The Death Of A Ball Turret Gunner - 1430 Words

Since the beginning of time, humans have sought after power and control. It is human instinct to desire to be the undisputed champion, but when does it become a problem? Warfare has been practiced throughout civilization as a way to justify power. Though the orders come directly from one man, thousands of men and women pay the ultimate sacrifice. In Randall Jerrell’s â€Å"The Death of a Ball Turret Gunner†, Jarrell is commenting on the brutality of warfare. Not only does Jarrell address the tragedies of war, he also blames politics, war leaders, and the soldier’s acknowledgement of his duties. (Hill 6) With only five lines of text, his poems allows the reader to understand what a soldier can go through. With the use of Jerrell’s poem, The Vietnam War, and Brian Turner’s â€Å"Ameriki Jundee†, the truth of combat will be revealed. To understand what a soldier goes through, Jerrell’s poem must be explored. His poem’s time era is important, it taking place during World War Two, because it was the most prominent war America has faced. The title alone tells the reader that someone has died. Immediately in the first line, Jerrell reveals the speaker of the poem is retelling his death story. In the first line, Jerrell talks about him being in his mother’s belly and then falling into the state. By his mother, he means the B-17 bomber. He has physically fallen asleep and reawakened in the turret’s chair. He could also be talking about the stages of his life. When he sleeps, he reminiscesShow MoreRelatedThe Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner949 Words   |  4 Pagesbecoming a poet. His poetry does a good job of describing the harshness of warfare throughout the world. His poem The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner is exactly this. The overall theme is portrayed through the metaphor of the state giving birth to an offspring that is already dead, also the dream of democracy and freedom does not apply to du e to the fact that one is already dead. Death is something that everyone has to look forward to at some point in life, but one is temporarily alive by this ideaRead MoreThe Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randal Jarrell647 Words   |  3 Pagesthe â€Å"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner† Jarrell states, â€Å"When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose†(5). Jarrell does not elaborate; he makes it very clear that war is gruesome. However, the literary techniques used in the other four lines of â€Å"Death of the Ball Turret Gunner† give this theme even deeper meaning and make his point so effective. Jarrell criticizes the government for its insensitivity toward the fate if its solders. Jarrell does mention how scared the gunner is, or callRead MoreReflections on the Death of the Ball Turret Gunner Essay856 Words   |  4 PagesReflection on â€Å"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner† Rebeca Espirito Santo The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner â€Å"From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze Six miles from the earth, loosed from its dream of life I woke to black flack and the nightmare fighters When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hoseRead MoreCritical Analysis The Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner1047 Words   |  5 PagesA Doomed Fate A Critical Analysis of Three Messages in Randall Jarrell’s, Gunner   Ã‚  Ã‚   Douglas MacArthur, an American general during World War II, described those who fight in war as, â€Å"The soldier, above all others, prays for peace; for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.† Throughout history, war has been a part of every nation. From medieval times to present day, there have been a countless number of wars fought and even more human lives lost. Many shortRead More Analysis of Randall Jarrells The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner1310 Words   |  6 PagesAnalysis of Randall Jarrells The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner Many of the great poems we read today were written in times of great distress. One of these writers was Randall Jarrell. After being born on May 6, 1914, in Nashville Tennessee, Jarrell and his parents moved to Los Angeles where his dad worked as a photographer. When Mr. and Mrs. Jarrell divorced, Randall and his younger brother returned to Nashville to live with their mother. While in Nashville, Randall attended Hume-Frogg highRead MoreAnalysis of Randall Jarrells The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner1296 Words   |  6 PagesWhen Jarrell could not quite cut it as a cadet, he switched to being a navigation control tower operator. As a control tower operator, Randall began to write about the pilots, navigators and gunners of the war. This is probably when Jarrell wrote one of his most famous poems, The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner. After being discharged from the army, Randall went back to teaching. Randalls love for teaching showed by his famous quote, if I were a rich man, I would pay money to teach. RandallRead MoreA Case Of Murder, By Vernon Scannell And The Death Of The Ball1530 Words   |  7 PagesThose who have served in the war know how it is to witness death and it changes them forever. In â€Å"A Case of Murder† by Vernon Scannell and â€Å"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner†by Randall Jarrell both, Scannell and Jarrell have used their experience in World War II to tell a story. In Scannell’s â€Å"A Case of Murder† he develops the theme that seeing all those murders in the war scarred him for life. In Jarrell’s â€Å"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner† he explores the waste that war is. Both Scannell andRead MoreThe Fury Of Aerial Bombardment1332 Words   |  6 Pages Onyekere 1 Chinelo Onyekere Julie Rea Eng 112 31-7-2014 â€Å"The Fury of Aerial Bombardment†, â€Å"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner†, â€Å" Anthem For Doomed Youth and â€Å" Dulce Et Decorum Est† Denotation and Connotation Denotation refers to the concrete meaning or dictionary definition of a word or words, while Connotation refers to the emotional implications andRead MoreAnalysis Of Wilfred Owen s Dulce Et Decorum Est994 Words   |  4 PagesOwen knew the horrors, he opposes this saying in his poem â€Å"Dulce Et Decorum Est.† The narrator provides vivid images of his experience in WWI which includes both the exhaustion the soldiers endured while walking to their next resting point and of the death of a fellow soldier due to gas. His PTSD shows us that the gas experience continues to haunt him: â€Å"In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, / He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning,† (ll.15-16). The narrator also explains why young men shouldRead MoreWar I Was No Standard Blueprint For A War Poet1731 Words   |  7 PagesThe poem â€Å"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner† by Randall Jarrell is the postmodern elegy in which the speaker himself is a mourner of his d eath. Jarrell employs imagery of abortion by drawing an analogy between the Ball Turret of the fighter plane and womb of the mother. He contrasts the womb of the ball turret and natural womb of the mother. The position of the fetus in the mother’s womb and the position of hunched soldiers inside the Ball Turret create a similarity between ball turret and womb of