Higher English - "War Photographer" Quotes

Themes of "War Photographer"

the horrors of war and our indifference to it's victims, trauma/memory, empathy and sympathy

Stanza 1:

"spools of suffering in ordered rows"
"the only light is red"
"as though this were a church and he was a priest preparing to intone a mass"
"All flesh is grass"

Stanza 2:

"ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel"
"fields which don't explode beneath the feet of running children in nightmare heat"

Stanza 3:

"Something is happening."
"A strangers features start to twist before his eyes"
"how the blood stained to foreign dust"

Stanza 4:

"A hundred agonies in black and white"
"five or six"
"The reader's eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers"
"he stares impassively"
"they do not care."

"spools of suffering in ordered rows"

metaphor: the image of a spool suggests war is a cycle of pain and suffering
word choice: "ordered rows" suggests the photographer is trying to restore order to the chaotic images contained within the film

"as though this were a church and he were a priest preparing to intone a mass"

simile: the religious imagery creates a sense of ritual in the way he develops film and conveys the respect and dedication he has towards the film.

"All flesh is grass"

biblical reference: human life is transient and brief whereas the word of God is eternal

"the only light is red"

word choice: "red" has connotations of blood

"ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel"

word choice: "ordinary pain" suggests that the pain he experienced at home is normal and can be eliminated by something as straightforward as weather.

"fields which do not explode beneath the feet of running children in nightmare heat"

word choice: "explode" conveys the dangerous and destructive nature of war

"Something is happening."

the present tense conveys the depth of his trauma as he feels that he is literally experiencing the images captured on the developing film in real time. He relives them like it is for the first time.

"A strange features faintly start to twist before his eyes, a half formed ghost"

word choice: "twist" conveys the pain and trauma the subject must have endured
metaphor: "half formed ghost" creates a disturbing image of a dying person

"how the blood stained to foreign dust"

word choice: "foreign dust" conveys the value lost lives from war torn countries have in his home country and the lack of sympathy people have towards those who suffer

"A hundred agonies in black and white"

word choice: "agonies" conveys the pain of war
word choice/metaphor: once the images are printed, the experiences captured by the photographs have lost all shades of of subtlety or deeper meaning. They have been reduced to merely an image

"five or six"

word choice: "five or six" suggest how the images are trivialised and reduced to something that can be consumed by the public

"he stares impassively"

word choice: "impassively" conveys the lack of sympathy people have for war

"they do not care."

simple statement that displays the publics indifference to war victims