Summary Of Here Bullet By Brian Turner

To be engaged in war is to be engaged in an armed conflict. Death is an all too ordinary product of war. It is an unsolicited reward for many soldiers that are fighting for their country’s own fictitious freedom. For some of these men, the battlefield is a glimpse into hell, and for others, it is a means to heaven. Many people worry about what happens during war and what will become of their loved ones while they’re fighting, but few realize what happens to those soldiers once they come home. The short stories "Soldier's Home” by Ernest Hemingway and "Speaking of Courage” by Tim O'Brien explore the thematic after effects of war and how it impacts a young person's life. Young people who

Being a soldier is one of the most effective and honorable carriers a country could have. Citizens have always appreciated soldiers due to their importance in saving and protecting them. However, soldiers’ path consists of many struggles that might threaten their life. Wrong move can cause solders to lose their life and that shows how serious being a soldier is. Brian Turner in his poem “What Every Soldier Should Know” talked about soldiers’ life and gave some instructions regarding soldiers’ security. The poem also described the environment surrounding soldiers in wars and how the battlefield was. The poet concerned about American soldiers since the writer is American. The poem also concerned about the American soldiers’ experience in an Arab country. The poem was written in 2005 while the war of Iraq was in 2003, which explains the Arabic phrases within the poem. The poem main point was to show that soldiers’ life in Iraq was dangerous and full of non-expectable surprises that could threaten soldiers’ life. The poem was powerful in conveying how American soldiers felt during the war of Iraq because of the many strategies that the poet used such as his choice of words, his usage of Arabic phrases and the way of describing citizens of Iraq.

His poem “What Every Soldier Should Know” acts as a kind of instruction manual for a foreign soldier in Iraq but still is able to put the reader directly into his shoes. He begins the poem with the second person to captivate the reader right away, “If you hear gunfire on a Thursday afternoon, it could be for a wedding, or it could be for you” (1-2). Turner gives the reader insight into the Iraqi culture of celebratory gunfire and how readily available guns are but also how a soldier never knows whether the gunshot is for them or just for celebration. He gives even further insight to the Iraqi culture and says to “Always enter a home with your right foot; the left is for cemeteries and unclean places.” because he believes that it is necessary to follow parts the Iraqi culture and conform to their customs (Turner 3-4). Turner then continues on and tells the reader what he believes is a better method to communicating with locals as a soldier

The literacy work of John Steinbeck shows how soldier won’t talk about their experience in war. Soldiers often have a difficult time cultivating with society after coming back. Steinbeck uses imagery to show what they face in the battlefield. He describes “their body and mind are so disturbed” and their “eardrums are tortured by blast and the eye ache from the constant hammering.”(18) To explain, the imagery shows soldiers face violent and chaotic attacks on the field leading them to be desensitize. The narrator also says, “At first your ears hurt, but then they become dull and all your

Of all the poetry that readers will encounter in Brian Turner’s anthology “Here, Bullet”, perhaps the most striking is “Eulogy”. Found on p. 20, it describes the real tragic death of Private Miller from self- inflicted gunshot wound on the 22nd of March, 2004, and, through its focus on the overarching tension between states of order and chaos, without making the error of passing judgment or jumping to definite conclusions, examines both the aftermath of Miller’s suicide and its possible cause. At the beginning of “Eulogy”, readers are confronted with the verse “It happens on a Monday, at 11:20 A.M.,”. This particular verse serves to que their attention and possibly inspires feelings of tension over what the mysterious event known as “It”

“The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell is able to accomplish so many thing with so little lines-mainly through the use of metaphor and diction. It explains the terrors of wars in gruesome detail and explains the ways in which wars, in a sense “breed” and “birth” death. To some, this poem is seen as the ultimate poem of war, and rightly

“Attack” The poem “Attack” is about how the war is from the inside of the battlefield. The poem explains the battlefield like it is a terrible place to be in and experience. It explains war as this living hell where there is nothing but fire, smoke, loud noises and gunfire. The planes roaring as they hover over the battlefield and lower to the ground to drop bombs and gunfire, body parts are flying over the fields, tanks are slowly creeping over the hills, the only expressions on the soldiers’ faces are anger and fear; it’s chaos.

