ‘highly’ could imply that pleasing his wife is his top priority. This can also be seen when he sacrifices his hunting trip for her dress ‘ he had been setting just that amount to buy a gun and finance a hunting trip’. The phrase ‘just that amount’ could imply that his wife knew about him saving them money and was taking advantage of his readiness to please her. This would make the readers feel more sympathy towards the husband as he gained nothing but hardship.