Ball Turret Gunner Theme

Recently in class we discussed 2 poems about war; “The Death of a Ball Turret Gunner” and “Dulce Et Decorum Est”. These 2 poems revolve around a central theme, or rather the irony of the theme: It is sweet and honorable to die for one’s country. We also discussed the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal that took place in Iraq in 2003. This event does share some similar properties when it comes to the topic of war, however, it does not support the theme of the other two poems. It is important to examine writings that share a common theme because it allows the class to view and discuss the same theme from different perspectives. “The Death of a Ball Turret Gunner” Is a short and heavy poem written by Randall Jarrell that can be examined many ways: From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose. (quoted in Norton

Introduction to literature, 812)

Apart from the title, at first glance it is hard to even know that this is a poem about war. The last line hits hard because the poet chose to write it from a first-person point of view. This subtle choice of words completely changes the weight of the poem. While this poem

This event took place in the Abu Ghraib prison in 2003, shortly after the invasion of Iraq. Essentially, a group of American soldiers were put in charge of the Iraqi prison, even though they had no training in this field. They were given orders about torture that were hard to interpret. This group of untrained prison guards ended up torturing the prisoners in extremely inhumane ways. While this event does show the horrors of war, It has little to nothing to do with the irony of war. In fact, it can be better examined from a sociological