kamikaze

• Kamikaze


  A Japanese suicide pilot in World War II who would deliberately fly an explosive-laden aircraft into an enemy target
• Kamikaze poem

  • Explores the reasons why soldiers choose to, or are asked to, die for their country
  • Presents the personal perspective of the pilot's experience
  • Explores the impact of patriotic values on the pilot's family
• Kamikaze pilot's journey

  1. Embarks at sunrise

  2. Repeats patriotic chants

  3. Looks down at the ocean and has doubts

  4. Remembers childhood fishing with family

  5. Returns home instead of completing suicide mission
• Pilot's return home


  • His wife never speaks to him again and does not meet his eyes
  • Neighbours treat him as if he no longer exists
  • Children are told to ignore him and act as if he never returned
• The poem is narrated by the pilot's daughter, who recounts the story to her own children
• The poem has a rigid structure of six lines per stanza, reflecting the idea of order and discipline
• The poem's structure

  Juxtaposes the controlled voice of the narrator with the reflective tone of the father reminiscing about his childhood
• The poem ends with the powerful reflection: "He must have wondered which was the better way to die"
• Imagery in the poem

  Weaves imagery alluding to the beauty and power of nature alongside images related to conflict and the Japanese kamikaze pilot
• The poem's imagery conveys the emotions of the pilot as he battles with his decision to fight for his country or return to it
• The daughter's powerful reflection

  Emphasises the father's isolation and suffering as a result of his decision to return home instead of sacrificing his life
• Garland alludes to the sacrifice and suffering of the entire family as result of conflict
• Language

  • Garland weaves imagery alluding to the beauty and power of nature alongside images related to conflict, in particular, that of the Japanese kamikaze pilot
  • This conveys the emotions of the pilot as he battles with his decision to fight for his country or return to it
• Theme

  Conflict and identity
• The poem begins with a list referring to the ritual undertaken by kamikaze pilots: "with a flask of water, a samurai sword in the cockpit, a shaven head"
• Garland alludes to the powerful nationalistic messages the pilot received, and perhaps relies upon, to complete his mission, as he chants his "powerful incantantions"
• The narrator compares the boats in the ocean to bunting in a "blue-green translucent sea"


  To describe the scene below as a positive one
• Simile


  Garland's simile connotes to the pilot's love for his beautiful homeland and perhaps to the idea of victory and celebration
• Garland contrasts the positive imagery


  With a description of a dark shoal of fish who seem to alert the pilot to something: the dark "swathes" of fish wave like a flag and flash at the pilot
• Garland's simile here contrasts the positive imagery of before
• Here, her comparison of the fish to a flag suggests the pilot's thoughts turn darker, and that nature is signalling to him
• Garland illustrates the power of nature and family to reverse the nationalistic ideals the pilot has been taught
• Sacrifice


  The narrator, indirectly speaking on behalf of the pilot, lists the fish he used to catch with his family when he was young: "cloud-marked mackerel, black crabs, feathery prawns, the loose silver of whitebait"
• The sensory nature of the father's vivid memories evokes sympathy from the reader
• Garland shows that the narrator thinks about her father despite their alienated relationship: this implies a sacrifice made on both their parts
• Examiners repeatedly state that context should not be considered as additional factual information: in this case, it is not random biographical information about Beatrice Garland, or historical facts about kamikaze pilots that are unrelated to the ideas in Kamikaze. The best way to understand context is as the ideas and perspectives explored by Garland in Kamikaze which relate to power or conflict.
• Loss due to conflict


  • Garland's Kamikaze is one of a collection of poems in an anthology which considers, among other themes, family loss due to cultural divides
  • In Kamikaze, Garland chose to explore the nationalistic values of Japanese kamikaze pilots and their families, and how this may lead to family conflict
  • During World War II, Japan adopted a strategy of attacking enemy targets with suicide bombers known as kamikaze pilots
  • Japanese culture is closely connected to honour and bravery above all
  • An individual's dishonourable actions will reflect poorly on their friends and family
  • This poem considers the experience of a kamikaze pilot: a father chooses to return home instead of completing his mission, thus defying social and cultural expectations
  • This leads to his isolation as his family turns their back on him
  • The poem explores the loss the family suffers through the perspective of his daughter
  • Neither the daughter nor her own children have the father in their lives
  • Garland explores how the cultural values her family support, that of honour and duty to country above all else, lead to divisions
• Powerlessness due to conflict

  • Garland's poem considers the social pressure placed upon soldiers via the perspective of a father leaving home and contemplating his death
  • By showing the father's doubts about his military duty, readers see a human side of war, regardless of which side a soldier is on
  • Garland's father is alienated and ignored due to his choice to return: the father is powerless to be with his family again regardless of his decision
  • Garland challenges cultural values regarding patriotism by presenting a daughter and her siblings as powerless to defy their mother's wishes
  • They are told to turn their back on their father and they obey
  • Garland questions this by presenting the daughter's unresolved reflections
  • She tells her own children about their grandfather in his absence
  • She acknowledges that her father was powerless in his situation: "He must have wondered which was the better way to die"
• Kamikaze and Poppies both convey personal and individual loss due to conflict by presenting the perspectives of family members. The poems explore ideas related to bravery and honour, and how these values can lead to a sense of powerlessness for all involved in the conflict.
• Kamikaze and War Photographer both show that conflict has wide-reaching influence by showing particular individuals affected by it.
• Both poets wish to raise awareness of the effect of conflict on individual lives beyond the battlefields, at home or at work
• Therefore, both poems could be considered a social commentary on the wide-reaching negative impact of conflict
• The memories of each character are not resolved at the end of the poems, suggesting continued suffering for all those involved in the war
• Topic sentence


  While Garland chooses to show a strong patriotic response to the conflict in her poem Kamikaze, Duffy's War Photographer presents an impassive and apathetic public
• Though the reactions of those at home are different, each poem presents lasting isolation for individuals involved in the conflict
• The poem's speakers are both caught between the present and past, suggesting the relentless nature of their isolation and the far-reaching impact of conflict
• Both poems comment on the powerlessness experienced by those involved