Since the beginning of time, humans have sought after power and control. It is human instinct to desire to be the undisputed champion, but when does it become a problem? Warfare has been practiced throughout civilization as a way to justify power. Though the orders come directly from one man, thousands of men and women pay the ultimate sacrifice. In Randall Jerrell’s “The Death of a Ball Turret Gunner”, Jarrell is commenting on the brutality of warfare. Not only does Jarrell address the tragedies of war, he also blames politics, war leaders, and the soldier’s acknowledgement of his duties. (Hill 6) With only five lines of text, his poems allows the reader to understand what a soldier can go through. With the use of Jerrell’s poem, The Vietnam War, and Brian Turner’s “Ameriki Jundee”, the truth of combat will be revealed.

The collection of poems “Theater”, “Water”, and “Safe House” by Solmaz Sharif shows the varied viewpoints of how war affects the speakers and how death is all too common in the midst of warfare. The author uses a spectrum of literary techniques to enhance the experience of the reader, so we can fully grasp the severity of each speaker’s plight. All of Sharif’s poems differ in form with the use of white space and indentations in “Theater”, colons in “Water”, and a style of abecedarian using the letter S in “Safe House”. While her diverse use of forms generate different emotions from the reader, they share the same notion of how violence is problematic. Each poem has a unique outlook to the sight of war: “Theater” being in the position of a victim and an assailant of war, “Water” explaining a war mission and fatalities in terse terms, and “Safe House” as an observer of an activist against war. Sharif’s strategy to exemplify the effects of how war affects the victim and the civilian is particularly critical because mass media tends to hide the collateral damage of war and only illustrates why we should attack the “enemy”. Another approach the author uses to critique the speakers central conflicts is by arranging words from the US Department of Defense 's Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, to concur with the message of the several ways war influences the lives of those who are unwillingly encompassed by it. Sharif uses poetry as an outlet to show the underlying tone

War can be and has been proven to be a deeply scarring experience for many soldiers. Evidently, nothing can prepare them for warfare, seeing close friends die, and narrowly escaping death themselves. Yet, the worst part of it all is having to live with those memories for a lifetime and the inability to forget. “But the thing about remembering is that you don 't forget” (O’brien 34, 1998). The war which is fought in the minds of soldiers lasts a lifetime, and its effects stretch far beyond the actual battle that is being fought. War can significantly affect a soldier mentally, as seen in the novel “The things they carried” by Tim O 'brien, an interview with Richard Dlugoz, and the poem “Coming Home” by Joe Wheeler.

“War is hell, but that's not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead.” Tim O’Brien wrote in his novel The Things They Carried. There are many different ways to connect with a reader through pieces of writing. Tim O’Brien captured many readers through his detailed writing and telling of Vietnam War stories throughout the novel The Things They Carried. In the memoir If I Die in a Combat Zone, his writing lacked thorough description and feeling compared to The Things They Carried. Tim O’Brien connects with the reader through his writing

“Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” by Tim O’Brien and “Here, Bullet” by Brian Turner share striking similarities in their content. Although O’Brien’s story is extensive and Turner’s poem is quite short, the two works share a similar tone and message. The overall shared message is that of resignation to the inevitable, whether that is giving oneself to a bullet or to Vietnam itself; and the adrenaline rush that goes along with this resignation.

War is one of the most controversial topics in today’s society. However, because poetry tends to focus on the experiences of the author, it is quite widespread. Grief, fear, and pain are some of the most prevalent emotions in literature. In his poem, “Facing It,” Yusef Komunyakaa tells his experience with war and how it has affected him. The poem begins with the author experiencing a loss of identity as he is at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Then, he experiences nostalgia whilst reminiscing his past. Lastly, he experiences flashbacks that deter his ability to distinguish the past from the present. Komunyakaa wastes no time in loading his poem with themes. He touches on grief, war, gaining control, acceptance, and sentimentality. The

Poets frequently utilize vivid images to further depict the overall meaning of their works. The imagery in “& the War Was in Its Infancy Then,” by Maurice Emerson Decaul, conveys mental images in the reader’s mind that shows the physical damage of war with the addition of the emotional effect it has on a person. The reader can conclude the speaker is a soldier because the poem is written from a soldier’s point of view, someone who had to have been a first hand witness. The poem is about a man who is emotionally damaged due to war and has had to learn to cope with his surroundings. By use of imagery the reader gets a deeper sense of how the man felt during the war. Through the use of imagery, tone, and deeper meaning, Decaul shows us the

Illumination Rounds offers the perfect template to teach my CO about poetry. With its cache of poetic devices such as imagery, hyperbole, conflict, and symbols, Brian Turner attempts to portray a veteran’s experience after coming home from deployment. In especially memorable moments throughout the poem, the poetic devices’ relation to the content of the poem forms embodied meaning and brings light to the 21st century veterans’ war experiences to show the long lasting effect of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the Iraqi War.