Birdsong pg162 analysis

'At first he thought' until 'had not yet dreamed of'.

This extract presents the realty of war and also how warfare has changed in WW1. From Stephen thinking the war 'could be fought and concluded swiftly in a traditional way' shows the difference in the ideology of warfare and the actual reality. Fighting war in a 'traditional way' explores the old fashioned strategies of war, being fair in a sense of organisation and artillery use, compared to this war being the first in which uses new weapons and techniques men have never perceived before. Stephen also presents the cruel reality of war by how he watched men 'pouring bullets' into the enemies. The action of 'pouring' simplifies the action of the shooting by using the metaphor of an easy and simple thing to do. It also takes away the emotion of the machine gunners showing the demoralisation they adopt during war. The contrast of 'traditional' warfare to WW1 is reinforced through 'there was no longer any value accorded to a mere human life' as traditional wars are seen as honourable but by the men being dehumanised into being nothing of 'value' presents the reality of war being deplorable especially to the extent of a 'mere life' portraying them being lower than a poor and hopeless life. The 'mechanical slaughter' represents a metaphor which again, shows the emotionless and continuation of killing, as if the men were like machines in a factory. A 'breach of nature which no one had the power to stop' implies the laws of nature being broken by 'breach' and everyone being powerless to the natural order of war. Stephen describes the 'dazed and uncomprehending faces he saw through the blood and the noise' showing the complete confusion of war 'dazed and uncomprehending' depicts the reality of war exploiting the soldier's minds, creating a whole atmosphere of chaos and confusion, reinforced by the 'blood and noise' of which no one could begin to understand. The triplet of the war being 'permitted, reported, glossed over' presents the war being controlled by the government of who know exactly what is going on and allowing it from being 'permitted' and 'reported' but hides from the public at home what is really happening in war by it being 'glossed over'. The rhetorical question of when 'could they stop?' implants into the readers mind of how far the men are being degraded to. Lastly, Stephen describing the war proceeding into an 'annihilation on a scale the men themselves had not yet dreamed of' portrays this moment as only being the calm before the storm as the events which are about to take place are unimaginable even witnessing what is happening now. 'Annihilation' and 'dreaming' may be seen as juxtaposition as 'dreaming' portrays a fairy tale like vision of an event whereas 'annihilation' portrays complete destruction.