Horrors of war

• 'indifference in which men could lob shells into a landscape'

  • soldiers disregard for human life
  • lack of emotion juxtaposes their actions
• 'sleeping cottages'

  • suffering of innnocent civillian
  • whole society affected by the war
  • depicts the unnecessary force used
• 'It was an industrial process'

  • detachment of war from reality
• 'the circling dive -bombers waited like raptors'

  • sense of relentless danger
  • soldiers dehumanised
• the attack on the RAF man page 251

  • war brings out the worst in human nature
  • many British army held the RAF responsible for heavy losses in air raids
• 'Everyone had suffered and now someone was going to pay'

  • soldiers act as one entity
  • mob mentality
• 'he was answerable for the Luftwaffe's freedom of the skies, every Stuka attack, every dead friend'

  • tricolon of blame
  • hold him personally responsible
  • enhances guilt and blame
• 'whipped' 'slapped' 'flipped' and 'cracked'

  • onomatopeia
  • brutality of the violence
• 'like a mole in bright light'

  • similie
  • highlights vulnerability
  • sees them as a target and not as humans
• 'as though for a decent catch in the slips on the village green'

  • comparison to a cricket match
  • introduces an element of fun
  • makes it more horrific
• 'exhilaration' 'unpleasantly excited'

  • attack develops deadly momentum
  • even Robbie is caught up in the excitement
• Corporal McIntyre p303

  • McEwan depicts the horrors through who briony meets at the hospital
  • focuses on individual patients making it more personal and horrific
• 'clung' and 'seared'

  • dynamic verb creates sense of panic
  • emphasises extent of injuries
• 'too ruined, too swollen... too blistered.'

  • description sounds hyperbolic
  • reminds us how fragile humans are
• 'The nurse... unobtrusively crying'

  • even experienced nurses are out of depth
  • empathy cuts through formality
• 'Corporal McIntyre was dead.'

  • blunt
  • adds too bleak atmosphere
  • devastating to read