Hardy’s “The Man He Killed” Essay

Because struggle is a mystic entity, Thomas Hardy wrote The Man He Killed to emphasize the occasional inadequate lawsuit for conflict, and the range of emotions soulfulness may feel aft(prenominal) engaging in conflict that an individual might feel unnecessary, and after taking a persons smell simply because he was my foe, especially in the Boers Wars in which the British colonized S outh Africa, in which this poem is set. Hardy is able to convey the feeling of apprehension and shame however not renouncing his allegiance to the crown by using figurative language, and literary elements such as repetition, symbolism, and wordplay.Throughout the poem the bank clerk is speaking of war, although there is a lack of chaos and violence. He refers to war as quaint and curious(line 17). That changes the idea of war for the reader, and lures the reader to feel a lack of sine qua non for the battle, which is what the narrator feels. And staring face to face, I elasticity him as he at m e, and killed him in his place. (lines 6-8) in that location is a recognizable absence of emotion here, as one might feel traumatized or bad after taking a life, and we know war is not quaint and curious (line 17). War is meant to be bloody, and chaotic, which in most literature, it is. In The Man He Killed the altercation seems more like an execution or murder than a battle, causing the reader to question whether it was dependableified or not.Furthermore, repetition is used passim the poem also and causes the reader to doubt the valets true feelings about war, and what he had done, I shot him deathly because Because he was my foe, just so my foe of course he was Thats take up enough although (lines 9-12). The agent chose to repeat the words because, and foe to let the reader know that he had to assure his own self of why he had just killed a man. Because Because he was my foe (lines 9-10), the dash between the repeated because represents a pause, airing doubt on why exac tly he killed the man. He also states thats clear enough (12) which is ironic because it simply isnt true. He doesnt understand why he shot the man he is wondering why he just took his life beyond him being his foe. It keister also be argued that in the narratorsseries of howeverts, these men atomic number 18 interchangeable, He though hed list perhaps, / Off-hand-likejust as I / Was out of workhad sold his traps / No other reason why. (lines 13-16) It seems as though, out of desperation and lack of monetary funds to support themselves, they both enlisted in stage to survive and to support their families.The author gives few details about himself, or the man he killed, except the reader can derive from what he does say that these men are very similar, even though they are enemies, which is just what their countries told them, in reality, and in Gods eyes, they are just two men on satellite Earth. Hardy uses several literary elements to convey his ideas. He constructs the poem to emphasize the points he is trying to make. The uses of dashes are the driving force of feeling for the reader, and expose the insecurities the narrator has about what is happening. It is first recognized when in the ninth line objet dart repeating the word because, it seems as if he is hesitating, unsure of what to say, or if he even believes in what he is saying. Furthermore in the following stanza, he uses several dashes to interrupt himself while he creates a scenario for the man he had just taken life away from Off-hand-likejust as I(14). Again, emphasizing the similarity between the men.This happens over in the next line, which brings a sense of realism to the story. The narrator is speaking to the reader, trying to justify what had happened, he doesnt know these things about the man he had just killed, but he may be feeling guilt about what he had just done. Was out of workhad sold his traps / no other reason why (lines 15-16). He may be hunting for the purpose as to why he shot the man but cannot find a reason. In the final stanza, the narrator adopts his emotionless, lack of sensitivity character and states how quaint and curious war is(line 17). and it seems as though he has moved on from the fiasco, but not without some deep thought about they mans life he had taken away. The poem begins and ends in a bar, where acquaintances are made or sometimes broken. Unfortunately, this friendship was broken before it had a chance to begin, and the narrator is forced to only imagine if they had wet expert many a nipperkin (line 4) which is to share a drink together.Hardy in The Man He Killed does a wonderful job exposing the insecurities of the man, without even stating them by using figurative language and literary elements. The repetition deduces hesitation, while other elements such as wordplay, and the use of dashes represents deep thought, and possibly regretlets the reader infer how the man is really feeling which is different from the words on the page. Taking a life whether in war, by accident, or on purpose is bound to ready effects on you for the rest of your life. Posttraumatic Stress ail and other factors can change how someone acts and feels, especially after war. The narrator is having a hard to approach path to reality, and continually attempts to justify his actions. He infers a question of why he must kill this man, or if in another situation they could sit down at a bar together and have a good time. This thought obviously troubles the man.Hardy, Thomas. The Man He Killed. Perrines Sound and Sense An ingress to Poetry. By Greg Johnson, Thomas R. Arp, and Laurence Perrine. Australia Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013. 683. Print.