Power and Conflict: WRITERS PURPOSE

Exposure

To focus on the hardships of war which are dehumanising and make us sympathise with soldiers

To explore patriotism and suggest that it is an illusion

Remains

To expose the after effects of war on individuals who participated in it, which are psychologically damaging and dehumanising

To make a political point that soldiers are not looked after, and makes us sympathise with soldiers

Poppies

To expose powerful emotions of inner conflict, focusing on how war impacts those left behind

To make the reader recognise the sacrifice war civilians have to make in war and the emotional tragedy it erupts.

Bayonet Charge

To portray the hardships of war for soldiers who face dehumanising conditions and how their experience of conflict is traumatic

To highlight the brutality of trench warfare in tribute to his father’s suffering and memorialise war as a warning for future generations

Charge of the Light Brigade

To idealise the light brigade, portraying them as patriotic risking their lives to do their duty for their country

To portray the negative side of war, the casualties and losses to the light brigade, gaining the readers sympathy as an underlying message

Storm on the Island

To expose human arrogance about nature - our sense of superiority over it as they think they can control it

Tissue

To reveal how human power has two sides: powerful and significant on a global, historical and personal level, but also fragile

To expose how paper is used by the powerful to control our everyday lives and make a comparison between the fragility of paper and the vulnerability of human power

To portray the power of nature and time as everlasting - outlasts all human achievement - more powerful than human power as with time, human power fades but sunlight (nature/time) is constant

My Last Ducchess

To reveal how patriarchy oppresses women and expose the abuse of male power, how it may conceal moral corruption

To portray toxic masculinity and misogyny; the objectification of women as she literally becomes his possession

The Prelude

To show a profound respect for nature, criticising human arrogance to think that we can understand or control nature

To expose how nature is idealised by humans as beautiful, magical, peaceful - a false image which trivialises nature

Checking Out Me History

To expose how British colonisers use education as a form of oppression as they impose their culture on the people of Guyana - erases their culture, infantilises them

To undermine British education by presenting figures from his own culture which inspire him, presenting them as heroic while they rebel against colonial powers

Ozymandias

To show that human power is transitory/ephermal which is used to dominate and terrorise others through the tyranny of Ozymandias

To highlight the power of time and nature - human power passes, but time and nature are more powerful and everlasting

To hint that art is powerful, and it’s greatness isn’t destroyed by time

London

To expose oppressive power of the monarchy and church, and their abuse of power

To portray the suffering and misery of those who are powerless, showing that those in power control the minds of the power

To reveal the hypocrisy of those with power - they cause misery, rather than helping people

The Emigree

To defy against oppressive rulers who have taken over the narrators homeland

To portray the struggle of the individual to defy those in power

To criticise the effects of tyranny: how it outcasts people causing them to leave the home they love

War Photographer

To make the public aware of the suffering of civilians in war zones, but the public are apathetic, their attention to the horrors of war is only temporary

To depict the psychological effect in the external perspective as the photographer experiences the conflict visually but is unable to do anything to help those injured in the conflict

Kamikaze

To show that a culture can abandon life, and glorify death; society’s power, not the enemy, can destroy lives and families; by choosing to live, the pilot brings shame on the family and is outcast by society

To critique the power of society over individuals, how people can be brainwashed by patriotism and notions of honour and the struggle of an individual to defy society’s expectations